Chapter 7 - Daniel’s Secret
Daniel read the letter aloud.
“Margaret,
If Charles learns I know the truth, he will use Daniel against you.
Take the boy somewhere safe.
Michael and I will handle the records.”
Daniel stopped.
His hands trembled.
“This was written before I was born.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“No.”
He looked at the date.
“March 14, 1992.”
His birthday was October 2, 1993.
I felt cold.
“Margaret?”
She started crying.
“Daniel wasn’t born in 1993.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“You were born in 1992.”
His entire face went blank.
“Why would you change my birthday?”
“To hide when you were conceived.”
Nobody spoke.
Then Daniel whispered, “From whom?”
Margaret sat on the dusty edge of the bed.
“Charles wasn’t your biological father.”
Daniel backed away.
“No.”
“He raised you.”
“Who was my father?”
Margaret looked at me.
My stomach dropped.
Not Michael.
Please not Michael.
She whispered, “Robert Caldwell.”
Vanessa’s father.
Daniel went completely still.
Vanessa was his half-sister.
His former fiancée.
My stomach turned.
Margaret rushed forward.
“You never knew.”
Daniel pushed her hand away.
“You let me get engaged to my sister?”
“I didn’t know Vanessa was Robert’s biological daughter.”
“What?”
Margaret covered her face.
“Her mother told everyone Robert was her stepfather. I found out only after the engagement.”
“Then why didn’t you tell us?”
“Because Robert’s widow threatened to expose everything.”
Daniel laughed once.
A hollow sound.
“Expose what? That you had an affair?”
“That wasn’t the worst part.”
Of course it wasn’t.
There was always another door.
Another lie.
“What was worse?”
Margaret’s voice dropped.
“Charles knew Daniel wasn’t his.”
Daniel stared.
“And?”
“He used it to control me.”
She looked at me.
“That’s why I signed the accusation against Michael.”
My anger surged again.
“What does Daniel have to do with my father?”
“Charles threatened to take Daniel away and expose Robert. Robert threatened me too.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“So both men blackmailed you.”
“Yes.”
“And you sacrificed Michael.”
“I signed a statement saying I saw him manipulate accounts.”
“Which was false?”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“My father spent his life hiding because of you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
My voice broke.
“My mother raised me alone while he disappeared.”
“I know.”
“She died believing he couldn’t come home.”
“I know!”
Margaret’s scream echoed through the room.
Then she collapsed into tears.
“I have hated myself for twenty-eight years.”
I didn’t comfort her.
Some guilt deserved to hurt.
Daniel opened another letter.
This one was from Michael.
He read quickly.
Then stopped.
“What?”
Daniel handed it to me.
One line had been underlined.
If Charles discovers Laura gave birth, Emily will never be safe.
I stared at Margaret.
“Why would Charles care about me?”
Margaret went silent.
My heart began to race.
“Why would he care whether I was born?”
Her eyes moved toward Daniel.
Then back to me.
“Because your father wasn’t the only person who could expose Charles.”
“I was a baby.”
“No.”
Margaret’s voice barely carried.
“Because Laura wasn’t only your mother.”
She swallowed.
“She was Charles Whitmore’s daughter.”
Everything inside me stopped.
Daniel whispered, “Laura was my sister?”
“Half-sister.”
I stared at him.
That made Daniel my uncle.
Margaret continued.
“Charles had Laura before he married me.”
My legs gave out.
I sat on the floor.
All these years.
I had worked inside my grandfather’s mansion.
Cleaning his portrait.
Polishing his desk.
Serving drinks beneath photographs of a family that was secretly mine.
Daniel looked horrified.
“Did Charles know Emily existed?”
“Yes.”
“And he let her grow up with nothing?”
Margaret shook her head.
“He didn’t just let it happen.”
I looked up.
“What did he do?”
May you like
Margaret whispered:
“He tried to make sure you were never born.”
