Chapter 4 - WHAT MY FATHER RECORDED
My father didn't answer when I called.
Neither did my mother.
Rebecca advised me not to contact them again.
So I waited.
That was harder than I expected.
Waiting gave my mind too much room.
By noon, Alice was awake.
She sat at the kitchen table eating pancakes.
I watched her carefully.
“Mommy?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you mad at me?”
The question hit me harder than anything else.
“No.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
She pushed a piece of pancake around her plate.
“Grandma said you were always mad at me because of me.”
I put down my coffee.
“Your grandmother was wrong.”
“She said you only work because you don't like being home.”
My chest tightened.
“Did she say that?”
Alice nodded.
Then she looked down.
“She said you choose other people's kids over me.”
I couldn't speak.
Because that sentence was designed to hurt.
Not Alice.
Me.
Someone had filled my daughter's head with the idea that my job meant I didn't love her.
I reached across the table.
“Listen to me.”
Alice looked up.
“I work because I love you.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“I work because I want you to have a safe home.”
“I know.”
“And nothing anyone says will change that.”
She nodded.
Then she asked:
“Can we stop going to Grandma's?”
I took a breath.
“Yes.”
Her shoulders relaxed.
That afternoon, Rebecca called again.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“Your father sent an email to himself at 9:41 p.m. Christmas night.”
“What did it say?”
“I'll forward it.”
Seconds later, my phone buzzed.
The subject line was:
IF CAROLYN FINDS OUT.
My hands went cold.
I opened it.
There was one sentence.
We cannot let her see the trust documents before Vanessa gets the house.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
Trust documents?
What house?
My parents owned the home.
Or so I thought.
I called Rebecca.
“What does this mean?”
“It means we need to look at the financial records.”
“Why?”
“Because your family may have been hiding an asset from you.”
I stared at the email.
“Rebecca, what does Vanessa have to do with my parents' house?”
“I don't know yet.”
May you like
Then she paused.
“But I think we should find out.”
