Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WEARING HIS MOTHER’S RING
The door opened another six inches.
Gabriel did not breathe.
Neither did Anna.
A woman stepped into the library.
She was perhaps sixty-five.
Her hair, once dark, was almost completely silver. A long camel coat hung from narrow shoulders. Fine lines framed her mouth and eyes.
But Gabriel wasn’t looking at her face.
He was staring at the emerald ring.
“I watched them put that ring on my mother’s hand.”
His voice sounded different.
Not dangerous.
Wounded.
The woman stopped.
“I know.”
Gabriel’s eyes lifted.
“Who are you?”
Lauren appeared behind her.
For the first time since Anna had known her, Lauren looked uncertain.
“Gabriel, before you react—”
“Leave.”
Lauren stiffened.
“This concerns me.”
“It stopped concerning you when somebody threatened Anna’s daughter.”
The woman turned sharply toward Lauren.
“You said nobody had been threatened.”
Lauren’s face changed.
Only for a second.
But Anna saw it.
So did Gabriel.
“I didn’t send those messages,” Lauren said.
Gabriel looked at Anna.
“Did you show anyone?”
Anna shook her head.
“They were deleted.”
“Deleted?”
“I panicked.”
The silver-haired woman suddenly reached inside her coat.
Gabriel moved instantly.
“Slowly.”
She froze.
Then carefully withdrew an old photograph.
She placed it on the desk.
Gabriel stared.
Two young women stood beside a lake.
One was Catherine DeLuca.
The other looked almost identical.
Sisters.
Twins.
On the back, written in faded ink:
Catherine and Eleanor. Summer 1978.
Gabriel looked at the stranger.
“Eleanor.”
She nodded.
“Eleanor Shaw Hart.”
Anna glanced at Evelyn.
E.S.H.
The initials on the torn paper.
Evelyn lowered herself into a chair.
Gabriel’s attention shifted between them.
“Shaw?”
Eleanor looked at Evelyn.
“My mother’s younger sister.”
Gabriel stared at the old housekeeper.
“You’re her aunt.”
Evelyn nodded.
“And Catherine?”
“My niece.”
The room seemed to contract.
Gabriel gave a humorless laugh.
“Forty-six years.”
“Gabriel—”
“You changed my diapers. You sat beside me at my mother’s funeral. You watched me stand over a coffin believing she was inside it.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“And all that time, my mother had a twin sister?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Because your grandfather made certain you didn’t.”
Gabriel turned to Eleanor.
“And the ring?”
Eleanor slowly twisted it from her finger.
“Catherine gave it to me.”
“When?”
“The night of the crash.”
Gabriel went still.
Eleanor placed the ring beside the photograph.
“She told me to keep it until you were old enough to hear the truth.”
“Then why am I hearing it at forty-one?”
Eleanor looked toward Lauren.
“Because every time I tried to come back, somebody stopped me.”
Lauren’s chin lifted.
“That is not fair.”
Eleanor’s voice hardened.
“You paid for my apartment in Baltimore for six months.”
Gabriel turned.
Lauren swallowed.
“I was helping her.”
“With what?”
“Staying alive.”
That silenced everyone.
Lauren walked into the room.
“You want the truth? Fine. Three months before we became engaged, I discovered your father had been making payments to Eleanor for years.”
“Anthony?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
His father had been weakened by a stroke six months earlier and now lived under round-the-clock medical care on another floor of the estate.
Lauren continued.
“I thought she was blackmailing him.”
Eleanor laughed bitterly.
“Of course you did.”
“What was I supposed to think? A woman nobody had heard of was receiving thousands every month.”
“So you found her,” Gabriel said.
Lauren nodded.
“And?”
“She told me Catherine survived the crash.”
Anna felt a chill.
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“Where is my mother?”
Eleanor’s face crumpled.
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel stepped back as if she had struck him.
“You came here wearing her ring to tell me you don’t know?”
“I came because Lauren said she finally intended to tell you everything.”
Gabriel looked at his fiancée.
Lauren’s confidence disappeared.
“I intended to.”
“When?”
“After the charity dinner.”
“After we married?”
“No.”
“You’ve had six months.”
“Because I was trying to understand what happened before I dropped twenty-seven years of lies on you!”
For once, Lauren didn’t sound cruel.
She sounded frightened.
Gabriel stared at her.
Then Anna noticed Evelyn looking at the envelope.
Not Gabriel.
Not Eleanor.
The envelope.
“Open it,” Anna said.
Everyone turned.
Anna almost regretted speaking.
Almost.
“That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”
Gabriel picked it up.
He broke what remained of the seal.
Inside were three items.
A folded letter.
An old train ticket.
And a child’s drawing.
Gabriel unfolded the drawing first.
A boy stood between a dark-haired woman and an older man beneath a yellow sun.
Across the top, in a child’s handwriting:
ME, MOM, DAD.
Gabriel’s face emptied.
“I drew this.”
Evelyn covered her eyes.
Gabriel turned the paper over.
On the back, Catherine had written:
He still believes Anthony is his father. God forgive me.
Nobody spoke.
Anna felt the shock move through the room like electricity.
Gabriel read it again.
Then again.
“No.”
Evelyn whispered his name.
He looked at her.
“Tell me that sentence means something else.”
She couldn’t.
His gaze moved to Eleanor.
“Who was my father?”
Eleanor’s eyes filled.
“I promised Catherine that answer would come from her.”
“She isn’t here.”
“I know.”
Gabriel grabbed the letter.
Lauren moved toward him.
“Gabriel, maybe you shouldn’t—”
He looked at her.
She stopped.
He unfolded the pages.
The first lines were written in the same handwriting as the envelope.
My darling Gabriel,
If you are reading this, then either I found the courage to return, or somebody finally stopped being afraid of Anthony.
Gabriel’s hand tightened.
He kept reading silently.
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
Anna’s voice was soft.
Gabriel lowered the letter.
“The second page is missing.”
Eleanor stared.
“What?”
“There are page numbers.”
He held it up.
Page one.
Then page three.
Page two was gone.
Evelyn stood abruptly.
“That’s impossible.”
Gabriel looked at Lauren.
Lauren’s face went pale.
“I never touched that letter.”
“The seal contained blond hair.”
“So does half Philadelphia.”
Eleanor stepped forward.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
She was staring at Lauren’s coat.
Near the cuff was a faint smear of red.
Wax.
Lauren immediately pulled her sleeve back.
Gabriel saw it.
His expression hardened.
“You opened it.”
Lauren shook her head.
“I opened the envelope.”
Anna’s stomach tightened.
“But?”
Lauren looked directly at Gabriel.
“I wasn’t the one who took page two.”
“Who was?”
Lauren hesitated.
Then reached into her purse.
She removed a small brass key.
“I found this inside the envelope when I opened it.”
Evelyn gasped.
Lauren placed it beside the emerald ring.
“There was a tag attached.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“What did it say?”
Lauren’s answer came quietly.
“St. Matthew’s Station. Locker 214.”
Eleanor’s face drained of color.
“That station closed twenty years ago.”
Lauren nodded.
“I know.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“Then why keep the key?”
“Because the lockers were moved into city storage before demolition.”
Evelyn gripped the desk.
“You went there.”
Lauren looked at her.
“Yes.”
Gabriel took one step closer.
“What was in the locker?”
Lauren’s eyes met his.
“A coat.”
“A coat?”
“Your mother’s red winter coat.”
Evelyn began shaking her head.
“No.”
“And inside the pocket,” Lauren continued, “was page two.”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“Where is it?”
Lauren said nothing.
“Lauren.”
She swallowed.
“I gave it to your father.”
Silence.
Then, from the hallway, something struck the floor.
Everyone turned.
Anthony DeLuca stood in the doorway in his robe, one hand gripping his walker.
His stroke had weakened the left side of his body.
But his eyes were clear.
And furious.
He looked at Lauren.
Then Gabriel.
May you like
Then the letter in his son’s hand.
“You should have burned it,” Anthony said.
