Chapter 6
Lily’s paternal grandparents were named Robert and Ellen Carter.
Dad asked Lily whether she wanted to meet them.
She didn’t answer immediately.
“What if they don’t like me?”
Dad smiled sadly.
“They already love you.”
“How?”
“They’ve been trying to know you for years.”
Lily thought about that.
Then she looked at me.
“Will Ethan come?”
Dad glanced at Rachel.
Rachel nodded.
“If Lily wants.”
“I want.”
So two days later, we met Robert and Ellen at Rachel’s office.
Ellen started crying before Lily even entered the room.
She covered her mouth with both hands.
“Oh my goodness.”
Lily stopped.
I stood beside her.
Robert had gray hair and the kind of face that looked serious even when he smiled.
He didn’t rush toward Lily.
Neither did Ellen.
They let her decide.
Ellen whispered, “Hi, Lily.”
Lily looked at Dad.
Dad nodded.
Then Lily walked forward.
Ellen knelt.
“You look so much like Ryan.”
Lily’s face changed.
Nobody had ever told her that before.
“Really?”
“Exactly around the eyes.”
Ellen opened a bag.
She took out a photograph.
A young man stood beside a lake holding a fish.
He had Lily’s brown eyes.
Her nose.
Even the same little crooked smile.
“That’s him?”
“That’s your dad.”
Lily touched the picture.
I expected her to cry.
Instead she smiled.
“He looks funny.”
Robert laughed.
“He was funny.”
For the next hour, they told stories.
Ryan hated broccoli.
Ryan loved baseball.
Ryan once broke his arm jumping from a shed because he thought an umbrella would work like a parachute.
Lily laughed harder than I had heard her laugh since Amanda left.
Then Ellen opened another folder.
Birthday cards.
Every single one addressed to Lily.
Age three.
Age four.
Age five.
Age six.
Some envelopes had RETURN TO SENDER written across them.
Others had unopened postal labels.
Lily touched them.
“You sent these?”
“Every year.”
“Mom said nobody from my dad’s family wanted me.”
Ellen’s face broke.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
Robert stared at the floor.
Dad looked furious with himself.
“I should have checked.”
Robert looked at him.
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
“You trusted your wife.”
Dad laughed bitterly.
“That’s becoming an expensive sentence.”
Rachel gave him a warning look because Lily and I were there.
Then Robert asked if he could talk privately.
The adults moved to the conference table while Lily and I sat nearby looking through photographs.
I tried not to listen.
I failed.
Robert said, “She asked us for money immediately after Ryan died.”
Dad’s chair shifted.
“How much?”
“At first, help with rent. We gave it willingly. Then preschool. Medical bills. Things for Lily.”
“That sounds normal.”
“It was.”
Robert paused.
“Then the requests changed.”
“How?”
“Cash only. No receipts. She said if we questioned her, we wouldn’t see Lily.”
Ellen added, “We finally insisted on paying expenses directly.”
“And she cut you off?”
“Yes.”
Rachel asked, “Do you have records?”
Robert almost laughed.
“I have every email.”
Rachel looked at Dad.
“That may establish a pattern.”
I didn’t know what pattern meant legally.
I knew what it meant in our house.
Money disappeared.
People disappeared.
Amanda told stories explaining why.
The stories always made her the victim.
At home that evening, Dad made spaghetti.
He burned the garlic bread.
Lily said it tasted like charcoal.
Dad ate two pieces to prove it was edible.
I laughed.
For ten minutes, our kitchen felt normal again.
Then the doorbell rang.
Dad stopped smiling.
He checked the camera on his phone.
A delivery driver stood outside holding flowers.
Dad opened the door carefully.
The driver handed him a huge arrangement of white roses.
There was no name.
Only a card.
Dad read it.
Then he immediately took the flowers outside.
“What did it say?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
That meant something.
Rachel arrived twenty minutes later.
She wore sweatpants and looked annoyed.
Dad handed her the card.
I caught the words before she turned it over.
SORRY ABOUT CLAIRE.
THE WRONG MOTHER DIED.
My whole body went cold.
Dad saw my face.
He knew I had read it.
“Ethan.”
I backed away.
I knew Amanda hated me.
But that message felt different.
It mentioned my mother.
Someone wanted Dad hurt.
Rachel called police.
Officer Collins returned.
She put the card into a plastic evidence bag.
“Did Amanda know details about Claire?”
Dad nodded.
“She knew everything.”
“Friends? Family? Anniversary of death?”
“Yes.”
“Could someone else know?”
“Anyone who follows our family online knows Claire died.”
Officer Collins looked at the flowers.
“They were ordered online using a prepaid card.”
“Can you trace it?”
“We’ll try.”
That night I slept in Dad’s room.
Not because he asked.
Because I stood in the hallway until he lifted the blanket.
Lily climbed in ten minutes later.
Dad ended up on one edge.
I was in the middle.
Lily kicked everyone.
At three in the morning, I woke because Dad’s phone buzzed.
He looked at it.
Then got out of bed.
I watched through half-closed eyes.
He went into the hallway.
“Rachel?”
Silence.
Then his posture changed.
“When?”
Another silence.
“Was anyone hurt?”
I sat up.
Dad saw me.
He lowered his voice, but it was too late.
The police had gone to Amanda’s temporary apartment.
She was gone.
Her suitcase was gone.
Her car was gone.
And according to the building manager, she had left with another woman.
Nobody knew where.
Rachel thought the woman might be Amanda’s older sister.
Monica.
Dad returned to bed.
“Is Mom gone?” Lily whispered.
Dad froze.
She had been awake too.
“We don’t know where she is.”
Lily sat up.
“Is she coming here?”
“No.”
“You don’t know that.”
Dad had no answer.
By sunrise, police had issued a notice for Amanda to contact them about violating the temporary court order by leaving the county without updating her address.
It wasn’t an arrest warrant.
Not yet.
Then Robert Carter called.
Someone had broken into his house overnight.
Nothing expensive was taken.
No jewelry.
No electronics.
May you like
Only one thing was missing.
The box containing copies of Amanda’s letters.
