Chapter 2 - THE DAUGHTER WHO NEVER STOPPED CALLING
Margaret brought them inside and locked the door.
The little girl introduced herself as Sophie. She removed her wet coat, placed the umbrella beside the wall and immediately began studying the photographs above the fireplace.
“That’s Mommy,” she said, pointing at Emily’s graduation picture.
Margaret sat slowly on the sofa.
Sophie was not merely similar to Emily. She had the same habit of pressing her lips together before asking a question and the same small crease beside her left eye when she smiled.
“Is she my granddaughter?” Margaret asked.
Daniel nodded.
“Emily wanted to tell you herself.”
“Then why didn’t she?”
Daniel remained standing. His clothes dripped onto the wooden floor, but he appeared unaware of it.
“Because six years ago, she discovered that someone had been intercepting every attempt she made to contact you.”
Margaret stared at him.
Daniel explained that after leaving home, Emily moved to Chicago and found work at a medical software company. She met Daniel there, and they married quietly eighteen months later.
Emily had been afraid Margaret would reject the marriage because Daniel came from the wealthy Cross family, whose company had recently become involved in a financial scandal. Their separation continued longer than either woman intended.
Then Emily became pregnant.
“She wrote to you,” Daniel said. “Dozens of times.”
“I never received anything.”
“She called this house too.”
“My number never changed.”
“Someone answered.”
Margaret felt cold.
“Who?”
“Your sister, Patricia.”
Margaret looked toward the kitchen, where a photograph of Patricia stood beside an old family portrait.
After Emily left, Patricia began visiting Margaret almost daily. She collected the mail when Margaret was sick, answered calls, managed bills and eventually persuaded Margaret to give her power of attorney.
Patricia had also been the person who informed her that Emily wanted no contact.
“She told Emily you had sold the house and moved,” Daniel continued. “She said you blamed Emily for your heart condition and would report her for harassment if she kept calling.”
Margaret shook her head.
“I never had a heart condition.”
“I know.”
“Why would Patricia do that?”
Daniel looked toward Sophie before answering.
“Because Emily discovered that Patricia had been stealing from your family trust.”
Margaret’s late husband had created the trust before his death. It contained the house, investments and shares in a small pharmaceutical laboratory he helped establish. Margaret received the income, while Emily would inherit the principal.
Patricia had volunteered to help administer it.
Margaret believed the investments had gradually failed. Patricia showed her statements documenting losses, medical expenses and taxes that consumed nearly everything.
According to Daniel, those records were false.
Emily learned about the theft after the software company she worked for analyzed suspicious transactions connected to one of Patricia’s accounts. She contacted a lawyer and began collecting proof.
“When Patricia found out Emily was pregnant,” Daniel said, “she realized Sophie would become another protected beneficiary.”
“So she told us both that the other wanted nothing to do with us.”
“That was only the beginning.”
Six years earlier, Emily arranged to meet Margaret secretly. She planned to bring the evidence and introduce Sophie, who was then only a baby.
Before she could arrive, Emily’s car was struck on the highway.
The vehicle burned badly enough that the first news reports listed her among the dead.
But Emily survived.
She suffered severe injuries and remained unconscious for nearly three months.
Patricia used the confusion to create a false death certificate, contact Margaret and convince her that Daniel had arranged a private funeral.
“Why didn’t you come here?” Margaret demanded.
“I tried.”
Daniel showed her photographs stored on his phone. One showed him standing on Margaret’s porch five years earlier. Another displayed a restraining order accusing him of threatening an elderly widow.
It carried Margaret’s forged signature.
“Patricia told the police I was attempting to steal the estate,” he said. “Every time I approached you, she used your legal authority to stop me.”
Margaret looked toward the hallway where years of unopened silence seemed to gather around her.
“And Emily?”
“She woke with memory loss. It took years for fragments to return. She remembered you, but Patricia convinced the hospital that contact would endanger your health.”
“Where is my daughter now?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“In a private clinic outside the city.”
“Take me to her.”
“I will. But first, Emily told me to give you the ring.”
Margaret opened the velvet box again.
May you like
Daniel gently lifted the interior lining.
Beneath it was a tiny brass key.
