Chapter 13 - What Emily Never Told Daniel
That evening, the house finally became quiet.
Noah fell asleep on the sofa beside Claire.
His head rested against her arm.
She did not move because she did not want to wake him.
Emily watched from across the room.
Her two children.
Together for the first time.
Daniel stood in the doorway.
Emily noticed him.
"We missed everything."
The words were barely audible.
Daniel nodded.
"First steps."
"First days of school."
"Birthdays."
"Everything."
Emily wiped her eyes.
"I used to imagine finding her."
"What happened after you did?"
"I panicked."
Daniel sat beside her.
"I don't know how to be her father."
Emily looked at him.
"Good."
He frowned.
"Good?"
"Because if you walked in thinking you did, I'd be worried."
For a moment they smiled at each other.
Then twenty years returned.
Daniel asked the question he had avoided.
"Why did you stop writing?"
Emily looked down.
"The first three years, I wrote every month."
"I know."
"The letters came back sometimes."
"Others disappeared."
"Then your father sent me photographs."
Daniel stiffened.
"Of what?"
"You."
"London."
"Parties."
"A woman you were dating."
Daniel remembered.
A brief relationship.
Meaningless.
Thomas had photographed it.
"He told me you had moved on."
Daniel closed his eyes.
"I hadn't."
"I know that now."
"Then Michael came into my life."
"Noah's father."
"Yes."
Emily smiled faintly.
"He was kind."
"He didn't try to save me."
"He just stayed."
Daniel felt a complicated ache.
Jealousy seemed disrespectful toward a dead man who had cared for Emily.
"I'm glad."
Emily looked surprised.
"I mean it."
"I wish he were here for Noah."
"So do I."
She looked toward their sleeping son.
Not their son.
Her son.
Daniel caught himself.
Noah had awakened something dangerous inside him.
Attachment.
Emily continued.
"Michael knew about you."
"Everything?"
"Most."
"Claire?"
"Everything."
"He helped me search."
Daniel absorbed another debt owed to a man he would never meet.
"Then he died."
Emily nodded.
"And Richard appeared eight months later."
"The money."
"Yes."
She rubbed her hands.
"I hated myself for taking it."
"You shouldn't."
"I signed his paper."
"You needed help."
"I needed leverage."
She looked at Daniel.
"And I needed him to believe I'd stopped."
Daniel understood.
"You used the settlement to fund the search."
"Every cent I could."
"Why didn't Richard realize?"
"I became careful."
She smiled without humor.
"I learned from rich people."
Daniel laughed quietly.
Then Emily's expression changed.
"There's something else."
He waited.
"When I found Claire, Richard wasn't the first person I contacted."
"Who was?"
"Your father."
Daniel frowned.
"He's dead."
"I know."
"Then what do you mean?"
Emily reached into her bag.
She removed a sealed letter.
"Thomas left this with his attorney."
"For me?"
"No."
"For Claire."
Daniel stared.
"How did you get it?"
"Harold Voss's daughter found it after he died."
"She contacted me six months ago."
"Why you?"
"Because my name was written on the outer envelope."
Emily handed it to him.
A second envelope inside read:
To Olivia, if the truth is ever discovered.
Claire woke when the paper moved.
She sat up.
Noah remained asleep.
"What's that?"
Daniel told her.
Claire stared at the handwriting.
"From my grandfather."
"Yes."
"The one who gave me away."
"Yes."
She took the envelope.
Her fingers trembled.
"Do I have to read it?"
"No."
That answer came from Daniel and Emily simultaneously.
Claire looked at both of them.
Then opened it.
The letter was four pages.
She read silently.
Her expression changed several times.
Anger.
Disbelief.
Sadness.
Finally she handed it to Daniel.
"I can't."
He read.
Thomas admitted everything.
He had believed Daniel's relationship with Emily would ruin his future.
He had arranged the adoption.
He had convinced himself Claire would have a better life with stable parents away from Mercer scrutiny.
Then regret began.
He created the trust when Claire turned one.
He secretly received updates.
Every year, he considered telling Daniel.
Every year, fear stopped him.
The final paragraph hurt most.
Daniel,
If you are reading this over Olivia's shoulder, then you know what I lacked courage to tell you.
I did not save your future.
I amputated part of it.
You may spend the rest of your life hating me.
You will be justified.
Daniel lowered the letter.
Emily whispered, "He knew."
"Yes."
"He knew what he did."
"Yes."
Claire stared at the floor.
"Does being sorry matter?"
Daniel thought for a long time.
"It matters."
Claire looked up.
"But?"
"It doesn't undo anything."
She nodded.
That answer satisfied her.
Noah stirred.
Then his eyes opened.
He looked around sleepily.
"Did we find Mom?"
Emily laughed through tears.
"I'm sitting right here."
"Oh."
He closed his eyes again.
Claire smiled.
Then Noah suddenly opened them.
"Wait."
Everyone looked at him.
"The gray car."
Daniel leaned forward.
"What about it?"
Noah sat upright.
"I remember where I saw it before."
"When?"
"The day Mom left."
"Where?"
"Outside school."
Daniel's pulse quickened.
Noah continued.
"The driver wasn't Uncle Richard."
"You've never met Richard properly."
"I saw his picture."
"Then who?"
Noah frowned.
"The man from Mom's work."
Emily went still.
"What man?"
"The one who came to your office."
Emily's face drained of color.
"Noah, what did he look like?"
"Bald."
"Glasses."
"Red tie."
Emily whispered one name.
"Leonard Pike."
Daniel stared.
"The hospital administrator?"
Emily nodded.
"The man who was paid to make Claire disappear."
Daniel remembered Ruth's story.
Leonard Pike had vanished from hospital records seventeen years ago.
Everyone assumed he had retired overseas.
Apparently he had not.
And Noah had seen him three days earlier.
May you like
Which meant Richard was not the only person trying to protect the past.
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