Chapter 5: What Eleanor Never Knew
Diane didn't look away.
"When your sister was placed," she said, "your mother believed it was a clean arrangement.
A private adoption.
A good family, no further contact, no paper trail that would ever surface."
"But?"
"The family she was placed with — the Hargrove family — the husband d*ed when Nora was four.
The wife remarried two years later." Diane paused.
"She married a man named Curtis Vane."
The name meant nothing to me.
"Who is he?"
"He was, at the time, a junior partner at Marsh and Associates."
I went still.
"Gerald Marsh's firm."
"Yes." Diane's voice stayed even.
"Marsh arranged the adoption.
Vane married into the family he helped place.
That's not a coincidence, Katherine.
Marsh and Vane have been managing a private trust in your sister's name since she was an infant.
A trust funded by your family."
"My family funded a trust for her?"
"Your grandfather did.
Before he d*ed.
He found out about the adoption — your mother never knew he found out — and he set aside money for the child.
He told Marsh to administer it quietly until the girl turned thirty."
I stood up.
I couldn't sit still any longer.
I walked to the window and stood there with my arms crossed, looking out at the street.
"How much?" I said.
"Enough to matter.
Enough that when Vane married into that household, he had a very clear reason to make sure Nora never went looking for her biological family.
Never asked questions.
Never found out about the trust before he could position himself to benefit from it."
I turned around.
"He's been controlling her."
"He's been managing her," Diane said carefully.
"She thinks he's her stepfather.
She has no reason to distrust him.
He's been careful."
"Does Marsh know you know this?"
"No."
"Does my father?"
"I told your father three weeks ago." She met my eyes.
"That's why he wrote my name on the envelope.
He wanted you to find me.
He couldn't tell you himself — he was afraid of how much it would hurt you all at once.
He thought if you came to me, I could—" She stopped.
"Soften it," I said.
"Walk you through it."
I looked at her for a long moment.
Four years.
Sunday afternoon calls.
Her sitting across from me at this same table when my cat had to be put down and I cried harder than I expected to and she didn't say a single word, just refilled my tea and stayed.
"You should have told me," I said.
"I know why you didn't.
I understand it.
But you should have."
"Yes," Diane said.
"I should have."
That was all she said.
No defense.
No further explanation.
Just yes.
I sat back down.
I picked up the school photograph of Nora again.
The girl with my eyes and her guarded expression and no idea that somewhere two hours away, her twin sister had just found out she existed.
"I want to meet her," I said.
"I know."
"But if Vane finds out I'm looking—"
"He'll move to protect the trust before you can get near it." Diane nodded.
"Which means you can't go to her directly.
Not yet.
You need to understand what he has in place first."
"How do I do that?"
Diane reached into the pocket of her cardigan and placed a business card on the table between us.
It was plain.
Just a name and a phone number.
"She's an attorney," Diane said.
"Not connected to Marsh.
She handled a similar trust dispute three years ago.
She knows how these arrangements work and she knows how men like Vane protect them."
I picked up the card.
"Does she know about my family?"
"Not yet," Diane said.
"But Katherine — call her before you do anything else.
Before you go looking for Nora.
Before you contact Marsh.
Before you say anything to anyone."
She leaned forward slightly.
May you like
"Vane has been waiting twenty-four years for that girl to turn thirty.
He is not going to let anyone interrupt that quietly."
