Chapter 6 - The Daughter Christmas Brought Back
Emily Ross had Daniel’s eyes.
Henry saw it immediately.
Daniel did too.
Rebecca came downstairs holding Molly’s hand.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Emily looked ready to run.
Henry opened the door wider.
“Come inside.”
“I don’t want money.”
“Good morning to you too.”
She blinked.
“I mean it.”
“You’re holding a baby in a snowstorm. Come inside before we discuss
your motives.”
That sounded like Henry again.
Rebecca took the baby while Emily removed her coat.
The little boy was ten months old.
His name was Ben.
Daniel sat across from Emily at the kitchen table.
“Who is your mother?”
“Laura Ross.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
His first wife.
Emily handed him a birth certificate.
Father blank.
Then a letter from Laura, written before her death six months earlier.
Daniel,
I told you the baby died because your mother offered me money to
disappear.
Daniel stopped reading.
“My mother?”
Henry’s late wife Eleanor.
The room went silent.
Emily continued.
“She paid Mom?”
Henry said, “Let him finish.”
The letter described Eleanor discovering Laura’s pregnancy during the
ugly divorce. Eleanor believed Laura would use the baby to extort the
family.
She offered Laura two million dollars to leave Chicago and never contact
Daniel.
Laura accepted.
Years later she regretted it.
Daniel looked at Henry.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Margaret?”
Everyone turned.
Margaret stood in the doorway.
She looked exhausted.
“Yes.”
Daniel surged to his feet.
“You knew I had a daughter?”
“I found out after your mother died.”
“And you said nothing?”
“Eleanor made me trustee.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“Twenty-four years.”
Emily flinched.
Rebecca put a hand on her shoulder.
Margaret said, “Laura took the money.”
“She was twenty-two!”
“She made a choice.”
“So did you!”
Henry slammed his palm against the table.
“Enough.”
Margaret looked at him.
He had rarely been angrier.
“You helped my wife erase my granddaughter.”
“I honored Eleanor’s wishes.”
“Eleanor was wrong.”
Margaret’s eyes filled.
“You never say that about her.”
“I loved my wife. She was still wrong.”
That was another truth Henry had learned too late.
Love did not require rewriting the dead into saints.
DNA testing was arranged.
The result came back the next day.
99.99 percent probability Daniel was Emily’s biological father.
Daniel cried alone in the library.
Then he asked Emily if he could hug her.
She said no.
He nodded.
“Okay.”
An hour later she returned.
“You can now.”
He held her carefully.
Rebecca watched from the doorway.
Her anger toward Daniel had not disappeared.
But neither had her compassion.
Christmas Eve arrived.
The mansion was quieter than any Christmas Henry remembered.
Vanessa remained away.
Margaret stayed in a hotel under instructions not to contact Molly.
Rebecca planned to leave with Molly after Christmas.
Daniel knew.
He did not beg anymore.
He had started therapy.
He had reported Vanessa’s financial theft himself.
He had also signed a statement supporting Rebecca and Molly.
It was not redemption.
It was work.
Henry approved of work.
That afternoon Emily helped Molly decorate gingerbread houses.
Ben destroyed one.
Molly gasped.
“He ate the roof!”
Emily laughed.
“He’s a criminal.”
Henry sat nearby wearing the cheap socks Rebecca had bought him.
She noticed.
“You kept them.”
“I said I would.”
“They cost six dollars.”
“I’ve owned companies worth less emotionally.”
Rebecca smiled despite herself.
Then the doorbell rang.
Vanessa stood outside.
Her mascara was smeared.
“Dad?”
Daniel went to the door.
“What do you want?”
“To come home.”
He looked at her.
“This is not your home tonight.”
She began crying.
“You chose them.”
“No.”
“You always choose your wives.”
“I’m choosing a child you hurt.”
Vanessa stared at Molly through the glass.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her that badly.”
Rebecca went rigid.
Daniel closed his eyes.
“You still don’t understand.”
Vanessa’s crying turned angry.
“She replaced me!”
“She is six.”
“She gets everything!”
“What does she get?”
“You! Grandpa! The house!”
Daniel’s voice softened.
“You thought love was property because we taught you that.”
Vanessa looked confused.
“That is partly my fault.”
She reached for him.
He stepped back.
“But what you did to Molly is yours.”
He closed the door.
Vanessa stood outside for a long time.
Then she walked away.
Henry watched from the hall.
“That was hard.”
Daniel nodded.
“It was supposed to be.”
At midnight, after everyone slept, Henry found Rebecca in the kitchen.
“You’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel loves you.”
“I love him.”
“Then why?”
“Because love is not the same as safety.”
Henry nodded.
“You’re right.”
Rebecca looked surprised.
“You really have changed since Tuesday.”
“I was magnificent before Tuesday.”
She laughed.
Then Henry’s phone rang.
Frank.
“We found Laura Ross’s original bank records.”
“And?”
“Eleanor didn’t send two million.”
“How much?”
“Ten million.”
Henry frowned.
“Laura received two.”
“Where did the other eight go?”
May you like
Frank paused.
“Margaret.”
