Chapter 14 - THE LETTER FROM PRISON
Three years passed.
Clara turned thirteen.
Daniel remained in prison.
Vanessa had exhausted nearly every appeal.
Life moved forward.
Then a letter arrived.
It was from Daniel.
Evelyn placed it on the table.
“You don’t have to read it.”
Clara did.
Daniel wrote about prison.
About therapy.
About the men he had met who blamed everyone except themselves.
He admitted he had spent years doing exactly that.
Then he wrote one sentence Clara read three times.
The worst thing Vanessa ever convinced me of was that losing money would destroy my life.
The truth is, helping her cost me my family.
At the bottom was another line.
I do not ask you to visit.
I only hope the life you build is better than the one I gave you.
Clara folded the letter.
“Do you think he changed?”
Evelyn considered it.
“I think he’s trying.”
“Does that matter?”
“Yes.”
“Does it fix anything?”
“No.”
Clara nodded.
That answer made sense.
Later that summer, Clara decided to visit him.
Daniel entered the room.
His hair had begun turning gray.
When he saw her, he smiled.
“Thirteen.”
“Almost fourteen.”
“Right.”
They talked for an hour.
School.
Books.
Margaret.
Arthur.
Before Clara left, Daniel said, “There’s something I need you to know.”
“What?”
“The night your mother disappeared, I almost called the police.”
Clara stared at him.
“I had the phone in my hand.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Vanessa told me if Evelyn returned, I’d go to prison and never see you again.”
Daniel looked down.
“I believed losing you would be unbearable.”
Clara’s expression hardened.
“So you made me lose Mom.”
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“That is the truth I have to live with.”
Clara stood.
Daniel expected her to leave.
Instead, she placed her hand against the glass.
Daniel stared.
Then slowly raised his own.
Their palms met through the barrier.
“I’m not forgiving everything,” Clara said.
“I know.”
“But I don’t want to hate you forever.”
Daniel began crying.
“Thank you.”
Clara shook her head.
“This isn’t for you.”
She smiled faintly.
May you like
“It’s for me.”
Then she walked away.
