Chapter 3 - What Dad Knew
Emily could not breathe.
The handwriting was crooked, slightly slanted to the right. Her father always pressed too hard with a pen. Even grocery lists looked carved into the paper.
She reached for the envelope.
Claire pulled it back.
“Wait.”
Emily looked up.
Claire’s eyes were wet now. “You don’t understand.”
“Give it to me.”
“Dad was sick when he wrote this.”
“Give it to me.”
“He wasn’t thinking clearly.”
Grandma Evelyn stepped between them. “He wrote those letters six months before the accident.”
Daniel frowned. “Accident?”
The word landed strangely.
Their father, Thomas Bennett, had died when his car went off an icy road outside Hartford. The police said he had lost control.
Emily had been twenty-three. Claire had been twenty-six.
Patricia made a sharp sound. “Mother. Stop.”
Evelyn looked at her daughter. “I have stopped for eight years.”
The room around them had become a wall of silent faces.
Evelyn took Emily’s hand. “Not here.”
Claire laughed bitterly. “Oh, now you care about privacy?”
Daniel turned to the guests. “Everyone, please. Dinner is going to continue. Give us a few minutes.”
His best man jumped in quickly, guiding people back toward their tables.
Emily barely noticed.
They moved into a private bridal lounge off the ballroom: Emily, Claire, Daniel, Patricia, and Evelyn.
The door clicked shut.
Emily held out her hand.
Claire finally gave her the envelope.
The seal had been broken.
Emily looked at her sister.
“You read it.”
Claire looked away.
“You read my dead father’s letter.”
“I had to.”
“No. You wanted to.”
Emily opened the envelope with trembling fingers.
Inside was a single folded sheet.
My Em,
If you are reading this, then either I finally found the courage to tell you the truth, or I ran out of time.
Emily stopped.
Daniel quietly closed the second door leading to the hallway.
She continued.
You have spent your whole life believing you were the younger daughter who needed looking after. That is not the truth. You were the one I trusted.
The next paragraph made her knees weaken.
There is a property your mother and Claire do not know is legally controlled by you.
Emily looked up.
Patricia’s face had lost all color.
Claire whispered, “That’s why I needed you away from the family table.”
Emily stared at her. “What?”
Claire crossed her arms, trembling.
“Because the lawyer is here.”
Before Emily could ask which lawyer, there was a knock.
Daniel opened the door.
A gray-haired man in a charcoal suit stood outside holding a leather portfolio.
He looked directly at Emily.
“Ms. Bennett? I’ve been trying to reach you for three weeks.”
May you like
He glanced at Claire.
“And I believe someone has been intercepting my messages.”
