Chương 8
Elena sat opposite him.
He covered his eyes with one hand.
“She’s mine.”
“Yes.”
“I missed everything.”
Elena said nothing.
He lowered his hand.
“First steps. First words. Kindergarten. Losing teeth.”
His voice cracked on the last word.
Elena looked toward the window.
The lawn sprinkler swept across the grass outside in steady arcs.
Richard whispered, “Rebecca did all of it alone.”
“Not alone.”
He looked at her.
“She had Claire.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not the same.”
“No.”
Richard stared at the test result.
“I should have known.”
“How?”
“I should have figured it out.”
“How?”
He looked angry.
“At something.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I’m not asking for one.”
Elena leaned back.
Richard rubbed his thumb along the paper’s edge.
“I spent years paying people to find Rebecca.”
“Did they?”
“Eventually.”
“And?”
“She refused contact.”
“Then you respected that.”
“I shouldn’t have.”
Elena frowned.
“You think the correct response to a woman refusing contact is to ignore her refusal?”
Richard looked at her.
“No.”
“Then stop rewriting your past so you can punish yourself for not being omniscient.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You have a remarkable ability to make comfort unpleasant.”
“I’m not comforting you.”
“I noticed.”
She stood.
“Are you going to tell Lily?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t make it about what you lost.”
Richard looked up.
Elena nodded toward the test result.
“She lost more.”
An hour later, Richard sat with Lily on the back terrace.
Elena watched through the glass doors.
She could not hear everything.
She saw Richard show Lily the paper.
She saw Lily ask something.
She saw him answer.
Then Lily climbed out of her chair and stood in front of him.
Richard’s hands remained on his knees.
He did not reach for her.
Lily looked at him for several seconds.
Then she put one hand on his arm.
Richard bowed his head.
Lily said something else.
He laughed.
Later she told Elena what it was.
“I said he could be my dad but I’m still calling him Richard for now.”
“What did he say?”
“He said okay.”
“That seems reasonable.”
“I might call him Dad when I’m eight.”
“Very specific.”
“Or seven.”
“Less specific.”
Lily shrugged.
“We’ll see.”
The DNA result changed the house.
Not immediately.
Not magically.
But people stood differently around Lily.
Staff who had treated her kindly became more careful. Some became too careful. The cook started offering her dessert after breakfast. The driver called her “Miss Lily” until she asked him to stop.
Richard hated it.
“Treat her normally,” he told the staff.
The instruction guaranteed nobody would.
Vanessa remained away.
Her attorneys communicated with Richard’s attorneys.
Richard filed for divorce.
He did not tell Lily the details.
He did tell her Vanessa would not be returning soon.
Lily asked, “Ever?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want her to?”
Richard took too long.
Lily noticed.
He said, “Part of me wants to understand what happened. That isn’t the same as wanting things to go back.”
Lily nodded.
“I don’t want her to come back.”
“You’re allowed to feel that.”
“She scared me.”
“I know.”
Richard hesitated.
“I’m sorry I didn’t protect you before.”
Lily looked confused.
“You weren’t there.”
He gave a small nod.
That answer stayed with him.
Elena could tell.
Two weeks after the confrontation, Claire was released from the hospital.
She arrived at the Hale mansion using crutches and carrying the blue shoe box in a grocery bag.
Richard met her at the door.
Claire was forty, thin from stress and hospital food, with Rebecca’s dark eyes and none of her softness.
She looked Richard up and down.
“You got older.”
“So did you.”
“You look expensive.”
“You look injured.”
“Excellent start.”
Lily ran down the hall.
“Aunt Claire!”
Claire dropped one crutch and nearly fell trying to hug her.
Richard caught her elbow.
She jerked away.
“Don’t.”
He released her immediately.
Lily wrapped both arms around Claire.
For several minutes, the blue shoe box sat forgotten on the foyer table.
That was the first thing about Claire that Richard seemed to respect.
She cared more about Lily than the evidence.
When Lily finally pulled away, Claire touched her face, checked both arms, then looked toward Elena.
“Thank you.”
Elena nodded.
Claire turned to Richard.
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Claire.”
“Fine.”
She picked up the grocery bag.
Richard stared at it.
Claire noticed.
“This is why I almost left it in the car.”
“I’m not going to grab it.”
“You want to.”
“Yes.”
“That’s something.”
They took the box into Richard’s office.
Lily stayed with Elena.
Claire set it on the desk.
The cardboard was faded blue. One corner had been crushed. A department-store logo on the lid had gone nearly white with age.
Richard did not touch it.
Claire sat carefully.
“She kept everything.”
Richard’s eyes remained on the box.
“Why?”
“Rebecca liked records.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“I know.”
Claire adjusted her injured leg.
“She spent years trying to decide whether to contact you. Every time she got close, she found a reason not to.”
“Vanessa?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
Claire looked at him.
“You.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“That’s convenient.”
“No. Convenient would be telling you Vanessa did all of it.”
Richard looked away.
Claire continued.
“She saw interviews with you. Articles. Your wedding announcement. That profile where you talked about how your wife had been your ‘constant partner’ through the worst years of your life.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“I remember.”
“Rebecca did too.”
“I didn’t know she was reading them.”
“Of course you didn’t.”
He looked at her.
Claire sighed.
“I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“You’re doing well for someone not trying.”
“She was hurt too.”
Richard sat behind the desk.
“Show me.”
Claire opened the box.
The first letter was dated six years and eight months earlier.
Rebecca’s handwriting leaned slightly right.
Richard recognized it immediately.
Claire passed him the page.
He read silently.
May you like
Elena stayed near the window.
She did not ask to see the letters.
