Chapter 10
“What did you find?”
“Copies of a settlement. Your mother’s name was on them.”
I looked toward the envelope.
“What kind of settlement?”
“I’m not sure. It had something to do with properties your father owned before the marriage. There were transfers, payments, and a handwritten note from him.”
“What did it say?”
“Something about making sure your mother could never challenge the trust.”
My throat tightened.
“Why would he need to do that?”
“I don’t know. But there was another document. A letter from a bank. It mentioned a loan and a signature.”
“Whose signature?”
“Your mother’s.”
I sat down again.
My mother had always told me she left my father because she wanted a simpler life. She had never spoken about loans or signatures. She had worked for years afterward, first managing a small gallery and later teaching art classes at a community center.
I had assumed she wanted independence.
I had never wondered whether independence had been forced upon her.
“Where are the documents now?” I asked.
“With me.”
“Why?”
“Because I was going to ask you about them.”
“You could have shown me.”
“You wouldn’t have listened.”
The answer landed harder than I wanted it to.
Tessa had known me for almost a year. She knew how quickly I dismissed anything that threatened the version of myself I preferred.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I don’t know anymore.”
That was the first honest thing either of us had said in a long time.
She continued, “I thought you loved me. Maybe you did, in the way you were capable of loving anyone while still protecting your own comfort. But I realized I was waiting for a life you had no intention of giving me.”
“I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to. You kept asking me to wait.”
I said nothing.
“Grant, I’m not calling to fight with you. I’m calling because I should not have sent that photograph to Corinne. I thought if she knew, you would finally stop pretending. I didn’t understand that she had already been carrying the truth by herself.”
“What do you want me to do with the documents?”
“Take them to Miriam Holt.”
“Why?”
“Because she contacted me.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Miriam contacted you?”
“She asked whether I had anything connected to Keaton Family Holdings. I didn’t know how she knew about the files.”
“What did you tell her?”