Chapter 7 - ELENA'S SECRET
Daniel returned to the mansion after midnight.
Elena was in the kitchen, sitting alone with a cup of tea. The photograph of Richard, Anna, and the newborn baby lay on the table.
“Margaret told me to ask you something,” Daniel said.
Elena looked up.
“What?”
“Why did you keep the photograph?”
Elena’s hands tightened around the cup.
“I didn't.”
“Then why did Margaret say you did?”
For a long moment, Elena said nothing.
Then she rose and walked to a small cupboard near the pantry. From behind a stack of folded tablecloths, she removed a narrow wooden box.
Inside were several old letters, a hospital bracelet, and a photograph of a young woman holding a baby.
Daniel recognized Anna immediately.
Elena placed the hospital bracelet beside the picture.
“Your father gave these to me years ago,” she said. “He asked me to keep them safe in case something happened.”
“Why didn't you tell him you had them?”
“I did. He told me to wait until he had proof that Lydia was alive.”
Daniel looked at the letters.
“What's in these?”
“Letters Anna wrote before she died. She left them with me after she learned Margaret was asking questions about the baby.”
Daniel opened the first envelope.
Anna’s handwriting was shaky.
Richard,
I am afraid Margaret knows about Lydia. She came to the hospital and told me that you had chosen your new family. She said I should never contact you again. I don't believe her, but I am frightened.
If anything happens to me, please find our daughter. Her name is Lydia. She deserves to know she was wanted.
Daniel read the words twice.
“Why did you hide these?”
Elena looked at him.
“Because Margaret threatened my son.”
Daniel went still.
“She knew my son had a scholarship through the Harrington Foundation. She said she could have it canceled and make sure he never found work in the city. I was afraid.”
“Did she take the letters?”
“No. I moved them before she searched my room.”
Daniel sat down.
For eighteen years, Elena had carried the evidence quietly, waiting for a moment when she could protect it without putting her family at risk.
“You should have told someone.”
“I know.”
“Why now?”
“Because Mr. Richard was going to be buried alive. I couldn't keep being afraid.”
Daniel reached for her hand.
“You saved him. You saved Lydia's chance to know the truth.”
Elena began to cry.
“I wish I had been braver sooner.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You were brave when it mattered.”
He took the box to Naomi the next morning. The letters supported the claim that Margaret had deliberately concealed Lydia’s identity and had threatened anyone who might reveal it.
But the hospital bracelet contained another clue.
The name of the nurse who had cared for Anna.
She was still alive.
Her name was Patricia Wells, and she had retired to a coastal town in Maine.
Naomi contacted her.
Patricia agreed to speak with investigators.
She remembered Anna clearly.
“She was very ill,” Patricia said. “But she kept asking whether Richard had received her letters. I told her I didn't know.”
“Did Margaret visit her?”
“Yes. More than once.”
“What did she say?”
Patricia hesitated.
“She told Anna that Richard had died in a car accident. She showed her a newspaper clipping that wasn't real.”
May you like
Daniel closed his eyes.
Margaret had not merely hidden a child. She had built separate lies for everyone who might have reunited the family.
