Not some distant cousin. Michael’s wife.
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***
The house was forty minutes away.
Rebecca opened the door and froze. “Laura?”
“So this is where you disappeared to.”
Her face drained. “How did you find me?”
“Michael.”
For the first time, Rebecca looked frightened. “Who told you that name?”
That’s disgusting.
“Daniel’s mother.”
She closed her eyes. “Of course.”
“What does that mean?”
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Rebecca glanced behind her, then stepped aside. “You should come in.”
That scared me more than if she’d slammed the door.
But what I learned inside would prove that almost everything I’d assumed was wrong.
Rebecca looked frightened.
She led me into the living room.
I didn’t sit.
I dropped the transfers onto the coffee table. “Eighteen years.”
“Laura…”
“Three hundred. Five hundred. A thousand. Sometimes more. Almost every month.”
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Almost everything I’d assumed was wrong.
“Yes.”
“And Lily was in Daniel’s will.”
Her eyes lifted.
“I saw her name after he died. His mother told me she was some distant cousin.”
“She told you that?”
Eighteen years.
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“You sound surprised.”
“I didn’t know what Daniel had told his family.”
“Well, I believed her. Until Ethan’s letter.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop apologizing and answer me.” I pushed the will toward her. “Was Lily Daniel’s daughter?”
You sound surprised.
Rebecca went quiet.
“Ethan wrote that Lily was Daniel’s daughter.”
Rebecca’s eyes dropped to the letter. “I know.”
“So tell me he was right.”
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“He knew she wasn’t.”
I stared at her. “What?”
Ethan wrote that Lily was Daniel’s daughter.
“By the time he wrote that letter, Ethan knew the truth.”
“Then why would he lie to me?”
“Because he wanted you to come looking for me.”
My anger flared. “He could’ve just told me.”
“No. He promised me he wouldn’t put the whole truth in that letter.”
He knew she wasn’t.
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“Why?”
Rebecca finally looked at me.
“Because some of it wasn’t his secret to tell.”
“Then whose daughter is Lily?”
She didn’t answer.
I thought about the business records. The obituary.
He wanted you to come looking for me.
The name that had frightened her at the door.
“Michael.”
Her face changed.
And suddenly I knew I had finally asked the right question.
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“What did Daniel do to him?”
Some of it wasn’t his secret to tell.
“You found the company.”
“I found enough to know Daniel lied about when Michael died.”
“He told you Michael died before you met?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca gave a bitter little laugh. “Of course he did.”
I had finally asked the right question.
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“He also told me Michael stole from him.”
“He didn’t.”
Two words, and another piece of my marriage cracked open.
“What happened?”
“Daniel and Michael started the company together. Then Daniel made an investment behind Michael’s back.”
Another piece of my marriage cracked open.
“How bad?”
