Chapter 3 - THE PAGE ANTHONY TRIED TO BURN
Gabriel moved first.
He crossed the library and stopped directly in front of his father.
“You have page two.”
Anthony’s mouth tightened.
“You heard me.”
“I heard you tell my fiancée to destroy something written by my mother.”
Anthony glanced toward Anna.
“Staff should leave.”
Gabriel didn’t look away from him.
“Anna stays.”
Lauren’s expression tightened.
So did Anthony’s.
“Gabriel.”
“She stays.”
Evelyn slowly closed the library door.
Anthony noticed.
“You too?”
Evelyn’s voice trembled.
“I should have done this twenty-seven years ago.”
Anthony stared at her.
For a moment, the weakened old man looked like the powerful patriarch he had once been.
“You gave your word.”
“I gave Catherine my word too.”
Gabriel placed the incomplete letter on the desk.
“Where is page two?”
Anthony turned his walker.
“I’m tired.”
Gabriel blocked him.
“So am I.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Father and son stared at each other.
Finally Anthony laughed.
A dry, exhausted sound.
“You think because I’m old and half my body doesn’t work, you can command me?”
“No.”
Gabriel’s voice remained quiet.
“I think because I spent twenty-seven years mourning a woman who may have been alive, you owe me the truth.”
Something flickered across Anthony’s face.
Pain.
Then it vanished.
Lauren spoke.
“He keeps it in his watch box.”
Anthony turned sharply.
Gabriel looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Because I watched him put it there.”
Anthony’s anger shifted toward Lauren.
“You had no right.”
“You asked me to burn it.”
“And you agreed.”
Lauren’s eyes glistened.
“No. I told you I would think about it.”
Anna studied her.
For months, Lauren had seemed cold, entitled, almost casually cruel.
Now Anna saw something else.
Lauren had been afraid of Anthony too.
Gabriel left the room.
Nobody needed to ask where he was going.
Anthony started after him.
His weak leg dragged.
Eleanor stepped into his path.
He stared at her.
“You.”
“Hello, Anthony.”
“You should have stayed gone.”
“And you should have told a fourteen-year-old boy the truth.”
Anthony’s hand shook on the walker.
“You know nothing about what I protected him from.”
Eleanor’s expression sharpened.
“I know what you protected yourself from.”
Ten minutes later Gabriel returned.
He carried a wooden watch box.
Anthony closed his eyes.
Gabriel opened it.
Inside lay an old gold wristwatch, several cuff links, and a folded sheet of paper darkened at one corner.
Burned.
Gabriel removed it.
“You tried.”
Anthony looked away.
Gabriel unfolded the page.
Part of the lower section had been destroyed, but most remained readable.
He read aloud.
“Anthony knows about Michael.”
Evelyn sat down heavily.
Gabriel stopped.
“Michael who?”
Anthony said nothing.
Gabriel continued.
“‘He says if I leave, he will make sure Michael disappears and Gabriel will grow up believing his real father abandoned him.’”
Gabriel lowered the page.
His eyes found Anthony.
“You knew.”
Anthony’s voice was hoarse.
“I raised you.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“I fed you. Protected you. Gave you my name.”
“Who is Michael?”
Anthony’s jaw clenched.
Eleanor answered.
“Michael Bennett.”
Gabriel turned.
“He was a carpenter.”
Eleanor’s voice softened.
“He worked on this house during renovations. Your mother loved him.”
Anthony struck the floor with his walker.
“That’s enough.”
“No,” Gabriel said. “It isn’t.”
Eleanor continued.
“Catherine wanted to leave Anthony.”
Anna looked at the child’s drawing again.
ME, MOM, DAD.
The man in the drawing had been colored with a black crayon.
Not enough detail to identify anyone.
Gabriel’s expression became unreadable.
“Is Michael alive?”
Eleanor looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel laughed once.
“Apparently nobody in this family knows where anyone is.”
Anthony lowered himself into a chair.
“You want to hate me? Fine. But Catherine was reckless.”
“She wanted to leave you.”
“She wanted to take my son.”
“Her son.”
Anthony flinched.
Gabriel saw it.
That single reaction answered something no letter could.
Anthony had always known.
Gabriel looked at the burned edge.
“What happened the night of the crash?”
Evelyn spoke before Anthony could.
“Catherine planned to leave Philadelphia.”
“With Michael?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked toward Eleanor.
“With her.”
Eleanor nodded.
“I was going to take Catherine and you to Baltimore.”
Gabriel stared.
“But I never arrived.”
“Why?”
“Anthony’s men found me first.”
Anthony’s eyes closed.
Eleanor continued.
“They held me at a motel until morning.”
Anna felt cold.
Gabriel looked at his father.
“You kidnapped her?”
“I delayed her.”
“That’s what you call it?”
“I was trying to keep my family together.”
Gabriel’s voice sharpened.
“You lost the right to use that word.”
Anthony’s face tightened.
Then Evelyn spoke.
“Catherine left anyway.”
Gabriel turned.
“With whom?”
Evelyn looked at the emerald ring.
“Me.”
The room went silent.
“I drove her,” Evelyn said. “We took the old Lincoln. She wore my coat. I wore hers.”
Eleanor’s eyes widened.
“You never told me that.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody followed us.”
Evelyn’s hands trembled.
“Catherine realized it near Fairmount Park. She told me to pull over.”
Gabriel barely breathed.
“She got out?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Near St. Matthew’s Station.”
The train ticket.
Gabriel grabbed it from the envelope.
Philadelphia to Harrisburg.
One-way.
Evelyn nodded.
“She took a train.”
“Then who died in the car?”
Evelyn looked at Anthony.
He looked suddenly very old.
“The woman was named Rose Mercer,” Evelyn said.
Anna’s stomach tightened.
“Who was she?”
“A nurse at St. Agnes Hospital. Catherine’s friend.”
Gabriel stared.
“Why was she in the car?”
“She was helping us.”
Evelyn’s voice broke.
“Rose offered to drive the Lincoln away from the station so anyone following would believe Catherine was still inside.”
“And she crashed.”
“No.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“She was hit.”
Anthony’s eyes snapped toward her.
Gabriel noticed.
“Hit by what?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“A black Cadillac.”
Anthony struggled to stand.
“That’s enough.”
Gabriel stepped toward him.
“Whose Cadillac?”
Evelyn looked terrified.
“I never saw the driver.”
“But you recognized the car.”
“Yes.”
“Whose?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“Your grandfather’s.”
Anthony slammed his fist against the arm of the chair.
“My father did not order Rose Mercer killed.”
Eleanor stared at him.
“Nobody said he did.”
Anthony froze.
The reversal landed instantly.
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“You know more than she said.”
Anthony realized his mistake.
Anna did too.
Gabriel approached his father.
“Who was driving?”
Anthony’s breathing grew uneven.
“I don’t know.”
“You just defended Grandfather against an accusation nobody made.”
“I knew what she was implying.”
“No.”
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“You knew what happened.”
Anthony looked toward the window.
Then Anna noticed the old gold watch still inside the box.
Its glass face was cracked.
The hands had stopped at 11:17.
She picked it up.
“Mr. DeLuca?”
Anthony looked at her.
Anna turned the watch over.
An inscription had been scratched into the back.
M.B. — ALWAYS COME HOME
Gabriel took it.
“Michael Bennett?”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
“That was Michael’s.”
Gabriel looked at Anthony.
“Why do you have my father’s watch?”
Anthony said nothing.
Gabriel opened the leather strap.
Something brittle was folded beneath it.
A narrow strip of paper.
He pulled it free.
It was an old hospital visitor pass.
ST. AGNES HOSPITAL — OCTOBER 14, 1999
Gabriel’s face changed.
“My mother died in 1999.”
Evelyn stood.
“That date was three weeks after the crash.”
Gabriel looked at Anthony.
“You saw her.”
Anthony stared at the floor.
Gabriel’s voice became almost a whisper.
“You knew she survived.”
Anthony finally raised his eyes.
“Yes.”
Gabriel’s hand closed around Michael’s broken watch.
“Where was she?”
May you like
Anthony’s answer shattered the room.
“In the maternity ward.”
