Part 19
“At the apartment.”
The apartment. Their apartment. The word felt suddenly distant.
Claire looked at the locket.
“Did Nora search the box?”
“Years later,” Anna said. “Your father let her.”
Daniel’s head lifted sharply.
“My father knows Nora?”
“Yes.”
He took out his phone.
Claire touched his wrist.
“Not yet.”
Daniel looked at her hand, then at her face.
She released him.
“He may know where Nora is,” Claire said.
“He may also have lied to me for seventeen years.”
“I know.”
“Then why wait?”
“Because Lily is here.”
Daniel looked toward the child.
His anger shifted, contained but not gone.
He put the phone away.
Anna opened the final folder.
Inside was a photograph of Evelyn and another woman standing outside St. Matthew’s. Evelyn appeared to be in her late twenties. The other woman stood slightly apart, one hand at her neck. Her features were blurred by age and poor copying, but the tilt of her head resembled Daniel’s.
Claire had spent her life being told she looked like her mother.
Daniel had spent his being told the same.
They stood beside each other over the photograph, afraid to search for resemblance.
“Where is Nora?” Claire asked again.
Anna looked at Paula.
The florist stopped stitching.
“What?” Claire said.
Paula set the rabbit down.
“Nora asked me for the keys to the old shop.”
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Why?”
“She stores things there.”
“Is the shop still open?”
“No. It’s being renovated.”
“Address.”
Paula gave it.
Daniel was already reaching for his phone.
Anna said, “She won’t be there.”
“How do you know?”
“Because that is where she kept the originals.”
The room fell quiet.
Claire looked at the documents.
“What originals?”
“The letters. The hospital photograph. The ledger page.”
“Why didn’t she bring them?”
“She was afraid Ruth would have her arrested before Claire saw the locket.”
Daniel stared at Paula.
“Did Nora plan to destroy them?”
“No,” Paula said. “She planned to give them to Claire after the ceremony.”
“Then why did she leave?”
“I don’t know.”
A sound came from Lily.
Not crying. A small gasp of remembered information.
Everyone turned.
“Mom got a message,” she said.
“When?” Daniel asked.
“After she put the necklace on me.”
“From whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did it say?”
“I couldn’t read it. She covered the phone.”
“What happened after?”
“She told me to find Ms. Paula. Then she went to talk to a man.”
“What man?”
“The one from the picture.”
Claire felt Daniel become still beside her.
“What picture?” he asked.
“The picture at our house. With the red airplane.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“My father.”
Lily nodded.
“He was outside.”
Claire’s thoughts aligned with terrible speed.
Daniel’s father had not attended the wedding. He had claimed a back injury made travel impossible. Daniel had accepted the explanation with restrained disappointment.
“He came here,” Daniel said.
Lily nodded again.
“Did your mother leave with him?”
“I don’t know. They were arguing.”
“Where?”
“By the cars.”
Daniel took out his phone and called.
This time no one asked him to wait.
The call went directly to voicemail.
He called again.
Voicemail.
Anna covered her mouth.
“What?” Claire asked.
“He knew Nora had the originals.”
“How?”
“He called me last week.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“My father called you?”
“He wanted to know whether Nora had contacted Claire.”
“How did he know about the wedding?”
“Ruth.”
The chain of secrecy circled back again.
Claire felt too tired to be surprised.
“Why would Ruth warn him?” Daniel asked.
Anna answered.
“Because if Evelyn and Marianne were sisters, your marriage to Claire would expose everything.”
“We’re not siblings,” Claire said.
“No,” Anna replied quickly. “Nothing suggests that.”
“Then what did she fear?”
“The scandal. Questions about the placement. Property claims. The Mercer family foundation funded St. Matthew’s for decades.”
Richard’s business reputation. Ruth’s social standing. Daniel’s father’s complicity. Nora’s anger. Evelyn’s guilt.
The secret had survived because different people protected different things.
Claire’s phone vibrated.
She had forgotten it was tucked into the hidden pocket of her gown.
The screen showed twenty-seven missed calls and a new message from an unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
The old flower shop. Its front window shattered. Smoke darkened the upper frame.
Beneath the image was one sentence.
Ask Ruth what she told him to burn.
Claire showed Daniel.
His face went white.
“Call the fire department,” Marian said.
“They may already be there.”
Daniel called anyway.
The dispatcher confirmed firefighters were responding to a report at the address. No information about injuries was available.
Lily began to cry.
Claire turned the phone facedown.
“Your mother may not be there,” she said.
The child looked at her.
“You don’t know.”
Claire could not lie.
“No.”
Anna gathered Lily against her.
Daniel walked to the far side of the room and called his father again. His voice remained controlled when he left a message.
“Dad, call me. Nora Hart may be in danger. The shop is burning. Call me now.”
He ended the call.
Claire watched his chest rise beneath the matching waistcoat.
“Do you want to go?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m coming.”
“You’re wearing a wedding dress.”
“It’s clothing.”
“It will slow you down.”
“I’ll change.”
Daniel looked at her, anger and fear moving beneath his restraint.
“This is my father.”
“And my mother’s secret.”
“That doesn’t make everything shared.”
The sentence hurt.
Claire nodded.
“You’re right.”
He looked immediately sorry but did not retract it.
Richard appeared in the doorway with Ruth behind him.
Marian had messaged them.
“What happened?” he asked.
Claire showed him the photograph.
Ruth leaned against the doorframe.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What did you tell my father to burn?”
“Nothing.”
Claire held up the phone.
“Nora thinks otherwise.”
“Nora lies.”
“What did you tell him?”
Ruth’s lips trembled.
“I told him where she kept the records.”
Daniel crossed the room toward her.
He stopped several feet away.
May you like
“Why?”
“Because he said he could persuade her to give them up.”
