Claire took one step toward Evelyn.
“They’re my parents, not criminals!”
“Then they should have behaved like guests, not invaders.”
Megan, one of Claire’s cousins, stood from a side table.
“Well, everyone knows that estate is rotting away empty. She doesn’t even use all the rooms.”
Daniel’s aunt Susan slammed her palm onto the table.
“Henry built that estate with thirty years of work. It is not storage space for opportunists.”
The comment set the ballroom on fire. Some guests began talking among themselves. Others kept recording. Claire, seeing the phones, pressed one hand to her chest as if she had just been att:acked.
“See?” she said, whining. “His family hated me from the beginning.”
Evelyn looked at her without blinking.
“No, Claire. From the beginning, you confused my manners with permission.”
Daniel moved closer to his mother, this time quieter, more desperate.
“I was going to explain it after the honeymoon. I thought that once they were already settled in, you would accept it. It was just easier that way.”
Evelyn felt that sentence hurt more than the last one.
“Easier for whom?”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“For everyone.”
“No. For you. So you wouldn’t have to hear no.”
Evelyn studied him closely.
“Where did they get keys?”
Daniel looked away.
Claire stopped crying.
The answer was there, hanging between the three of them.
“Daniel,” Evelyn said. “Where did they get keys to my house?”
He took a deep breath.
“I made a copy from your purse during the rehearsal dinner. Just the side entrance key and the guest wing key.”
