Chapter 8 - WHY EVELYN NEVER CAME HOME
Maren asked the question again.
This time, she refused a partial answer.
“Why fifteen years?”
Evelyn stood beside the hospital window.
“Because your father and I made a terrible decision.”
“Which one?”
“We thought protecting you from the truth would keep you safe.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
Evelyn turned.
“The first conspiracy was bigger than Graham.”
“Who else?”
“Your father’s brother.”
Maren froze.
“Uncle Thomas?”
“Yes.”
Thomas Whitaker died twelve years earlier.
Heart attack.
Maren had adored him.
“He arranged the aircraft sabotage?”
“He funded it.”
“Why?”
“Company control.”
Evelyn’s voice broke.
“Your grandfather created separate family trusts.”
“Your father received control.”
“Thomas received money.”
“He never forgave it.”
“When Graham approached him, resentment did the rest.”
Maren stared.
“So Dad’s own brother tried to kill you.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad still let everyone believe you died?”
“We needed Thomas to believe it too.”
“Then Thomas died three years later.”
“Why not come back then?”
“Because before he died, he transferred records to Graham.”
“Graham still had allies.”
“And then your father died.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“I lost the only person who knew how to bring me back safely.”
Maren whispered.
“You could have called me.”
“I did.”
“What?”
“Once.”
“When you were twenty-two.”
Maren remembered an unknown woman who called at 2 a.m.
A voice had said.
Sweetheart.
Then hung up.
She had thought it was a cruel prank.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
“I heard you say hello.”
“I couldn’t do it.”
Maren’s anger returned.
“You chose fear.”
“Yes.”
“For fifteen years.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know if I can forgive you.”
Evelyn nodded.
“I did not come back expecting forgiveness.”
May you like
“I came back because your emergency signal told me hiding had finally become more dangerous than being seen.”
That answer Maren could believe.
