Chapter 8
Robert stared at the certificate like it had rewritten his life.
“She married him?”
Lydia took the document carefully.
“Possibly illegally. Or symbolically. We’ll verify.”
Henry’s mouth tightened.
“Evelyn never did anything symbolically.”
The certificate was from Nevada.
Witnessed by Dr. Alan Price.
The same doctor drugging Robert.
Clara whispered, “Mom has two husbands?”
Daniel sank onto a crate.
“I think Martin was always the real one.”
Robert turned toward him.
“What did you know?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Nothing about this. I swear.”
I watched him.
I wanted to believe him.
I hated that wanting.
An officer found another box.
Inside were photos of Evelyn and Martin on vacations.
Bank statements.
Letters.
And one adoption file.
Clara’s name was on it.
Clara stopped breathing.
“No.”
Robert reached for her.
She stepped back.
Lydia opened the file slowly.
Clara had been adopted at three months old.
Robert’s signature was on the consent.
He looked horrified.
“I never signed that.”
Henry took off his glasses.
“I knew.”
Everyone turned.
Robert whispered, “Dad?”
Henry’s hands trembled.
“Your mother arranged it before she died. Clara’s birth mother was a housekeeper Evelyn fired.”
Clara’s face crumpled.
“You knew and let Mom treat me like a burden?”
Henry closed his eyes.
“I thought keeping you in the family was enough.”
Clara backed away.
“It wasn’t.”
I grabbed her hand.
She clung to me.
The room that had been built to destroy me was destroying everyone.
Then Lydia found the final folder.
It was labeled Daniel.
Inside was a DNA report.
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Daniel was not Robert’s biological son.
His father was Martin.
