Chapter 5 - Margaret Planned to Split Them
Emma read the petition three times.
Noah to Michael.
Lily to Daniel.
Emma left with supervised contact until she completed a psychological
evaluation.
It was not signed.
It had never been filed.
But someone had drafted it.
The attorney’s name at the bottom was Gregory Shaw.
Margaret’s attorney.
Emma called her own lawyer immediately.
By evening, Gregory Shaw confirmed he had prepared a preliminary draft
based entirely on information Margaret supplied.
He believed both fathers were involved.
They were not.
Michael had never seen the petition.
Daniel could not be reached.
Emma’s fear sharpened.
Where was her husband?
Rachel admitted one more thing.
Margaret had instructed her to pick up Daniel’s mail while he was away.
“Why?”
“She said he asked.”
“Did he?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
Among the mail Rachel had taken was an overnight envelope from a
laboratory.
Emma demanded it back.
Rachel drove home and returned with it unopened.
The envelope was addressed to Daniel.
Emma did not open it.
Her attorney contacted Daniel and eventually reached him through his
company’s security office.
Daniel called twenty minutes later.
He sounded furious.
“I’m driving home.”
“Where are you?”
“The lake house.”
“Why did you lie about Chicago?”
Silence.
Emma’s anger rose.
“Daniel.”
“I was meeting someone.”
“Who?”
“My father.”
Emma frowned.
Daniel’s father, Arthur Carter, had supposedly died when Daniel was
seventeen.
At least that was what Margaret had always said.
Daniel whispered:
“He’s alive.”
Emma sat down.
Daniel had received an anonymous letter two months earlier claiming
Arthur Carter survived the boating accident that supposedly killed him.
Daniel quietly investigated.
Margaret discovered what he was doing.
Then she began telling Rachel and Michael that Daniel wanted to leave
Emma.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know if it was real.”
Emma almost laughed from exhaustion.
“You lied to protect me from uncertainty.”
Daniel went silent.
He heard the accusation inside the sentence.
“Yes.”
“Your mother lies to control people. You lied because you thought you
were protecting me. Do you understand how similar that feels from this
side?”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“I’m sorry.”
Emma looked at Lily asleep against her chest.
“Come home.”
“I’m already on the road.”
Then Daniel added:
“Emma, do not let Mom near that lab envelope.”
Emma looked at the unopened package.
“Why?”
“Because it contains the DNA test.”
May you like
The test that would prove whether the man at the lake house was really
Daniel’s father.
