PART THREE — THE GRANDDAUGHTER WHO VANISHED
Charles sat down.
For perhaps the first time in his adult life, nobody needed to tell him to.
Anna remained across from him, Richard’s ring resting against her uniform.
Thirty-six years.
That was how long Charles had successfully avoided thinking about Elena Reyes.
Richard had been nineteen.
Elena had been twenty-two.
They had met at Whitmore Construction during the summer when Richard was working in the accounting department. Charles had considered it harmless until Richard announced that Elena was pregnant.
Richard wanted to marry her.
Charles refused.
He had told himself he was protecting his son.
He had actually been protecting the future he had designed for him.
“You paid my mother fifty thousand dollars,” Anna said.
Charles closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“You told her Richard would lose everything if she stayed.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened to have her arrested for stealing company funds.”
Catherine looked sharply at her father.
“Dad?”
Charles felt sick.
“I never intended to actually do it.”
Anna laughed softly.
“That must have been very comforting to a pregnant twenty-two-year-old woman.”
Victoria sat motionless.
For once, she had nothing to say.
Charles looked at Anna.
“Did Richard know?”
“That you threatened her?”
“Yes.”
“Not until years later.”
Charles frowned.
Anna continued.
“My mother moved to Arizona. She raised me alone. She never told me who my father was until I was sixteen.”
“Why?”
“Because she was afraid of you.”
The answer cut deeper than anger would have.
Anna sat across from him.
“When I was twenty-three, Richard found us.”
Charles looked up.
“What?”
“He had been searching for years.”
Catherine began crying again.
Anna smiled faintly.
“He showed up at our apartment carrying groceries because he didn’t know what else fathers were supposed to bring.”
Despite himself, Charles almost smiled.
“That sounds like Richard.”
“It was awkward at first.”
Anna’s eyes softened.
“He wanted to make up twenty-three years in one weekend. He asked me what books I liked, where I went to school, whether I preferred coffee or tea, what my favorite movie was. He wrote everything down.”
Charles lowered his head.
“He loved lists.”
“He loved people,” Anna said. “He just wasn’t always brave enough to stand up to you.”
The sentence hurt because it was true.
Victoria spoke quietly.
“Richard never told me.”
Anna turned to her.
“Yes, he did.”
Victoria froze.
“Three weeks before he died.”
The color left her face.
“He told you about me.”
Victoria stared at the carpet.
“Yes.”
Charles looked at her.
“You knew?”
Victoria nodded.
“How long?”
“Four years.”
“And you never told me?”
“Richard asked me not to.”
“Why?”
“Because he was afraid you would do to Anna what you did to Elena.”
Charles flinched.
Victoria’s eyes were hard now.
“He wanted to protect her.”
Anna reached into her pocket and removed a folded envelope.
“Richard wrote this before he died.”
She handed it to Charles.
His fingers trembled as he opened it.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
*Dad,*
*If Anna ever comes to you, please listen before you judge her. I wasted too much of my life trying to become the son you wanted instead of the man I should have been.*
*She is my daughter.*
*That makes her your family, whether you accept it or not.*
*I hope one day you are brave enough to repair what we broke.*
Charles stopped reading.
His vision blurred.
He had attended his son’s funeral without knowing that Richard had left behind a daughter.
A daughter Charles himself had driven away before she was born.
“Why tonight?” he asked.
Anna looked toward Victoria.
“Because she contacted me.”
Charles stared at his daughter-in-law.
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“You invited Anna?”
“Yes.”
“Why secretly?”
“Because your new will removes most of Richard’s branch of the family from the inheritance.”
Charles frowned.
“My will leaves everything to the foundation.”
“That’s what you believe.”
The room changed.
Charles looked at his attorney, who was not there.
