Chapter 11 - Emily Was Protecting Another Secret
Emily was twenty-two.
Quiet.
Polite.
The sister who had said almost nothing in the ballroom.
Claire found her sitting in Samuel’s office with Richard beside her.
Richard looked exhausted.
Emily looked terrified.
“Why?” Claire asked.
Emily began crying.
“I didn’t mean to burn the house.”
“You started a fire.”
“I burned papers.”
“What papers?”
Emily looked at Richard.
He shook his head.
Claire noticed.
“Dad, stop.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Emily answered.
“Adoption papers.”
Claire stared.
“Whose?”
Emily whispered, “Mine.”
Claire sat.
Richard looked toward the window.
Emily continued.
“I found them last year.”
“Are you adopted?”
“Yes.”
“Does Victoria know?”
“She arranged it.”
Claire felt another secret approaching.
“Who are your biological parents?”
Emily looked at her.
“I don’t know my father.”
“And your mother?”
Emily’s voice broke.
“Eleanor.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“My Eleanor?”
Emily nodded.
“That’s impossible.”
Richard finally spoke.
“No.”
Claire turned.
“Mom couldn’t have children.”
“That’s what doctors told us.”
“Then?”
“Years later, after treatment for another condition, she became pregnant
unexpectedly.”
Claire stared.
“When?”
“Shortly before her cancer diagnosis.”
The timeline struck her.
Emily was eleven years younger than Claire.
Eleanor had died when Claire was sixteen.
Emily would have been five.
Claire remembered a small blond child visiting the house before Victoria
married Richard.
She had been told Emily was Victoria’s niece.
Later, Victoria and Richard presented her as their youngest daughter.
Claire looked at Emily.
“You’re my sister.”
Emily cried.
“Yes.”
“Why hide it?”
Richard answered.
“Eleanor was terrified Adrian would learn she had another child
connected to Catherine’s family.”
Claire frowned.
“Emily wasn’t Catherine’s child.”
“No. But Adrian believed Eleanor still had his files.”
“So Mom hid Emily’s identity.”
“Yes.”
“Then after Mom died?”
“Victoria adopted her.”
Claire looked at Richard.
“You’re her biological father?”
Richard nodded.
That answer hurt differently.
Richard had one biological daughter with Eleanor.
Emily.
Yet he had treated Claire, Eleanor’s adopted daughter, as lesser.
Claire’s voice shook.
“Did you resent me because I wasn’t yours?”
Richard looked horrified.
“No.”
“Then why?”
He sat down.
“Because every time I looked at you, I saw Catherine.”
Claire waited.
“And Catherine reminded you of what?”
“Everything Eleanor kept from me.”
Claire understood.
She had become a symbol inside someone else’s marriage.
Richard continued.
“After Eleanor died, I learned she and Robert had hidden Catherine, your
trust, the Vale files—everything.”
“So you punished me.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Richard’s face collapsed.
“Yes.”
Claire had waited years for him to admit it.
The admission brought no satisfaction.
Emily wiped her face.
“I burned the papers because Michael contacted me.”
Claire turned.
“What?”
“He said if police found out I was Eleanor’s biological daughter, I
could be pulled into the trust dispute.”
“He lied.”
“I know now.”
“What did he want?”
“The adoption records destroyed.”
Daniel, standing near the door, frowned.
“Why would Michael care?”
Samuel answered.
“Because Emily has standing.”
Claire looked at him.
“For what?”
“If Claire had failed beneficiary verification, Eleanor’s biological
child could have inherited certain residual assets.”
Emily shook her head.
“I don’t want money.”
Claire believed her.
Daniel asked, “Did Michael tell you to start the fire?”
“No. He told me to destroy the papers.”
“So you burned them in your room.”
“Yes.”
“The curtains caught?”
Emily nodded.
“I panicked.”
Claire sat beside her.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Emily looked at Richard.
“Because this family teaches you that secrets keep you safe.”
Richard closed his eyes.
The sentence landed exactly where it needed to.
Claire took Emily’s hand.
“You could have killed yourself.”
“I know.”
“Or Madison.”
“I know.”
“Or firefighters.”
Emily cried harder.
“I’m sorry.”
Claire did not say it was okay.
It was not.
But she held her sister’s hand.
“You tell investigators exactly what happened.”
Richard started to speak.
Claire looked at him.
He stopped.
Emily nodded.
“I will.”
Later, Daniel and Claire walked through Boston Common.
Spring had begun softening the trees.
“You have four sisters now,” Daniel said.
Claire smiled.
“Three half-sisters and one… complicated sister.”
“Family math.”
“Terrible subject.”
Daniel laughed.
Claire looked at him.
“Why are you still here?”
He slowed.
“What do you mean?”
“You delivered the letter. You helped with the trust. The danger is
mostly over.”
Daniel looked ahead.
“Do you want me to leave?”
Claire considered the question.
“No.”
“Then that’s why.”
She smiled.
It was the first answer in weeks that did not contain a hidden clause.
They walked another block.
Then Daniel stopped.
“I should tell you something before somebody finds it in a box.”
Claire laughed.
“Excellent opening.”
Daniel became serious.
“My father didn’t choose me randomly as your guardian.”
Claire waited.
“He wrote me a letter too.”
“When?”
“Before he died.”
“What did it say?”
Daniel looked at her.
“That Eleanor hoped, when you were older, you and I might find each
other.”
Claire stared.
“Find each other how?”
Daniel’s face reddened slightly.
Claire’s eyes widened.
“Oh.”
“It wasn’t an arranged marriage.”
“Good.”
“He just believed we would understand each other.”
Claire smiled.
“Your father was extremely confident for a man hiding everybody’s mail.”
Daniel laughed.
“Yes.”
Claire looked at him for a long moment.
Then she said:
“Maybe we should decide that part without help from dead parents.”
May you like
Daniel smiled.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
