Then the second.
His face changed.
Rebecca grabbed the papers.
“This can’t be real.”
“It is,” Daniel said.
“You’re lying.”
“I prepared the documents myself.”
She looked at me.
“You manipulated him.”
For the first time since Thomas died, I didn’t look down.
“No.”
“You knew about this.”
“I didn’t.”
“You married him for this!”
I shook my head.
“I married your father because I loved him.”
Rebecca’s eyes filled with tears.
“You stole our inheritance.”
“No.”
I pointed toward the documents.
“Your father made his choice.”
Michael sat down.
He looked exhausted.
Then he whispered,
“Dad really planned everything.”
Daniel nodded.
“Months ago.”
There was silence.
Then I noticed something on the mantel.
Our wedding photograph.
I walked toward it.
Rebecca watched me.
I picked it up.
For a moment, I simply held it.
Then I turned it over.
There was handwriting on the back.
Thomas’s handwriting.
“Told you I’d get you that ring.”
I smiled through my tears.
Rebecca saw it.
She started crying.
“I didn’t know,” she whispered.
I looked at her.
“Neither did I.”
For several minutes, none of us spoke.
Then Rebecca said something I never expected.
“Dad talked about you.”
I looked at her.
