“So that’s when you learned what happened to her?”
Nathan nodded.
“We didn’t know she was dead.”
I could barely believe what I was hearing.
“Your sister died three years ago.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I know. We should have tried harder to reach her.”
“You certainly should have.”
“We sent letters to this address through our attorney.”
I immediately thought about the unopened envelopes sitting in my kitchen drawer.
I’d received so much unwanted correspondence since the funeral that I’d stopped opening anything I didn’t recognize.
But I wasn’t ready to trust this stranger.
“What exactly do you want?”
Nathan looked toward the staircase.
“Our father is very ill. His doctors don’t believe he has much time left.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
The words were polite, but I felt no sympathy.
“Meredith and I want Ellie to meet him while there’s still time.”
I frowned.
“And does he want to meet her?”
Nathan was silent.
Finally, he answered.
“He says he doesn’t.”
I couldn’t believe it.
“Then why are you standing in my house?”
“Because I don’t think he means it.”
I shook my head.
“That’s not good enough.”
Nathan explained that their father had spent years refusing to speak Claire’s name.
He was proud, stubborn, and unwilling to admit mistakes.
But Nathan believed the old man regretted how he’d treated his daughter.
“He just doesn’t know how to make things right,” Nathan said.
“Then he should have learned before his daughter died.”
Nathan lowered his eyes.
“You’re right.”
I studied him carefully.
“Are you here to take Ellie away from me?”
His head snapped up.
“What? Absolutely not.”
“You come from a wealthy family. You have lawyers, money, and connections. I’m a seventy-year-old woman living in a house that needs repairs. What exactly am I supposed to think?”
“Nobody wants to take her from you. I promise.”
“Promises are easy.”
He reached into his coat pocket and removed a small velvet pouch.
“Meredith asked me to give you this.”
I already knew what was inside.
The diamond ring.
I stepped backward.
“I don’t want it.”
“Please. It belongs to Ellie. You can keep it safe until she’s older.”
He placed the pouch on the little table beside my front door.
Then he left.
I locked the door and sat at the kitchen table, staring at the pouch.
Suddenly, everything I’d worked so hard to protect felt uncertain.
What if these people tried to take Ellie?
They had money.
Influence.
Attorneys.
All I had was an aging house, a modest income, and a little girl who depended on me for everything.
A few minutes later, Ellie came downstairs holding her stuffed rabbit.
“Grandma? Who was at the door?”
“Someone looking for a different house,” I lied.
She accepted the answer without question.
Then she placed a drawing in front of me.
It showed four stick figures.
Two were standing together.
Two were floating above them, surrounded by stars.
“That’s you and me,” she explained. “And those are Mommy and Daddy watching us from heaven.”
My throat tightened.
“It’s beautiful, sweetheart.”
She climbed into the chair beside me.
“Grandma?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think our family will ever be bigger?”
I looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
She hugged her rabbit.
“Other kids have aunts and uncles and cousins. I love living with you, but sometimes I wish we had more people.”
I pulled her close.
“I know, darling.”
She leaned against my shoulder.
“Maybe someday?”
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I looked toward the velvet pouch.
For the first time, I wondered whether keeping Ellie away from Claire’s relatives would protect her or deprive her of something she’d been missing.
But I refused to expose her to a man who had rejected her mother without first learning the truth.
So I decided to meet him alone.
Later that morning, my phone rang.
The number was unfamiliar.
“Hello?”
“Is this Margaret?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Meredith. We met at Walmart yesterday.”
I sat up straighter.
“What do you want?”
“Please, before you make any decisions, I need to explain something.”
“Your brother already came here.”
“I know.”
“Was he lying to me?”
“Not exactly. But Nathan doesn’t know everything.”
I gripped the phone.
“Then tell me what he left out.”
“I’d rather speak in person. I’m at St. Luke’s Hospital.”
“Why should I believe anything you say?”
Meredith hesitated.
“You shouldn’t trust me yet. But there’s something involving Claire and your son that I think you deserve to know.”
My heart began pounding.
“My son?”
“Yes.”
I arranged for my neighbor, Pat, to watch Ellie.
Then I drove to the hospital.
Meredith was sitting alone in the cafeteria, staring at an untouched cup of coffee.
She looked exhausted.
When she saw me, she stood immediately.
“Thank you for coming.”
I didn’t sit.
“Have you been watching my granddaughter?”
Her expression changed.
Finally, she nodded.
“For three days.”
I felt my stomach twist.
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to approach you, but I couldn’t find the courage.”
I pulled out a chair.
“Tell me everything.”
Meredith explained that she’d been preparing to introduce herself to us in Walmart.
But just as she approached the candy aisle, she noticed a man standing near the entrance.
Their father’s driver.
Frank.
“He was there to bring me home,” she explained.
“Why?”
“Dad realized I’d taken the ring. He knew I was going to find Ellie.”
“So he sent someone to stop you?”
“Yes.”
Meredith’s eyes filled.
“I panicked. I hid the ring behind some candy before Frank could see it. He made me leave, but I convinced him to let me go back inside for my purse.”
“And that’s when Ellie found it?”
She nodded.
“I couldn’t believe it.”
I remembered how frightened she’d looked when her phone rang.
“That call you received?”
“My father. He was furious.”
I folded my arms.
“You told Ellie she’d saved your life.”
Meredith wiped her eyes.
“She saved the one thing my mother wanted Claire’s child to have.”
I looked away.
Meredith continued.
“I already failed Claire once. I couldn’t bear failing her daughter too.”
“What do you mean?”
“A year before Claire died, she wrote me a letter. She wanted to reconnect.”
“And?”
“I never answered.”
“Why not?”
Meredith stared at her coffee.
“Dad threatened to cut off anyone who contacted her. Financial support, jobs in the family company, even money for my children’s education.”
I felt a surge of anger.
“So you chose your father’s money over your own sister.”
Her face crumpled.
“Yes,” she whispered. “And I’ve regretted it ever since.”
For several moments, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked the question that had been haunting me.
“What did Claire do that was so unforgivable?”
Meredith looked up.
“She married Daniel.”
I stared at her.
“My son?”
“Our father wanted Claire to marry someone wealthy and influential. Daniel wasn’t from that world.”
My jaw tightened.
“Daniel worked hard every day.”
“I know.”
“He repaired school buses. He was honest, responsible, and devoted to his family.”
Meredith nodded.
“Claire told me that in her letter.”
I felt tears burning behind my eyes.
“Your father rejected his daughter because she married a mechanic?”
“He said Daniel had no future. He insulted him right in front of her.”
I pushed my chair back.
“My son was worth more than all your father’s money.”
“I believe you.”
Meredith hesitated.
“There’s something else.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“When I finally told Dad that Claire had died, he said something I haven’t been able to forget.”
“What did he say?”
“Two words. ‘I know.’”
I went cold.
“He knew?”
Meredith nodded.
“He already knew.”
I thought about the funeral.
Eleven people had attended.
Not one member of Claire’s family.
I had assumed they didn’t know.
But now I understood that at least one of them had.
“Where is your father?” I asked.
Meredith looked nervous.
“Margaret—”
“Where?”
“Room 412.”
I stood.
“Stay here.”
The man lying in the hospital bed looked nothing like the powerful businessman I’d imagined.
He was thin and pale, with silver hair and an oxygen tube beneath his nose.
His name was Richard.
He turned his head when I entered.
For a moment, he stared at me.
Then recognition appeared in his eyes.
“You’re Daniel’s mother.”
“Yes.”
He stiffened.
“My children had no business involving you. If you’re here looking for money, you can leave.”
I nearly laughed.
“Money?”
I reached into my purse and pulled out the velvet pouch.
Then I dropped it onto his blanket.
“You can choke on that diamond ring,” I said. “But you will never see Ellie if you think you can treat her the way you treated her mother.”
Richard looked at the pouch but didn’t touch it.
I stepped closer.
“Your daughter and my son died in a car accident three years ago. You didn’t even come to their funeral.”
His eyes lowered.
“I know.”
“You knew they were dead?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He swallowed.
“The police contacted me the next morning.”
I frowned.
“Why would they call you?”
Richard looked toward the window.
“Because I was the last person Claire tried to contact.”
I froze.
“She called you?”
He nodded.
“She left me a voicemail that afternoon.”
“What did she say?”
His voice shook as he repeated the message.
“She said they would be passing through Riverton around nine that evening. She wanted me to meet my granddaughter.”
My knees suddenly felt weak.
I remembered that night.
Daniel and Claire had left Ellie with me, saying they were going out together.
They never returned.
“They told me they were having a date night,” I whispered.
Richard shook his head.
“They weren’t going on a date.”
I stared at him.