Part 10
“Where is Nora?” Claire asked.
Anna hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you expect her to leave Lily here?”
“No.”
“Did you know about the locket?”
“Yes.”
“Why does Nora have it?”
“It was given to her.”
“By my mother?”
“I can’t answer that.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“I promised someone.”
“Someone who is dead?”
Anna’s breath trembled through the phone.
“Yes.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Dead people shouldn’t be allowed to keep changing the rules.”
“No,” Anna said. “They shouldn’t.”
The agreement in her voice hurt more than resistance.
Daniel sat beside Claire, leaving a small space between them.
“Anna,” he said, “Lily has been told you’ll collect her.”
“I’m two hours away.”
“Can you come?”
“Yes.”
“Is there anyone closer?”
“No one I trust.”
Ruth laughed bitterly.
Anna ignored her.
“Please keep Lily with you. Do not call the police unless she is in danger.”
Claire looked at the phone.
“Why would Nora be in danger?”
“I didn’t say she was.”
“You told us not to call.”
“Because Ruth has used threats before.”
Ruth stepped toward the phone.
“I never harmed Nora.”
“You accused her of theft after she brought you Evelyn’s property.”
“She stole it when she left.”
“You refused to follow the letter.”
“What letter?” Claire demanded.
The women fell silent.
Claire felt something inside her harden.
“I am done listening to everyone speak around me.”
Anna said her name softly.
“No. Don’t do that. You do not know me well enough to make my name sound kind.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Tell me what the letter said.”
“I never saw all of it.”
“What did you see?”
“Enough to know the locket was not meant for Ruth.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“The letter was damaged.”
“So are the photographs.”
“I know.”
“Did you damage them?”
“No.”
“Did Nora?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Anna’s voice became very quiet.
“Evelyn.”
Richard sat forward.
“Why would she do that?”
“To make sure no one could prove more than she was ready to admit.”
Claire stared at the locket.
That sounded like her mother and nothing like her mother. Evelyn had been careful with facts but impatient with cowardice. She returned extra change to cashiers and lied about medical test results so Claire would finish her final semester without coming home.
Human beings did not divide cleanly between honesty and deception. Claire knew that. She had simply believed her mother stood nearer one side.
“What was she hiding?” Claire asked.
Anna did not answer.
“Was I adopted?”
Richard made a wounded sound.
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“You don’t know what this is.”
“I know you are my daughter.”
“That was not the question.”
“You were born at St. Matthew’s. I held you an hour later.”
“Was Mom my mother?”
“Yes.”
His certainty came too quickly to be manufactured.
Claire turned back toward the phone.
“Was there another baby?”
Ruth said, “Stop.”
No one listened.
Anna’s breathing was audible.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know what happened after the records were changed.”
Daniel looked at Richard.
“What records?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
Ruth moved toward the door.
Richard blocked her again.
This time she shoved his arm.
He did not shove back. He stepped aside, but Daniel reached the door first and closed it.
“We’re not keeping you here,” Daniel said. “But if you go into that ballroom, everyone will see your face. Decide whether that helps you.”
Ruth glared at him.
Then she turned away from the door.
Claire returned to the call.
“What records?”
Anna spoke carefully.
“The maternity residence handled private placements. Mostly legal. Some informal arrangements were made before the laws and hospital policies became stricter. Families had money. Young women were pressured. Paperwork was sometimes completed days after a birth.”
“You’re describing adoptions.”
“Yes.”
“Was my mother involved?”
“She was a social worker.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
“She believed she was helping.”
Ruth said, “She was helping.”
Anna’s voice sharpened.
“You don’t get to use that word.”
Lily walked into the room.
Paula reached for her, but the child avoided her hand.
“Where’s my mom?” she asked the phone.
Every adult went silent.
Anna’s voice softened instantly.
“Lily?”
“Aunt Anna?”
“Yes, baby.”
“Mom said you’d come.”
“I’m coming.”
“Did she do something bad?”
“No.”
“Then why did she leave?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily began crying again, silently at first. Her face tightened and tears slipped over her cheeks.
Claire looked at Daniel.
He moved toward the child slowly.
Lily allowed him to kneel beside her but did not let him touch her.
Anna spoke through the phone.
“Lily, listen to me. None of this is because of you.”
“She took the necklace,” Lily whispered.
Claire closed her eyes.
Anna asked, “Who did?”
“The bride.”
Claire forced herself to look at the child.
“I have it here,” she said.
“You scared me.”
“I know.”
“You thought I stole it.”
Claire swallowed.
“Yes.”
Daniel glanced up at her.
She had wanted to tell Lily that she had misunderstood. That she had been shocked. That adults sometimes reacted badly when grief appeared without warning. Each explanation centered Claire, so she left them unsaid.
Lily wiped her face with the handkerchief.
“My mom didn’t steal it.”
Claire looked at Ruth.
“No,” she said. “I don’t think she did.”
Ruth turned toward the window.
Anna exhaled shakily.
“Thank you.”
“It isn’t forgiveness,” Claire said.
“I know.”
“And it isn’t trust.”
“I know that too.”
Claire sat on the sofa.
“Come here. Bring whatever you have. Every photograph, every copy, every name.”
“I’ll bring what I can.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Nora kept some things from me.”
“Why?”
“Because she was afraid I would stop her.”
“Would you have?”
“Yes.”
Claire appreciated the answer.
“Why?”
“Because she was angry.”
“She had a right to be.”
“Anger can be justified and still be dangerous.”
Ruth gave a small, humorless laugh.
Anna heard.
“Do you still tell yourself you protected Claire?”
May you like
Ruth stared at the phone.
“I protected a child from being treated like property.”
