Chapter 2
The drive home took less than twenty minutes. Each turn tugged at the biopsy dressing beneath my blouse.
Silver serving trays and unopened floral boxes crowded the entryway. In the dining room, place cards, ivory favors, and champagne covered the table.
A catering confirmation beside the linen napkins scheduled a family brunch in my house for ten the next morning. My name and phone number appeared under BILLING CONTACT.
A delivery note instructed the caterers to enter through my kitchen. Martin had used my name and my home to welcome the family he'd hidden from me.
He expected me to prepare everything and serve the daughter he'd concealed for twenty-four years.
My phone buzzed. Elise's name filled the screen.
"Claire, where are you?" she asked when I answered. Music from the country club thudded behind her. "Martin said you were joining us after your appointment."
"I just walked into my dining room. You planned a wedding brunch in my home." I looked at the place cards spread across my table.
"Martin told me you knew." The music faded as if she'd moved away from the ballroom. "He said the veil was your gift to Ava."
Elise drew a breath. "We thought you were coming to celebrate."
I tightened my grip on the phone. "He stole my mother's veil from my closet. I learned Ava was his daughter from the livestream while I was waiting for a needle biopsy."
Elise went quiet as the music swelled through the phone again. "Look, I'm not getting involved in whatever is happening between you and Martin. Don't punish Ava for this."
I ended the call and photographed the confirmation. Then I dialed the catering number printed at the top.
The booking was under my name, so the manager canceled it after I verified the address. The cancellation email reached my phone before I hung up.
Upstairs, I pulled a small canvas duffel from my closet. I packed my passport, insurance cards, prescription bottles, and several loose button-down shirts.
The cedar box sat at the back of the closet, the veil's folded outline still visible in the lining. I placed my mother's watches and earrings in a padded case.
I called Naomi. "Martin has a twenty-four-year-old daughter. I need you to come get me."
"I'm leaving now."
While I waited, I saved the catering photographs and cancellation email beside the wedding screenshots. Martin had left me enough evidence to prove what he'd planned.
Naomi arrived fifteen minutes later and lifted the heavy duffel from the foyer floor. "What else?" she asked.
"My mother's cedar box." I went upstairs for it rather than leave another piece of her in Martin's reach.
When I came down, my phone lit up with a text from Martin.
"Be home by ten. We're bringing everyone over tomorrow morning, and I need you to host."
He still thought I was somewhere between the medical center and the reception. He expected one message to put me back where he'd left me.
Naomi opened the front door and carried the duffel toward her car. Before she reached the steps, headlights swept across the windows.
Two large vehicles entered the driveway and blocked her sedan. Naomi backed into the foyer and set my bag beside her feet.
Through the glass, I watched Martin and Elise step out of the lead car. Another door opened behind them, and a flash of white moved toward the house.
The front door swung inward. Then Ava stepped inside in her white reception dress, looked straight at me, and said, "Mom Claire."