Chapter 5
The message changed everything.
Emma stared at the screen.
“Grandma Margaret is alive?”
I looked at her.
“Why wouldn't she be?”
“Dad said she died.”
Daniel and I exchanged a glance.
“When?” I asked.
“Two years ago.”
I felt a cold pressure in my chest.
“He told you that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Emma shook her head.
“He said one reason he finally contacted me was because Grandma died and he realized life was too short.”
Daniel muttered something under his breath.
I turned.
“What?”
“He's building a story.”
Emma stiffened.
“Don't start.”
Daniel softened his voice.
“I'm sorry.”
She looked back at the photograph.
The unknown sender had attached an address.
Bowling Green, Kentucky.
A rehabilitation and nursing center.
I recognized the city.
Margaret had moved somewhere near there years ago.
I called the facility immediately.
A woman answered.
I asked whether Margaret Carter was a resident.
She couldn't give me medical information.
But when I said I was family and wanted to leave a message, she transferred me.
The phone rang four times.
Then a weak voice said, “Hello?”
I nearly dropped the phone.
“Margaret?”
Silence.
“Who is this?”
“Rachel.”
Another silence.
Longer this time.
“Oh, dear God.”
My skin prickled.
“Margaret, did you send a message to Emma?”
“No.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Then someone sent us a picture of you.”
Margaret's breathing changed.
“Is Jason there?”
“No.”
“Is Emma?”
I glanced at my daughter.
“Yes.”
“Don't let Jason take her anywhere.”
Emma heard.
Her face went pale.
“Why?” I asked.
Margaret's voice trembled.
“Because I made the same mistake you did.”
“What mistake?”
“I believed he'd changed.”
Emma covered her mouth.
“Margaret, what happened?”
“Not over the phone.”
“Someone told us to come see you.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Then don't trust them.”
I looked at the address.
“Are you at Green Meadows?”
“Yes.”
“Can we come?”
A pause.
Then, quietly, “Tomorrow morning.”
Emma shook her head furiously.
“Tonight.”
I covered the phone.
“It's almost nine.”
“I don't care.”
Margaret heard her.
“Emma?”
My daughter froze.
Grandmother and granddaughter had not spoken in almost a decade.
Emma took the phone.
“Hi.”
Margaret began crying.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Emma's face crumpled.
“Dad said you died.”
A broken sound came through the phone.
“He told you what?”
Emma repeated it.
Margaret was silent.
Then she said, “Come tonight.”
We were on the road fifteen minutes later.
Daniel offered to stay behind.
Emma surprised me.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I want you there.”
“Okay.”
“But don't lie.”
“I won't.”
The drive took nearly an hour.
Emma watched the darkness through the window.
I drove.
Daniel sat quietly beside me.
Halfway there, my phone rang.
Jason.
I answered through the car speaker.
“Where are you?”
No hello.
No apology.
Just anger.
“Why?”
“Where is Emma?”
“With me.”
“I asked where.”
Emma looked at me.
I said, “We're going to see your mother.”
Silence.
Then Jason shouted.
“Turn around.”
Daniel's body tensed.
“Why?” I asked.
“My mother is sick.”
“She seems lucid enough.”
“You don't know her.”
“I knew her for five years.”
“Rachel, listen to me.”
“No.”
“She hates me.”
“That doesn't mean she's lying.”
“You have no idea what she did.”
Emma leaned forward.
“Dad?”
Jason stopped.
“Baby, are you okay?”
“Why did you tell me Grandma died?”
He didn't answer.
“Dad?”
“It's complicated.”
Emma laughed bitterly.
“That seems to be everyone's favorite sentence.”
“Emma—”
“Why did you lie?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The same words he had used.
Emma noticed too.
“From what?”
Jason's voice became urgent.
“My mother manipulated me my entire life.”
“So?”
“She'll manipulate you.”
“Did she die?”
“No.”
“Then you lied.”
“Emma—”
She reached forward and ended the call.
No one spoke for the next ten miles.
When we arrived at Green Meadows, Margaret was waiting in a small family room.
She looked nothing like the woman I remembered.
She had lost weight.
Her gray hair was thin.
Oxygen tubing rested beneath her nose.
But her eyes were the same.
Sharp.
Blue.
Unmistakably Jason's.
Emma stopped in the doorway.
Margaret started crying.
“My baby.”
Emma didn't move.
“You let me think you were dead.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
“I didn't know.”
“You never called me.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
Margaret looked at me.
“Years ago.”
I frowned.
“I never got anything.”
“I sent letters.”
“To where?”
“Your old apartment.”
“We moved.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn't you send them to the new address?”
Margaret's eyes dropped.
“Jason told me not to.”
Emma laughed without humor.
“So everyone just did what Dad said?”
Margaret winced.
“Too often.”
Daniel remained near the door.
Margaret looked at him.
“You came.”
He nodded.
“You knew I would eventually tell them?”
“I hoped you would.”
I turned sharply.
“You've spoken to her?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not in nine years.”
Margaret nodded.
“He's telling the truth.”
Emma sat down.
“Can somebody please start telling me everything?”
Margaret looked at her granddaughter.
“Your father loved you.”
Emma's eyes filled instantly.
I watched her lean forward.
Margaret continued.
“But love was never Jason's problem.”
“What was?”
“He loved people and still hurt them.”
Jason's mother's voice shook.
“He loved me. He stole from me.”
Emma glanced at me.
“He loved Rachel. He lied to her.”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“He was jealous of Daniel before there was anything to be jealous of.”
Daniel stiffened.
Margaret nodded.
“Jason noticed the way Daniel looked at Rachel at a company picnic.”
I turned toward Daniel.
He looked away.
“Jason came home furious,” Margaret said.
“He told me another man wanted his girlfriend.”
I whispered, “He never said anything.”
“Jason didn't want you to know he was afraid.”
“Afraid of Daniel?”
“Afraid of losing.”
That sounded exactly like him.
Margaret coughed.
I handed her water.
She took a sip.
“Your father had been gambling,” she told Emma.
“He owed money to several people. Some weren't the kind you wanted showing up at your door.”
Emma's face had gone pale.
“He stole Mom's money?”
“Yes.”
Margaret didn't soften it.
“He told me he was borrowing it.”
Emma looked down.
“Then why did he leave?”
“Because Rachel was going to find out.”
I stared at Margaret.
“That night?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“He called me.”
My heart pounded.
“What did he say?”
“He said he'd ruined everything.”
She looked at Daniel.
“He said Daniel was driving him to the bus station.”
Emma turned toward him.
Daniel nodded.
Margaret continued.
“I begged Jason to come to my house instead.”
“Why didn't he?”
“He said if he stayed in Nashville, he'd do something stupid.”
Daniel's story.
Exactly.
Emma swallowed.
“Like take me?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“He said if Rachel wouldn't forgive him, maybe he'd take you and make her understand what it felt like to lose someone.”
Emma turned white.
I grabbed her hand.
Margaret began crying.
“I told him if he touched you, I would call the police myself.”
Emma whispered, “Did he mean it?”
“I don't know.”
“That isn't good enough.”
“No.”
Margaret wiped her face.
“It isn't.”
Daniel spoke for the first time.
“What happened six months later?”
Margaret looked at him.
“I called you.”
“Yes.”
“I regret that.”
I turned to her.
“Why?”
“Because I started the thing that poisoned all of you.”
“What thing?”
Margaret looked at Emma.
“Jason came back asking me for money. I refused.”
“Then he contacted Daniel,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Why not me?”
“Because he knew Rachel would call the police.”
Jason's own mother said it without hesitation.
Emma's face crumpled.
Margaret continued.
“He wanted money from Daniel because he knew Daniel cared about you both.”
Emma stared at her.
“Did Daniel pay him to stay away?”
Margaret hesitated.
Daniel said, “Tell her.”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
Emma pulled her hand from mine.
Daniel stepped forward.
“But not because I wanted to steal you.”
Margaret looked at him.
“You paid Jason because I begged you.”
I froze.
“What?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
Margaret began to cry again.
“I told Daniel Jason owed dangerous people. I told him if Jason didn't get the money, those people might come looking for him.”
“Why would Daniel care?”
“Because I told him Jason might come for Emma.”
Daniel nodded.
“I believed her.”
Emma looked devastated.
“You still paid him to leave.”
Daniel's voice cracked.
“Yes.”
“But the letter?” I asked.
Margaret frowned.
“What letter?”
I explained.
She shook her head.
“Daniel never wrote anything like that.”
“How can you know?”
“Because I wrote the agreement.”
My mouth went dry.
“What agreement?”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“You didn't keep it?”
“I thought you did.”
Margaret stared at him.
Then turned toward us.
“There was a signed agreement Jason made before Daniel transferred the money.”
Emma leaned forward.
“What did it say?”
“That the money was a loan.”
Daniel nodded.
“And Jason agreed to enter treatment.”
Margaret continued.
“He also agreed not to contact Rachel or Emma while he was using drugs.”
Emma blinked.
“Not forever?”
“No.”
“Not because Daniel wanted to be my father?”
“No.”
Emma's breathing became uneven.
“But Dad showed me the letter.”
“Then your father showed you a lie.”
Emma stood.
“No.”
“Emma—”
“No.”
She paced across the room.
“He had proof.”
“Forged proof,” Margaret said.
“How do you know?”
“Because Jason did this before.”
Everyone went quiet.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Margaret looked toward the hallway.
Then lowered her voice.
“He forged my signature eight years ago.”
“For what?”
“To get money from my retirement account.”
My stomach turned.
Emma looked like she might be sick.
Margaret reached for her.
Emma didn't move closer.
“Sweetheart, your father is not evil.”
“Please stop saying he loves me.”
Margaret's hand dropped.
“I don't care if he loves me if everything he says is a lie.”
The words filled the room.
No one knew what to say.
Then Margaret looked at me.
“There is something else.”
Of course there was.
“What?”
She glanced at Daniel.
“He doesn't know this part.”
Daniel frowned.
Margaret looked at Emma.
“The night Jason left Nashville the first time, he didn't go directly to the bus station.”
Daniel straightened.
“Yes, he did.”
“No.”
“I dropped him there.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
Margaret's voice weakened.
“Someone picked him up.”
“Who?”
She looked at me.
“A woman.”
My chest tightened.
“Who?”
“Her name was Claire Bennett.”
The name meant nothing to me.
But Daniel went completely still.
I looked at him.
“You know her?”
He didn't answer.
“Daniel?”
His face had lost all color.
“Yes.”
Margaret whispered, “Tell her.”
I turned toward my husband.
“Who is Claire Bennett?”
May you like
Daniel stared at me.
Then said, “My sister.”
