Chapter 2 - THE CARD BENEATH THE RIBBON
Charles continued knocking while Evelyn read the card again.
Trust her.
She saved your life.
The sentence broke apart everything her father had told her that morning.
Leah took the card and held it beneath the light.
“This ink is old,” she said. “The paper is old too.”
“My mother wrote it.”
“You’re certain?”
Evelyn nodded.
Her earliest memories of Sarah Parker came in fragments.
A laugh from another room.
A warm hand smoothing her hair.
The scent of vanilla and rain.
After Sarah’s death, Charles had stored almost every photograph and letter in a locked trunk.
When Evelyn was twelve, she had found one birthday card her mother had written before becoming ill.
The same sweeping E.
The same long tail beneath the final letter of her name.
Another knock struck the door.
“Evelyn,” Charles said. “Daniel’s family is already talking to reporters. We need to leave.”
Leah leaned close.
“Don’t tell him about the card.”
“Why?”
“Because he had the photograph you can’t find. He gave you a story that made you panic. Now the only thing contradicting him appears in a bouquet he wanted you to fear.”
Evelyn looked toward the door.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying we should stop assuming your father is the safest person in this room.”
That thought felt like stepping onto ice.
Charles Parker had raised Evelyn alone from the age of nine.
He had attended every school performance.
He had sat beside her bed when she had pneumonia.
He had warned every boyfriend that breaking his daughter’s heart would be a serious mistake.
He could be controlling.
He could be severe.
But he was her father.
“Sweetheart,” Charles called again, “open the door.”
Evelyn folded the card and slipped it into the bodice of her dress.
Leah unlocked the door.
Charles entered immediately.
At sixty-one, he still possessed the polished charm that had made Parker & Lane one of Boston’s most respected private investment firms.
His silver hair was immaculate.
His tuxedo looked untouched by the disaster outside.
He crossed the room and wrapped Evelyn in his arms.
“My poor girl.”
She did not return the embrace.
He drew back.
“Where is the photograph?”
His eyes flickered.
“What photograph?”
“The one you showed me this morning.”
Charles glanced at Leah.
“This is a family matter.”
“She stays.”
A small line appeared between his eyebrows.
“The photograph is safe.”
“In my purse?”
“I took it back.”
“Why?”
“Because it was evidence, Evelyn.”
“Evidence of what?”
He lowered his voice.
“Of Margaret standing beside your mother’s car hours before the crash.”
“That doesn’t prove Margaret killed her.”
“I never said she killed her.”
“You said she was responsible.”
“I said she knew more than she admitted.”
Evelyn searched his face.
“Why tell me today?”
Charles hesitated only a second.
“Because I learned Margaret planned to give you roses. Your mother was found with red roses scattered across the passenger seat. I feared Margaret intended to provoke you.”
Leah folded her arms.
“How did you know what bouquet Margaret was carrying?”
Charles’s gaze hardened.
“The florist mentioned it.”
“The florist violated the bride’s privacy to discuss the groom’s mother’s bouquet with you?”
“I paid for this wedding. People answer my questions.”
Evelyn felt the first stir of anger beneath her shame.
“You wanted me frightened before I walked down the aisle.”
“I wanted you alert.”
“You could have gone to Daniel.”
“Daniel sees only what his mother allows him to see.”
“And what do you allow me to see?”
Charles stared at her.
The silence between them stretched.
Then his expression softened again.
“Your wedding ended ten minutes ago. You are in shock. This is not the time to interrogate the man who has protected you all your life.”
“Protected me from what?”
“From people who wanted to use you.”
“Like Margaret?”
“Like the Whitmores.”
Leah stepped closer.
“Evelyn needs space.”
Charles ignored her.
“Come home with me. We will handle the humiliation together.”
The word humiliation pierced Evelyn.
Not heartbreak.
Not confusion.
Not grief.
Humiliation.
As if the worst part of the day was what strangers had witnessed.
“I’m not going with you,” she said.
Charles’s face became still.
“Where will you go?”
“To my apartment.”
“Daniel owns that apartment.”
“No. We bought it together.”
“His name is on the deed.”
“So is mine.”
Charles walked to the window and looked down at the departing cars.
“You screamed at an elderly woman in front of half the city. By morning, every society page will have the video. Daniel’s lawyers will advise him to protect himself. His family will make you look unstable.”
“Are you trying to comfort me?”
“I am trying to prepare you.”
“No,” Evelyn said. “You’re trying to make me afraid.”
He turned.
For the briefest moment, she saw fury beneath his calm.
Then it vanished.
“Call me when you remember who has always stood beside you.”
He left without kissing her goodbye.
Leah locked the door after him.
Evelyn’s knees nearly gave way.
“What now?” she whispered.
Leah looked at the card again.
“Now we find Margaret.”
They changed Evelyn out of her wedding gown.
Leah gave her a long black coat to wear over the simple ivory slip beneath it.
They used a service elevator to avoid the remaining guests.
In the underground garage, Marcus was waiting beside his car.
“Daniel asked me to bring you this,” he said.
He handed Evelyn her engagement ring.
She stared at the diamond in his palm.
“He took it off?”
“You left it in the bridal suite before the ceremony.”
Evelyn had forgotten.
Marcus closed her fingers around the ring.
“Margaret collapsed in the car,” he said. “They’re at St. Anne’s.”
“Is she all right?”
“We don’t know.”
Guilt tore through Evelyn.
Marcus looked at her coldly now.
“You should also know Daniel found one of the notes in your bouquet room.”
Evelyn’s heart jumped.
“Which one?”
“The one that said his mother killed yours.”
“I didn’t write it.”
“He knows that.”
“Then why didn’t he call me?”
Marcus opened the driver’s door.
“Because while the doctors were treating Margaret, someone sent Daniel a photograph.”
“What photograph?”
Marcus’s eyes remained on hers.
“One of you meeting the man who has been blackmailing his family for six months.”
Evelyn felt the garage tilt.
“I haven’t met any blackmailer.”
“Daniel recognized the café.”
May you like
Marcus paused.
“And the man sitting across from you was your father.”
