CHAPTER 7 — REBECCA'S DAUGHTER
CHAPTER 7 — REBECCA'S DAUGHTER
Linda's words followed us out of the house.
Your sister was the one who betrayed this family.
Megan stood on the porch, shaking so violently that she could barely remain upright.
Daniel looked at her.
“Megan.”
She wouldn't meet his eyes.
“Megan, look at me.”
She finally did.
There was terror in her face.
Not guilt.
Terror.
“What did she mean?”
Megan opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Linda was led toward the police car.
As she passed us, she smiled.
Not at Daniel.
At Megan.
It was the smile of someone who knew exactly where the knife was going to land.
Daniel turned back to his sister.
“You opened the door that night?”
Megan nodded.
“You saw Dad?”
“Yes.”
“He was alive?”
“Yes.”
“And Mom handed him something?”
Megan closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“What happened after?”
“I don't remember.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You don't remember?”
“I was scared.”
“You were nineteen.”
“I know.”
“You were old enough to remember.”
Megan flinched.
I touched Daniel's arm.
“Not here.”
He looked at me.
His anger softened.
Megan whispered:
“She made me forget.”
Daniel's expression changed.
“What?”
“Not literally.”
She wiped her face.
“She told me what I had seen.”
“She told me what it meant.”
“She repeated the story until I believed it.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What story?”
“That Dad attacked her.”
“And you believed it?”
“I wanted to.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid of him.”
Daniel went silent.
Megan looked toward the police car.
“Mom told me if I didn't protect her, she would disappear.”
Daniel whispered:
“She used you.”
Megan nodded.
“She used both of us.”
The next morning, Rebecca called.
Her voice was urgent.
“You need to come to my apartment.”
“Why?”
“I found something.”
Daniel and I drove there with Detective Harper.
Rebecca opened the door before we knocked.
She looked exhausted.
“I didn't sleep.”
“Neither did we,” Daniel said.
Rebecca looked at him.
“Did Linda tell you about Megan?”
“Yes.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“I was afraid she would.”
“Why?”
“Because Megan isn't the person Linda wants you to believe she is.”
“What happened that night?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Ask me about the girl.”
Daniel frowned.
“What girl?”
Rebecca looked at me.
Then at him.
“The one Anna left behind.”
Daniel stared.
“Anna had another child?”
Rebecca nodded.
“A daughter.”
Silence.
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Where is she?”
Rebecca walked toward a locked cabinet.
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“The same year Anna died.”
Daniel stared.
“What was her name?”
Rebecca pulled out an old photograph.
“Claire.”
Daniel's face changed.
“Claire is Anna's daughter?”
“No.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Claire was Anna's sister.”
“Then who is Anna's daughter?”
Rebecca placed the photograph on the table.
A little girl stood beside Anna.
She had dark hair.
Bright eyes.
And a small birthmark beneath her chin.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
“Who is that?”
Rebecca whispered:
“Lily.”
Daniel sat down.
“Lily.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Anna's daughter.”
“Then where is she?”
“That's what I've spent years trying to find out.”
“Does Linda know about her?”
Rebecca's expression darkened.
“She knew before anyone.”
“How?”
“Because Lily was the reason Anna refused to leave Charleston.”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“How old was she?”
“Three.”
“Where did she go?”
Rebecca swallowed.
“Linda took her.”
Daniel stood abruptly.
“She took another child?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Lily was proof.”
“Proof of what?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Anna had written everything down.”
“What?”
“The truth about Linda.”
Daniel stared.
“Lily knew where the journal was.”
“She was three.”
“She didn't understand what it was.”
“But Linda thought she might.”
Daniel shook his head.
“So she took her.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Rebecca whispered:
“We don't know.”
Detective Harper studied the photograph.
“Who else knew about Lily?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“Edward.”
“Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“Leonard?”
“Yes.”
“Megan?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Not at first.”
“When did she find out?”
“When she was seventeen.”
Daniel frowned.
“Two years before Dad died.”
“Yes.”
“What did she do?”
“She tried to find Lily.”
Daniel's face changed.
“That's why she opened the door.”
Rebecca nodded.
“She was looking for her.”
“And Linda knew.”
“She always knew.”
Daniel looked at the photograph again.
“Where did Lily go?”
Rebecca opened another folder.
Inside were newspaper clippings.
Missing child reports.
Hospital records.
School records.
None had a clear answer.
Then she pulled out one final document.
A school enrollment form.
The name was different.
Emily Claire Morgan.
Daniel stared.
“That's not Lily.”
“No.”
“Then who is Emily?”
Rebecca looked at me.
“She is.”
I didn't understand.
“Who?”
Rebecca whispered:
“Your friend.”
Daniel looked at me.
“My friend?”
Rebecca nodded.
“The woman you told me about.”
My mind raced.
A woman.
A woman I had known for years.
Someone who had appeared in our lives without a family history.
Someone who always avoided questions about her childhood.
I whispered:
“Emily.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Emily is Lily.”
Daniel stared at me.
“No.”
“She doesn't know.”
“What?”
“Linda changed her identity when she was a child.”
“Why wouldn't she know?”
“Because she was too young.”
Daniel looked at the photograph.
“Then how did you find her?”
Rebecca pointed to the birthmark.
“She has it.”
We drove to Emily's apartment.
She opened the door with a confused smile.
“What are you doing here?”
Then she saw Rebecca.
Her smile disappeared.
“Who is that?”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“Lily.”
Emily froze.
“No.”
“Your real name is Lily Whitmore.”
Emily shook her head.
“You have the wrong person.”
Rebecca showed her the photograph.
Emily stared.
Her hands began trembling.
“That isn't me.”
Rebecca turned the photograph over.
There was a date.
A hospital.
A birth record.
And the name:
LILY ANNA MORGAN.
Emily stepped backward.
“No.”
Daniel spoke softly.
“Your mother's name was Anna.”
Emily looked at him.
“My mother died when I was little.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was murdered.”
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
“By Linda?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Rebecca did.
“Yes.”
Emily looked at us.
Then slowly touched the birthmark beneath her chin.
“Why don't I remember?”
“Because Linda made sure you wouldn't.”
Emily sat down.
“I have dreams.”
Rebecca nodded.
“What kind?”
“A house.”
“What house?”
“A big one.”
“Anything else?”
“A woman.”
“Linda?”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“Who?”
Emily looked at Daniel.
“Your mother.”
Daniel froze.
“Linda?”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“Anna.”
Emily remembered one thing.
A lullaby.
A melody Anna used to sing.
Rebecca recognized it immediately.
It was the same song she had heard Anna sing to Daniel.
The same song Edward had mentioned in his letters.
Daniel began crying.
“You were there.”
Emily nodded.
“I think so.”
“You were my sister.”
She looked at him.
“And you were my brother.”
They stared at each other.
Then Emily whispered:
“I remember your hand.”
Daniel's face collapsed.
“What?”
“You held my hand.”
“When?”
“Before they took me.”
“Who?”
Emily closed her eyes.
“Linda.”
But there was something else.
Something worse.
Emily remembered a locked room.
A room beneath the Whitmore house.
A woman had kept her there for several days.
Linda had told her that her mother didn't want her.
Then a man came.
Leonard.
He carried a box.
And beside him was a teenage girl.
Megan.
Daniel went completely still.
“Megan was there?”
Emily nodded.
“She cried.”
“Why?”
“She didn't want to hurt me.”
Daniel stared.
“What did she do?”
Emily began crying.
“She gave Linda the key.”
Silence.
“What key?”
“The key to the room.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Megan knew.”
“Yes.”
“Did she know who you were?”
Emily nodded.
“She called me Lily.”
Daniel looked at Rebecca.
“Then why didn't she tell anyone?”
Rebecca answered quietly.
“Because Linda told her if she spoke, Lily would disappear forever.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“And she believed her.”
“She was a child.”
“She was seventeen.”
“She was still Linda's child.”
That evening, Megan came to our house.
She looked exhausted.
“I know.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You knew Lily was alive.”
Megan nodded.
“I knew she was somewhere.”
“You helped Mom hide her.”
“I was terrified.”
“You gave her the key.”
“I didn't know what would happen.”
“You knew.”
Megan began crying.
“I thought Mom would kill her.”
Daniel's expression softened.
“You should have told me.”
“I wanted to.”
“When?”
“After Dad died.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Mom showed me something.”
“What?”
Megan pulled a folded photograph from her purse.
She placed it on the table.
Daniel picked it up.
It showed Lily.
Bound to a chair.
Alive.
Beside her stood Linda.
And behind them was Leonard.
On the back was written:
ONE WORD FROM YOU, AND SHE DIES.
Daniel's hand shook.
“She kept this?”
Megan nodded.
“She sent it to me every year.”
I stared at her.
“Every year?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To remind me.”
Daniel whispered:
“Of what?”
“That she still had Lily.”
Then Emily walked into the room.
Megan looked up.
She stopped breathing.
Emily stared at her.
Neither moved.
Finally, Megan whispered:
“Lily.”
Emily nodded.
“You remembered me.”
Megan covered her mouth.
“I never forgot you.”
“You left me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You gave her the key.”
“I know.”
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
“I was three.”
Megan began crying.
“I know.”
“You were supposed to protect me.”
“I know.”
“Why didn't you?”
Megan couldn't answer.
Emily stepped closer.
Then she hugged her.
Megan collapsed against her.
Daniel turned away.
I watched him wipe his eyes.
For the first time, the Whitmore children were standing together without Linda between them.
But the reunion didn't last.
Daniel's phone rang.
Detective Harper.
He answered.
“Hello?”
Her voice was tense.
“We found Leonard.”
“Where?”
“Dead.”
Daniel froze.
“What?”
“He was found in his car.”
“Cause?”
“Gunshot.”
Daniel's face went pale.
“Who killed him?”
“We don't know.”
“Was the box there?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“What was?”
Detective Harper paused.
“A note.”
“What does it say?”
Another pause.
Then:
“Your mother has one more child.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“What?”
“She says Linda has a fourth child.”
The call ended.
Daniel stared at the phone.
Megan looked at him.
“That's impossible.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
Emily's face was pale.
“I remember.”
“What do you remember?”
She whispered:
“There was another baby.”
“Where?”
“In the house.”
“Whose baby?”
Emily looked at Daniel.
“Linda's.”
Silence.
Daniel frowned.
“Linda didn't have another child.”
Emily shook her head.
“Not hers.”
“Then whose?”
Emily looked toward the window.
“Anna's.”
Daniel's face went white.
“But Anna only had you.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
She whispered:
“Mom was pregnant when she died.”
Daniel stared.
Rebecca covered her mouth.
“That's impossible.”
Emily shook her head.
“I saw the baby.”
Daniel whispered:
“Where?”
Emily's eyes filled with fear.
“Under the house.”
Then she said the words that made all of us silent.
“Lily wasn't the child Linda was really afraid of.”
She looked directly at Daniel.
May you like
“The baby was.”
And somewhere beneath the Whitmore house, behind another locked door, the last secret of the family was still waiting.
