Chapter 5 - The Last Secret Eleanor Left Behind
The DNA results arrived the next morning.
99.997%.
Lily Bennett was my biological daughter.
I read the number twice.
Then a third time.
Lily stood across the library.
Ethan sat beside her eating cereal.
"Well?" she asked.
I turned the tablet around.
She stared.
Ethan looked between us.
"So..."
Nobody answered.
He pointed his spoon at me.
"You're my grandpa?"
I almost laughed.
"Apparently."
"You're kind of young."
"I'm fifty-one."
"That's pretty old."
Lily covered her face.
"Ethan."
"What?"
For the first time in seven years, my house didn't feel empty.
Federal investigators arrested Voss that afternoon.
His confession reopened the entire explosion case.
But he gave us one more thing.
A storage-unit number.
Eleanor had hidden evidence before she died.
Daniel and I went with Lily.
Inside were boxes.
Research records.
Photographs.
Letters.
And one small wooden case.
Lily opened it.
Inside was a video camera.
Daniel recovered the memory card.
The recording began.
Eleanor appeared on screen.
Burned.
Bandaged.
Alive.
Lily grabbed my shoulder.
Eleanor spoke weakly.
"If Adrian sees this..."
My chest tightened.
"...tell him I'm sorry."
I couldn't breathe.
"They're saying our baby died. They're lying."
Lily began crying silently.
Eleanor continued.
"Our daughter survived."
Daughter.
She knew.
"I heard her cry."
My right index finger twitched.
Then my middle finger.
Claire noticed.
"Adrian."
I ignored her.
Eleanor looked directly into the camera.
"Adrian, find her."
The recording ended.
Lily whispered:
"She wanted you to find me."
"Yes."
"All this time..."
"I would have."
She looked at me.
"I know."
Those two words broke something inside me.
Not painfully.
Like a locked door finally opening.
Ethan climbed into my lap.
"Grandpa?"
"Yes?"
"Your hand moved."
I looked down.
Three fingers were trembling.
Ethan grinned.
"See?"
He jumped down.
"We need the piano."
Lily laughed through her tears.
"The piano?"
"It worked last time."
He grabbed the handles of my wheelchair.
"Come on."
"Ethan—"
"Grandma, help."
Maria appeared in the doorway.
For the first time, she wasn't afraid of me.
She smiled.
"You heard him, Mr. Wolfe."
I sighed.
"This family is becoming impossible."
Lily looked at me.
"Family?"
I met her eyes.
"Unless you object."
May you like
She smiled.
"I think we can work on it."
