Chapter 2
I knew Camille’s handwriting before I touched the envelope.
Some things survive time better than memory.
The way she looped the A in my name.
The small slash beneath the final letter.
She used to leave notes on my bedroom door when we were children because she hated waking me before noon.
Beatrice moved immediately.
“That could be anything.”
Rafe stepped between us.
I looked at her.
“You seem very frightened by things that mean nothing.”
Her mouth tightened.
Mariana stood several feet away, one hand pressed over the tear in her blouse. Renata removed her own shawl and draped it around her shoulders without asking.
Sebastian saw.
“Renata, don’t.”
My daughter turned toward the man she was supposed to marry.
“Don’t what?”
“She works for my mother.”
“No.”
Renata looked at Mariana.
“She was raised by your mother.”
Sebastian scoffed. “Same difference.”
I saw Renata’s face change.
So did he.
Too late.
I opened the envelope.
Empty.
Beatrice laughed.
“There. Your great mystery.”
Rafe took it from me and examined the inside.
“There was something in here.”
A rectangular discoloration remained where paper had rested for years.
Someone had removed the contents.
I looked toward Richard.
He avoided my eyes.
Mariana spoke quietly.
“I’ve seen that envelope.”
Everyone turned.
“Where?”
“In Mrs. Sterling’s dressing room.”
Beatrice snapped, “You went through my things?”
Mariana’s body tightened immediately.
“No. You sent me to find your pearl case.”
Beatrice stood.
“You little liar.”
I moved between them.
She stopped.
Mariana kept going, voice smaller now.
“The envelope was inside a wooden box. There were other letters. All blue.”
My chest tightened.
Camille always used blue stationery.
“How many?”
“I don’t know. Maybe ten.”
Beatrice laughed harshly.
“Enough.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
My voice dropped.
“I think you’ve said that word to the wrong people for a very long time.”
Richard stepped forward.
“Alexander, whatever Camille wrote was decades ago. Dragging old family pain into our children’s wedding will destroy everything.”
I looked toward Renata.
Then Sebastian.
Finally Mariana.
“You mean your son’s wedding.”
Richard frowned.
I continued.
“Because I’m beginning to think you never considered Mariana one of your children at all.”
Mariana lowered her eyes.
That reaction answered before Richard could.
May you like
And I realized the necklace was not the cruelest thing they had hidden.
The cruelest thing was that Mariana had grown up inside the house of people who knew exactly whose daughter she might be.
