Chapter 6 - Two Names in the Cedar Chest
"Both?" Gabriel repeated.
Claire held Teddy tighter.
Julian had never mentioned another child to her. She knew he had been married briefly in his twenties, but his ex-wife had moved away. There had been no children in the divorce papers Gabriel remembered.
At the lake house, Helen supervised the opening of the cedar chest. Claire attended with Gabriel. Annie stayed with Mrs. Alvarez, decorating cookies and checking the phone every ten minutes.
Inside the chest lay a quilt, a silver rattle, a bundle of letters, and two sealed envelopes.
One was addressed to Claire.
The other was addressed to a girl named Sophie Vale.
Gabriel stared.
"Sophie?"
Helen opened the estate's supporting records. Sophie had been born seven years earlier. Her mother, Julian's former wife, had died when Sophie was four. Julian had been told Sophie was not his child. Evelyn had privately arranged a DNA test after the mother's death.
The result showed Julian was Sophie's father.
"Where is she?" Gabriel asked.
Helen read the next page.
"Placed with her maternal grandmother, Ruth Mercer."
Victor Sloane's sister.
Gabriel sat down.
Victor had spent years keeping Julian's children on opposite sides of the city, each hidden from the other.
Claire opened her envelope.
Evelyn's handwriting filled three pages. She apologized for failing to tell Julian about Sophie while she was alive. She had been afraid of reopening his bitter divorce and had trusted Victor to handle the child's care.
Then she learned Victor was taking money from the children's trust.
Evelyn had created a housing trust for any children Julian might leave behind. She had learned Claire was pregnant shortly before her death and quietly bought the Detroit house so Claire would never have to choose between rent and feeding a baby.
Claire covered her mouth.
"The house was meant for us?"
"Yes," Helen said.
"Then why did Denise charge me rent?"
"Because somebody concealed the trust."
Gabriel opened the second envelope, intended for Sophie. Evelyn wrote about a family she hoped the girl would one day know, about her father's laugh, and about how a child should never have to earn a place at a dinner table.
Gabriel folded the letter carefully.
"We need to find her."
Helen warned that any contact with Sophie had to go through her legal guardian and appropriate channels. Gabriel agreed. He had no intention of arriving at another child's door uninvited.
That night, Annie asked why her mother was crying.
"Happy and sad together," Claire said.
"That's confusing."
"It is."
Claire told Annie that Teddy had an older sister named Sophie.
Annie's face lit up.
"Then I'm not his only big sister?"
"No."
"Can we meet her?"
"We're going to try."
Annie looked at the paper tree.
"We'll need another ornament."
She cut a star from the back of an old cereal box and wrote SOPHIE across it in careful letters.
The next morning, Gabriel met with Victor.
"I know about Sophie," he said.
Victor's face remained smooth.
"Then you know she's well cared for."
"Does she know who her father was?"
"Her grandmother made the appropriate decisions."
"Did my mother authorize you to take money from the trust?"
Victor looked away.
"Your mother was very ill."
"That wasn't my question."
Victor rose.
"You think the world is simple because you can afford lawyers."
Gabriel stood too.
"No. I think children shouldn't be made to pay for adults' lies."
Victor's expression hardened.
"Be careful with Sophie. Ruth loves her."
"Then Ruth should welcome an honest conversation."
Victor left without shaking his hand.
Helen located Ruth's address and arranged a meeting through counsel. But before it happened, Claire received an anonymous photograph on her phone.
A little girl in a school uniform stood beside an elderly woman at a Christmas market.
On the back of the digital image was a message:
STOP ASKING QUESTIONS OR SHE DISAPPEARS AGAIN.
Claire forwarded it to Helen and the police.
Annie saw her face.
"Is that Sophie?"
Claire could not lie.
"Yes."
"Does she know we're looking for her?"
"Not yet."
May you like
Annie picked up the cardboard star.
"Then we'd better keep it safe."
