Chapter 3 - WHAT CLARA SAW
Edmund Carrington arrived from Boston two days later.
He came with a lawyer.
Evelyn disliked him before he removed his gloves.
He looked at her as though Josiah had married livestock.
“So you're the new Mrs. Whitmore.”
“Yes.”
“How remarkably fast.”
“So was your journey.”
His smile tightened.
Josiah entered.
“Why are you here?”
“To see my nieces.”
Clara and Rose appeared at the staircase.
Both froze.
Rose dropped Mr. Rabbit.
Clara grabbed her hand.
Evelyn saw terror.
Not discomfort.
Terror.
She stepped between them and Edmund.
Edmund frowned.
“Move.”
“No.”
“They are my sister's children.”
“They're my daughters now.”
The words surprised everyone.
Especially Evelyn.
Edmund laughed.
“You've been their mother for three days.”
Evelyn looked at Clara.
Then Rose.
“Apparently three days was enough for me to notice they're afraid of you.”
Silence.
Edmund's face changed.
Josiah ordered him out.
That night, Clara wet the bed.
Evelyn found her crying silently.
She changed the sheets without mentioning it.
Then Clara grabbed her wrist.
Her lips moved.
No sound.
Again.
Evelyn leaned closer.
Clara forced air through her throat.
“Don't…”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
The child's first word in fourteen months.
“Don't…”
“What, sweetheart?”
Clara shook violently.
“Don't let him…”
Her voice vanished.
Evelyn held her.
“I won't.”
The next morning, Evelyn told Josiah.
He sat down as if his knees failed.
“She spoke?”
“Three words.”
He covered his face.
When he looked up, his eyes were wet.
“I've spent fourteen months trying to make them speak.”
“Maybe that's why.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“You were waiting for words.”
Evelyn touched Clara's drawing.
“Maybe they needed someone to listen before they could speak.”
That afternoon, they opened the west wing.
Inside the dead woman's bedroom, they found nothing.
Until Rose pointed at the floor.
Beneath a loose board was a diary.
Margaret Whitmore's diary.
The final entries were terrified.
Edmund had been visiting secretly.
He demanded money.
Threatened scandal.
And on the final written page:
Edmund knows Josiah isn't Clara's father.
Josiah read it twice.
Then looked at Clara.
May you like
Evelyn felt the floor disappear beneath their family.
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