Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN WHO WATCHED ME GROW UP
I enlarged the photograph until Vivian's face filled the screen.
There was no mistaking her.
She stood near the church's side entrance, wearing a dark coat.
I remembered the funeral.
Naomi had been the only mother I'd ever known.
When she died, I felt as though the ground had disappeared beneath me.
I remembered staring at the people who came to pay their respects, wondering how I would survive without her.
Vivian had been among them.
Watching.
Knowing.
I turned toward Chloe.
“Did she tell you why she went?”
Chloe shook her head.
“She said she owed someone a debt.”
I felt sick.
A debt.
That was what twenty-five years of my life had become.
The following morning, Robert arranged a private meeting with Vivian at the Sterling mansion.
I insisted on attending.
Catherine sat beside me.
Chloe waited near the doorway.
Vivian entered wearing a cream silk blouse and the familiar silver leaf brooch.
For years, that brooch had appeared in family photographs.
Now I understood why Lillian Reed remembered it.
Vivian surveyed the room.
“Robert, what's so urgent?”
He placed the photograph from St. Anne's on the table.
Her smile disappeared.
“Where did you get that?”
“Pennsylvania,” Robert answered.
Vivian didn't move.
Catherine placed Naomi's letters beside it.
“Explain these.”
Vivian looked from one document to another.
Then she sat down.
“I see you've been doing some digging.”
My father leaned forward.
“You knew Sophia was alive.”
Vivian looked away.
“It's complicated.”
“No,” Catherine said. “It's cruel.”
Vivian's expression hardened.
“You think I don't know that?”
I spoke for the first time.
“You came to Naomi's funeral.”
She looked at me.
“You were there when she died. You knew what she meant to me. Why didn't you tell my parents?”
Vivian's hands tightened around her purse.
“Naomi gave you a good life.”
“She did,” I answered. “But that doesn't explain why you stole the chance for me to know my family.”
Vivian flinched.
Then she said something unexpected.
“Your grandmother never intended for you to stay away forever.”
Robert rose.
“What?”
Vivian looked at him.
“Mother wanted you distracted while she dealt with the audit. She said the baby would be returned after everything settled.”
Catherine made a sound of disbelief.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I'm telling you what she promised me.”
“Then why didn't you bring Sophia back?” Robert demanded.
Vivian's face twisted.
“Because Mother changed her mind.”
Silence filled the room.
Vivian continued, speaking slowly.
“She said the scandal would destroy the family. She said if anyone discovered what we'd done, we'd all lose everything.”
I stared at her.
“So you let my parents keep searching?”
Vivian met my eyes.
“I checked on you.”
“That wasn't your decision to make.”
“I made sure you had a good home.”
“You made sure I didn't have my first home.”
She looked away.
Then Robert asked about the financial accounts.
Vivian refused to answer.
“I won't discuss company matters without the trustees present.”
“Then we'll bring them,” he replied.
Her expression changed.
“You'd humiliate this family publicly?”
My father looked at me.
Then at Catherine.
“For twenty-five years, we humiliated innocent people because we were afraid of hearing the truth.”
Vivian stood.
“You'll regret this.”
Robert didn't move.
“Maybe. But I'll regret doing nothing more.”
The next evening, the Sterling Family Foundation was scheduled to hold its twenty-fifth anniversary gala.
Vivian had organized the celebration for months.
We decided the foundation's trustees needed to see the evidence before Vivian could destroy or conceal anything else.
Catherine insisted that Lillian Reed attend.
Iris Dunn agreed to bring the historical photographs.
Robert arranged for the company's original audit records to be reviewed by independent accountants.
For the first time, the search for my past wasn't being controlled by Vivian.
But she wasn't finished.
At the gala, beneath enormous golden chandeliers, Vivian stepped onto the stage before Robert could begin.
More than two hundred wealthy guests turned toward her.
She held up a photograph.
It showed a much younger Catherine handing a baby to Vivian.
My mother stopped breathing.
Vivian looked directly at the audience.
“Before anyone accuses me of taking Sophia Sterling,” she announced, “there's something you should know.”
She raised the picture higher.
“The woman who placed that baby in my arms was her own mother.”
May you like
Then she pointed at Catherine.
“And I have the photograph to prove it.”
