Chương 7
“The photograph was taken almost a year after our son supposedly died.”
Mara stood motionless.
“And Dad had it?”
“No.”
Elaine’s voice dropped almost to a whisper.
“The photograph came with the second letter.”
Mara looked at the empty hiding place.
“Who knew you put it there?”
“No one.”
“Someone did.”
Elaine’s eyes moved toward the bedroom door.
Downstairs, the landline began to ring.
Neither woman moved.
It stopped after four rings.
A moment later Mara’s phone lit with Daniel’s name.
She answered.
“What?”
Daniel did not speak immediately.
In the background Mara could hear a cabinet door close.
Then Richard’s voice, farther away, saying something she could not make out.
“Mara,” Daniel said quietly, “where are you?”
“At my parents’.”
“Is Elaine with you?”
“Yes.”
Daniel breathed out.
“Okay.”
Something about the way he said it made Mara grip the phone tighter.
“What’s wrong?”
“Your dad came in carrying those boards.”
“I know.”
“He put them in the garage.”
“Daniel.”
“Then he asked me whether you’d checked the DNA results this morning.”
Mara looked at Elaine.
Her mother had gone completely still.
“What did you tell him?”
“That I didn’t know.”
“Did he believe you?”
“I don’t think so.”
In the background, Richard called Daniel’s name.
Daniel lowered his voice further.
“Mara, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“When he went into the garage, his jacket was on the chair.”
Mara waited.
“I wasn’t snooping.”
“Daniel.”
“An envelope fell out of the inside pocket.”
Elaine grabbed Mara’s wrist.
“What kind of envelope?”
“Old.”
Daniel hesitated.
“It has your mother’s handwriting on the front.”
“What does it say?”
Another pause.
Then Daniel said, “It says, ‘For Thomas Bell, if Richard refuses to tell Mara the truth.’”
“Don’t open it,” Mara said.
Daniel gave a short, humorless laugh.
“That’s interesting, considering how this week has gone.”
“I mean it.”
“So did I when I asked you last night whether you still trusted me.”
“This is not about us.”
“It becomes about us when your father leaves a secret letter in my house and you disappear without telling me where you’re going.”
Mara glanced at Elaine, who was still gripping her wrist.
“Put the envelope somewhere Dad can’t see it.”
“I already did.”
“Where?”
“In my laptop bag.”
Elaine shook her head violently.
“Tell him to bring it here.”
Mara covered the phone.
“Mom, you wrote it.”
“Years ago.”
“Then tell me what’s inside.”
“I don’t remember exactly.”
“You remember hiding a hospital bracelet behind a dresser, but not a letter addressed to the man you had an affair with?”
Elaine released her wrist.
“That letter was never supposed to leave this house.”
“Apparently Dad disagreed.”
On the phone, Daniel said, “Mara?”
“Bring the envelope to my parents’ house.”
Richard’s voice sounded closer in the background.
“Who are you talking to?”
Daniel answered him with something about work.
Then, quietly, he said, “Your dad has my car blocked in.”
“Take his.”
“That seems unlikely to improve the situation.”
Despite everything, Mara nearly smiled.
Then she heard Richard again.
“Daniel?”
“Go,” Mara whispered.
Daniel disconnected.
Elaine crossed the bedroom and began pushing the dresser back toward the wall.
Mara watched her struggle for several seconds before helping.
The furniture scraped across the floor with a low groan.
“What did you write in the letter?”
“I wrote it after Richard and I had one of the worst fights of our marriage.”
“When?”
“About twelve years ago.”
“What were you fighting about?”
Elaine straightened and brushed dust from her knees.
“Noah.”
The name landed differently now.
Mara waited.
“He wanted money,” Elaine said.
“That narrows it down.”
“Not from us.”
Mara frowned.
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I knew he was in trouble, but he wouldn’t tell me what kind.”
“Noah was twenty-three.”
“Yes.”
“He was always in trouble.”
“He was different that time.”
Elaine walked to the window and looked down at the driveway.
“He kept asking Richard questions about the hospital where he was born.”
Mara stared at her.
“Noah was born at St. Matthew’s.”
“So were you.”
“And the baby you lost?”
Elaine nodded.
“All three of you.”
Mara felt the pieces move without forming anything she could trust.
“What did Noah know?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because there are things I don’t know.”
“Then tell me what you do.”
Elaine folded her arms.
“Richard told him to leave it alone.”
“What?”
“The hospital.”
“Why was Noah asking about it?”
“He said he needed his original birth records.”
“For what?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Did he get them?”
“I don’t know.”
Mara turned away.
The room contained thirty-nine years of her parents’ life together: Richard’s watch on the dresser, Elaine’s reading glasses, two water glasses on separate nightstands, a framed photograph of Evie between them.
Nothing looked fraudulent.
That was perhaps the most disturbing thing.
“What did the fight have to do with Thomas?”
“I threatened to tell you the truth about your biological father.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard was using you against me.”
Mara turned back.
“How?”
“He said if I kept interfering with Noah, he would tell you about Thomas himself.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It did in our marriage.”
Elaine’s mouth tightened.
“We had spent years pretending the secret belonged to both of us equally.”
“But it didn’t.”
“No.”
“You had the affair.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad raised me.”
“Yes.”
“So why would telling me punish you?”
“Because I had asked him not to.”
Mara stared at her.
“That’s it?”
“No.”
Elaine sat down again.
“I was afraid you would look for Thomas.”
“You were right.”
“I was afraid Richard would lose you.”
Mara’s anger faltered.
Elaine looked at her hands.
“He never said that was what frightened him, but I knew.”
“Why would he lose me?”
“Because people become foolish when blood is involved.”
“You mean me.”
“I mean everyone.”
Elaine rubbed a thumb across her wedding band.
May you like
“Richard loved you before you were born.”
The sentence hurt in a place Mara had not protected.
