Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN BY THE FIREPLACE
By Christmas afternoon, the story Clare had believed twenty-four hours earlier had collapsed almost completely.
But the pain had not.
That surprised Harrison.
It should not have.
They drove separately from Hudson to Bedford.
Clare rode with Eleanor.
Harrison drove behind them.
He called twice.
Clare ignored both calls.
Eleanor glanced toward her.
“You know Sienna isn’t his mistress now.”
“I know.”
“And you’re still angry.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Clare looked over.
Eleanor smiled faintly.
“Knowing which lie someone told you doesn’t erase the fact that they lied.”
For the first time that day, Clare felt understood without explanation.
Sienna’s house showed signs of forced entry.
A shattered kitchen window had been boarded over. Drawers had been emptied. Files covered the floor.
Sienna herself stood beside the fireplace with a bandage around her palm.
She was not the glamorous seductress Clare’s imagination had created.
She looked exhausted.
“Harrison.”
Then she saw Clare.
“Oh.”
Clare folded her arms.
Sienna winced.
“I owe you an apology.”
“Yes.”
“I told Harrison six months ago that keeping this from you was stupid.”
Harrison entered behind them.
“Thank you, Sienna.”
“You’re welcome.”
Despite herself, Clare almost smiled.
Sienna gestured toward the table.
“The amendment.”
The document established something none of them expected.
Charles Mercer had changed the family partnership in 1989 after discovering Eleanor existed.
But he had not excluded illegitimate children.
He had done something stranger.
Any biological descendant of William Mercer could inherit.
Which meant Eleanor’s claim was valid.
Margaret had lied.
Again.
“Why?” Harrison asked.
Margaret, who had reluctantly followed with her attorney, stood near the door.
“To protect the company.”
“From Eleanor?”
“From scandal.”
Eleanor laughed.
“I was a baby.”
“You represented a threat.”
“No,” Clare said quietly. “She represented proof.”
Margaret looked at her.
“Proof of what?”
“That the Mercer family image was always more important to you than the people inside it.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
Sienna interrupted.
“There’s another problem.”
She produced financial records.
Someone had spent twenty-two years diverting dividends owed to Eleanor’s trust.
The amount exceeded forty-three million dollars.
Harrison stared at the number.
“Who authorized this?”
Sienna slid over a signature page.
Margaret Mercer.
Harrison sat down.
His mother did not deny it.
“You stole from her.”
“I preserved the company.”
“You stole forty-three million dollars from my sister.”
Eleanor’s expression changed at the word.
Sister.
Harrison heard it too.
He looked at her.
“I should have found you years ago.”
“Yes.”
“I should have told the truth when Dad died.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t undo that.”
“No.”
“But I can stop continuing it.”
Eleanor watched him.
Harrison turned to Sienna.
“Prepare everything for the board.”
Margaret’s eyes widened.
“You will destroy this family.”
Harrison looked at her.
“No. I think we’re finally finding out what destroyed it.”
Margaret slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Clare instinctively moved forward.
Harrison did not.
He looked at his mother with terrible sadness.
“You should leave.”
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears for the first time.
Then she walked out.
That evening, Clare stood alone on Sienna’s back porch.
Snow covered the woods.
Harrison stepped outside.
He kept several feet between them.
“I’m not going to ask you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I do need to explain something.”
Clare waited.
“The perfume.”
She looked at him.
“Sienna hugged me after we found Eleanor’s first confirmed address. That’s what you smelled.”
“Okay.”
“The late meetings were with her and Dad’s former attorney.”
“Okay.”
“The calls on the balcony were because I didn’t want you hearing.”
“That one isn’t helping.”
“I know.”
He stared into the snow.
“I kept thinking I would solve it first. Then I would tell you when there was nothing left to worry about.”
Clare’s voice softened.
“That’s what you still don’t understand.”
He looked at her.
“I didn’t need you to give me a life with nothing to worry about.”
Her eyes burned.
“I needed you to let me live the real one with you.”
Harrison lowered his head.
“I know.”
“No. You know now.”
He nodded.
“That’s fair.”
She hated how much she still loved him.
That was the cruelest part.
“Why did you leave last night?”
“Sienna called because she believed she’d located the amendment. She thought someone else was searching her house.”
“You could have told me.”
“Yes.”
“You could have said, ‘Clare, my father had another daughter and I’m trying to find her.’”
“Yes.”
“But you let me believe you were leaving your pregnant wife on Christmas Eve for another woman.”
“I didn’t know you believed that until you said Sienna’s name.”
“And then?”
He closed his eyes.
“I panicked.”
“So you called me hormonal.”
His face tightened.
“I will regret that sentence for the rest of my life.”
“You should.”
“I do.”
They stood silently.
Then Clare felt pain tighten around her abdomen.
She inhaled sharply.
Harrison moved.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Clare.”
“Braxton Hicks.”
Another tightening came.
Stronger.
She gripped the railing.
Harrison’s face drained of color.
“That doesn’t look like nothing.”
“I’m only thirty-one weeks.”
“Exactly.”
Her knees weakened.
Harrison caught her before she fell.
Clare gasped.
Warm liquid suddenly ran down the inside of her leg.
They both looked down.
Harrison whispered:
“Clare?”
May you like
Fear erased everything else.
“My water broke.”
