Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Photograph.
Evelyn moved faster than Natalie expected.
She bent for the envelope.
Lucas reached it first.
He pressed it against his chest and backed into Natalie.
“Give me that,” Evelyn said.
Lucas shook his head.
“It has my name.”
“It is old.”
“That doesn’t make it yours.”
Natalie's voice was calm, but Evelyn heard the challenge.
The house manager straightened.
“You have been employed here for four days.”
“And he has lived here for five years.”
Evelyn's lips thinned.
She looked toward the security camera at the end of the hall.
“You should give it to his father.”
Natalie considered that.
“So should you have, when it was first written.”
For the first time, Evelyn looked genuinely startled.
Lucas stared between them.
Natalie held out her hand.
“Do you want me to keep it safe until we ask your dad?”
Lucas hesitated.
Then he placed the envelope in her palm.
The paper was dusty at the edges.
It had clearly been inside the room for a long time.
Daniel arrived less than five minutes later.
He did not ask how the envelope had appeared.
He looked at the handwriting and went pale.
“Where did you get this?”
“Under the red door.”
Natalie watched his face.
Daniel took the envelope.
He did not open it.
Lucas moved closer.
“Is it from Mama?”
Daniel's thumb pressed into the paper.
“Lucas, go downstairs.”
The boy's hopeful expression collapsed.
Natalie touched his shoulder before he could run.
“Daniel.”
He looked at her sharply.
It was the first time she had used his first name.
“Answer him.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Yes.”
Lucas stopped breathing.
Daniel looked at his son.
“Yes, it is her handwriting.”
“Then read it.”
Daniel could not.
Natalie saw that immediately.
Not would not.
Could not.
His hands were steady in every other moment she had seen him.
Now the envelope trembled between his fingers.
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Mr. Brooks, perhaps this is better handled privately.”
Daniel's eyes flashed.
“Leave us.”
Evelyn stared at him.
Then she walked away.
Daniel opened the envelope.
Inside was a single sheet folded around a photograph.
The photograph slipped free and landed face up on the carpet.
Lucas gasped.
A young woman sat on the mansion steps holding a baby wrapped in a blue blanket.
Daniel sat beside her, younger and smiling in a way Natalie had never seen.
The woman had dark eyes and a wide, unguarded smile.
Lucas dropped to his knees.
“That’s her.”
Daniel picked up the letter.
He read silently.
His expression changed line by line.
Natalie waited.
Lucas did not.
“What does it say?”
Daniel folded the paper.
“Nothing you need to hear.”
Lucas's face crumpled.
Natalie's patience ended.
“You cannot keep doing that.”
Daniel's eyes turned cold.
“This is my family.”
“Exactly.”
He stepped closer.
“You do not know what happened.”
“Then tell me.”
“I don’t owe you that.”
“No.”
Natalie looked at Lucas.
“You owe him.”
Daniel's face lost color again.
Lucas stood slowly.
“Did Mama leave because I was bad?”
The question broke something in the room.
Daniel closed his eyes for one second.
“No.”
“Then why won’t you say her name?”
Daniel looked at the letter.
His answer was almost inaudible.
“Because saying it doesn’t bring her back.”
Lucas backed away.
Natalie reached for him.
He turned and ran.
Natalie started after him, but Daniel caught her arm.
Not hard.
Desperately.
“Wait.”
She looked down at his hand until he released her.
Daniel opened the letter again.
His eyes went to the final line.
Natalie could read it upside down.
If Lucas ever believes I abandoned him, Daniel, then you let fear become crueler than the truth.
Daniel folded the page quickly.
But it was too late.
May you like
Natalie had seen the signature.
Claire.
