“I had loved her for years.”
“Then why say the reason was worse than I thought?”
“Because she also asked me to help expose your father. She believed he had killed Evelyn, stolen from both of you, and falsified medical documents to control her life. Marrying Rosie meant tying myself to a dangerous investigation.”
“You could have told me.”
“She made me promise not to.”
“And you always keep her promises?”
His eyes lowered.
“Not always.”
“What did you break?”
He reached into his jacket and removed another folded paper.
“Rosie told me never to show you this unless she woke up.”
I almost laughed.
“That promise lasted well.”
“I’m done keeping secrets that put you in danger.”
The page was a copy of a birth certificate.
My name was typed at the top.
Claire Elise Vale.
Mother: Laura Margaret Vale.
Father: Samuel Thomas Vale.
I stared at it.
“Laura Vale was the woman in the car.”
