Chapter 6 - the promise Evelyn kept
Celeste recovered quickly.
She told Adrian that the nursery had belonged to a distant cousin who stayed at the mansion many years earlier. Margaret confirmed the story.
Adrian looked around the room but did not question them further.
Lily waited until he walked her back to her bedroom.
Then she locked the door and placed the hospital papers on her bed.
“Daddy, do you remember someone named Claire Arden?”
Adrian stopped.
The question affected him more than she expected.
“Where did you hear that name?”
“In the nursery.”
He sat beside her.
“Claire was a friend of Evelyn’s.”
“What kind of friend?”
“They grew up together.”
“Was she pregnant?”
Adrian looked toward the hallway.
“Yes.”
“Was I her baby?”
His face became still.
“Why would you ask that?”
Lily showed him the hospital document.
Adrian read it twice.
“This cannot be right.”
“My birthday is the same.”
“Many children share birthdays.”
“She lived here.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Grandma did.”
Adrian stood and began pacing.
“Claire disappeared before you were born.”
“Did she die?”
“No one knew.”
“Then how did I become Evelyn’s daughter?”
Adrian sat again.
“Evelyn came home from a trip with you. She said Claire had abandoned you and asked us to raise you temporarily.”
“Temporarily?”
“A few months later, Evelyn said Claire had signed adoption documents.”
“Did you see her sign?”
“No.”
“Did you meet her?”
“Once, years before.”
“What did she look like?”
Adrian stared at the photograph Lily gave him.
The blue-eyed woman stood between Ruth and Evelyn.
“That’s Claire,” he whispered.
“Do I look like her?”
Adrian’s eyes filled with pain.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought Evelyn was your legal mother. When she died, I completed the adoption so no one could ever take you away.”
Lily rested the camcorder on her lap.
“What if Claire didn’t abandon me?”
Adrian had no answer.
A knock came at the door.
Julian Cross entered carrying a leather case.
He stopped when he saw the hospital documents.
“Where did you get those?”
“The west nursery,” Adrian said. “A room in my house I apparently knew nothing about.”
Julian closed the door behind him.
“Adrian, there are matters your father instructed us to seal.”
“My father is dead.”
“The instructions remain.”
“My daughter’s identity is not a matter you can seal.”
Julian looked at Lily.
“No. It is not.”
He placed his case on the desk.
“The adoption documents were processed through my father’s firm. I joined the practice years later.”
“Are they real?” Adrian asked.
“They are legally registered.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
Julian slowly opened the case and removed a copied signature page.
Claire Arden’s name appeared at the bottom.
Lily leaned closer.
The signature looked nearly identical to Celeste’s handwriting on the threatening note.
Adrian noticed it too.
“Celeste prepared this document?”
“No,” Julian said. “Her father did.”
“Celeste’s father was involved?”
“Victor Marrow was a clerk at our firm before he founded his own company. He disappeared after Evelyn’s accident.”
Adrian’s phone rang.
Celeste’s name appeared on the screen.
He ignored it.
Julian continued.
“Victor altered records for powerful families. Birth certificates, trusts, guardianship files. Your father discovered it too late.”
“What does this have to do with Celeste?”
“She inherited more than his name.”
A loud knock shook the bedroom door.
Celeste called from outside.
“Adrian, the wedding planner is waiting.”
Julian lowered his voice.
“There is a clause in the marriage agreement. Once you sign, Celeste becomes co-controller of the family trust.”
“I never agreed to that.”
“You signed a preliminary authorization last month.”
“I signed catering approvals.”
“The final page was replaced.”
Adrian went pale.
Lily remembered the recording from the office.
“Celeste said she would make people think Daddy was unstable.”
Both men looked at her.
She retrieved the hidden memory card from the porcelain horse and inserted it into the camcorder.
They listened to Celeste’s voice.
After the recording ended, Adrian walked toward the door.
Julian blocked him.
“Do not confront her yet.”
“She threatened my daughter.”
“If Celeste knows you are aware, she will destroy the remaining evidence.”
May you like
“What remaining evidence?”
“The original adoption file,” Julian said. “And the recording Evelyn made on the night she died.”
