Chapter 6
I heard them talking that night.
I was supposed to be asleep.
Lucas was curled beside me in Dad’s bed because none of us wanted separate rooms.
But I woke to voices downstairs.
Aunt Sarah sounded angry.
Dad sounded hollow.
“She warned you,” Aunt Sarah said.
Dad whispered, “I thought it was grief.”
“She told you Karen was overstepping.”
“She was dying. She was scared. I thought everyone was scared.”
“You let a nanny become a mother because it was easier than grieving.”
Silence.
Then Dad said, “I know.”
Those two words mattered.
Not enough.
But they mattered.
Aunt Sarah read Mom’s letter.
Her voice shook.
Sarah,
If something happens to me, watch the children. Daniel loves them, but he avoids pain until someone else pays for it. Karen wants more than a job. She wants my place, my house, and my children’s trust.
Please don’t let her erase me.
I cried into the pillow.
Because that was exactly what Karen had done.
She took down Mom’s photos.
Stopped Dad from saying her name.
Told Lucas he did not remember her.
Told me I was selfish when I asked about her.
She did not just want our house.
She wanted our memories.
The next morning, Aunt Sarah hung Mom’s picture in the hallway.
A big one.
Mom laughing in a blue dress, holding baby Lucas.
I stood under it for a long time.
Dad came beside me.
“She had your eyes,” he said.
“No,” I whispered.
“I have hers.”
His face crumpled.
“Yes.”
Lucas pointed at the picture.
“Real Mommy?”
Dad picked him up.
“Yes.”
Lucas touched the frame gently.
“Hi, Mommy.”
Dad turned away, crying silently.
Aunt Sarah started making calls.
Lawyers.
Police.
The trust office.
The bakery.
That last call changed everything.
May you like
Because the bakery confirmed Karen had personally changed the cake order from vanilla to strawberry that morning.
And she had signed the receipt.
