Chapter 8 - Catherine Finally Tells Claire Everything
Catherine lived in a small house near Portland’s working waterfront.
No mansion.
No staff.
No sign of sixty million dollars.
Claire stood on the porch for nearly a minute before knocking.
The door opened.
Catherine looked older than the photograph.
But there was no doubt.
Claire saw her own face thirty years into the future.
Neither woman spoke.
Then Catherine whispered, “My baby.”
Claire’s throat closed.
“I’m not a baby.”
Catherine laughed and cried at once.
“No.”
Claire did not hug her.
Not yet.
“Why didn’t you come back?”
Catherine closed her eyes.
“Come inside.”
Daniel remained outside with security.
Claire entered alone.
Photographs covered one wall.
Not of Claire.
Of coastlines, boats, strangers.
A life built elsewhere.
Catherine made tea neither of them drank.
“Eleanor raised me.”
“I know.”
“She loved me.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you let me believe she was my biological mother?”
“Because that was the safest story.”
“For who?”
“For you.”
Claire almost laughed.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“Everyone hurts me and calls it protection.”
Catherine flinched.
“You have every right to be angry.”
“Good.”
Claire sat across from her.
“Start with Adrian.”
Catherine told the story.
She had worked as a financial analyst for Vale Strategic.
Adrian was charismatic, married, and powerful.
Their affair began when she was twenty-three.
By the time she learned she was pregnant, she had also discovered
Adrian’s company was illegally surveilling business rivals and
collecting private information for wealthy clients.
“I copied files.”
“To blackmail him?”
“At first, to protect myself.”
“Then?”
“I threatened to expose him if he came near you.”
Claire folded her arms.
“He came anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Did he try to kill you?”
Catherine looked down.
“He ordered a car crash.”
Claire’s breath caught.
“You survived.”
“Barely.”
“Everyone thought you disappeared.”
“Robert arranged it.”
Claire stared.
“Daniel’s father.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He helped me enter a private protection program.”
“Not government?”
“No. Robert didn’t trust law enforcement because Adrian had contacts
everywhere.”
Claire thought about the message.
“What did Robert do to keep you away from me?”
Catherine’s eyes filled.
“He lied.”
Claire felt cold.
“About what?”
“Eleanor.”
“What?”
“After I recovered, I wanted to return.”
Catherine began crying.
“Robert told me Eleanor had changed her mind. He said she believed my
return would destabilize you.”
Claire stared.
“That doesn’t sound like Mom.”
“It wasn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Years later, I found letters Eleanor had sent me.”
“Where?”
“Robert’s attorney released them after his death.”
Claire stood.
“Robert kept my mother from you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Catherine shook her head.
“I never fully understood.”
Claire walked toward the window.
Daniel stood outside speaking with security.
“Did Daniel know?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Claire looked back.
“Why would Robert do it?”
Catherine answered carefully.
“Because Robert loved Eleanor.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
“They had been close before she married Richard.”
“How close?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire thought of Harbor House.
Robert helping Eleanor.
Robert controlling the trust.
Robert hiding Catherine.
Robert preventing Catherine from returning.
“He wanted Mom dependent on him.”
“Maybe.”
Claire felt sick.
Another man calling control protection.
“Did Eleanor love him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Richard know?”
“Yes.”
That explained some of the hatred between the men.
Claire sat again.
“Why did you stay away after Robert died?”
Catherine looked ashamed.
“By then Eleanor was dead.”
“So?”
“And Richard had raised you.”
Claire laughed sharply.
“Raised me?”
“I received reports.”
“From who?”
Catherine hesitated.
Claire knew before she answered.
“Victoria.”
Claire stood.
“You trusted Victoria?”
“She told me you were happy.”
Claire’s eyes filled with fury.
“She told you I was happy?”
“Yes.”
“I left college because Dad said we couldn’t afford it.”
Catherine covered her mouth.
“I worked in that mansion.”
“Oh God.”
“I served my sisters at parties.”
Catherine began sobbing.
Claire did not comfort her.
Not yet.
“You could have called.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
Claire’s voice broke.
“I thought my own father looked at me and saw something less valuable
than his other daughters.”
Catherine cried harder.
“I thought my mother left me nothing because I wasn’t worth planning
for.”
“Claire—”
“I thought I should be grateful for a bedroom in a house partly paid for
with my money.”
Catherine whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Claire wiped her face.
“Sorry is a beginning.”
Catherine nodded.
“Not an ending.”
“No.”
They sat in silence.
Then Catherine opened a drawer.
“I have something Eleanor wanted you to have.”
She removed a small wooden box.
Inside was a necklace.
A simple gold compass.
Claire recognized it.
Eleanor wore it in almost every childhood photograph.
Catherine placed it on the table.
“She sent it to me with a letter.”
“When?”
“Two weeks before she died.”
Claire unfolded the letter.
Catherine,
If you ever come back, do not ask Claire to choose between us.
Tell her she had two mothers who loved her badly in different ways, but
loved her completely.
Claire cried.
For the first time, she reached across the table.
Catherine took her hand.
Then Daniel knocked urgently.
Claire opened the door.
His face was grim.
“Victoria’s been found.”
“Where?”
“At the Hale mansion.”
Claire frowned.
“She went back?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at Catherine.
“She has Madison.”
Claire’s heart stopped.
“What do you mean?”
“Madison disappeared an hour ago.”
Daniel held up his phone.
A video showed Victoria inside the mansion’s library.
Madison sat behind her, crying.
Victoria looked into the camera.
“Claire, bring Catherine and the Whitmore files.”
Claire stared.
Victoria smiled.
May you like
“Or your sister finally learns what it feels like to be the forgotten
daughter.”
