We didn't sleep.
At dawn, Kyle made coffee while I sat at the kitchen table with Frank's papers spread around me.
Elaine's warning had changed the meaning of everything.
Daniel was dead.
At least, that was what I believed.
I had attended his funeral.
I had stood beside Elaine.
I had watched Madison cry.
So how could Elaine tell me he would be waiting at Rose's grave?
"Maybe she meant his representative," Kyle said.
"Maybe."
"But she sounded terrified."
"She did."
We left at seven.
The cemetery was nearly empty.
A thin mist hung between the headstones.
Kyle parked near the entrance.
We walked together.
Rose's grave was near the back, beneath an old maple tree.
Her name was carved into the stone.
I touched it.
"She hated being cold," I said.
Kyle looked at me.
"What?"
"She always complained about winter."
He smiled faintly.
"Sounds like Aunt Rose."
Then we saw it.
Someone had left flowers.
Fresh ones.
White lilies.
Beside them was a small envelope.
Kyle bent down.
I stopped him.
"Don't."
We looked around.
Nothing moved.
Then a voice came from behind the tree.
"Your father was right."
We turned.
A man stepped into view.
Older than I remembered.
Thinner.
Gray hair.
A dark coat.
My heart stopped.
Daniel.
Kyle moved in front of me.
The man raised both hands.
"I didn't come to hurt you."
Kyle stared.
"You're dead."
Daniel gave a bitter smile.
"That was the point."
I could barely speak.
"You let everyone believe you died?"
"I had to."
"Why?"
"Because your father wasn't the only person looking for the money."
Kyle's face hardened.
"Who else?"
Daniel looked toward Rose's grave.
"People who don't care about your family."
He walked closer.
I stepped back.
"Don't come any closer."
He stopped.
"I understand."
Kyle said, "What did you do with the money?"
Daniel's face changed.
"I didn't take all of it."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
He looked at me.
"Your father took part of it."
I shook my head.
"Frank didn't steal."
"I know."
Daniel's voice was quiet.
"He protected it."
"Then why did you say he took it?"
"Because I needed him to look guilty."
Kyle stared.
"Why?"
"To keep someone else from finding it."
I thought of Frank's letter.
The inheritance is the proof.
"What did Rose discover?"
Daniel looked at her grave.
"She discovered that the original account wasn't created by your grandfather."
I frowned.
"Then who?"
"Your great-grandfather."
Kyle looked confused.
Daniel continued.
"The money belonged to several people. It wasn't simply family money. It was compensation from a business settlement that was never distributed correctly."
I felt my stomach tighten.
"Then why was it passed down?"
"Because nobody knew."
"Nobody?"
"Not until Rose found the records."
I looked at the envelope beside the flowers.
"What's inside?"
Daniel said, "The last piece."
Kyle picked it up.
Daniel didn't stop him.
Inside was a photocopy of an old legal document.
At the bottom was a signature.
My father's.
I stared.
"This says he knew."
"Yes."
"And he hid it."
"Yes."
Kyle looked at me.
"What does that mean?"
I read the document again.
It explained that the money had been placed into a trust for descendants of several families.
One of those families was ours.
Another belonged to Daniel's family.
Another belonged to someone I didn't recognize.
A name appeared at the bottom.
Evelyn Carter.
I knew the name.
She had been Frank's secretary years ago.
But she had died long before Rose.
"Who is Evelyn?" Kyle asked.
"Someone your father trusted."
Daniel nodded.
"She kept the original records."
"Where are they?"
Daniel pointed toward Rose's grave.
"She gave them to Rose."
I felt tears come.
"Then Rose knew."
"Yes."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Because she believed your husband was trying to protect you."
I sat on the edge of the stone bench.
For years, I had thought Rose had kept secrets from me because she didn't trust me.
The truth was harder.
She had kept them because she loved me.
Kyle crouched beside me.
"Mom."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"We still don't know what was in the blanket."
Daniel's eyes moved toward him.
"The blanket?"
"Yes."
Daniel's expression changed.
"Frank actually gave it to you?"
I nodded.
He closed his eyes.
"Then he succeeded."
"What does that mean?"
"The proof survived."
I felt a chill.
"What proof?"
Daniel looked at the envelope.
"The original."
Kyle stood.
"Original what?"
"The trust agreement."
My heart began pounding.
"You mean the document in the blanket?"
Daniel nodded.
"Frank told me he would hide it there."
I looked down at my hands.
Four months of knitting.
The hidden pocket.
The blue sailboats.
Frank's final request.
Everything suddenly made sense.
He had not hidden a sentimental gift.
He had hidden the original document that could prove the money belonged to the rightful heirs.
Kyle stared at the blanket in my arms.
"Mom."
I nodded.
But before we could leave, another voice came from behind us.
"Give me the blanket."
Elaine.
She stood several yards away.
Her face was wet with tears.
Kyle stepped toward her.
"No."
She stopped.
"I need it."
"You knew."
"I knew enough."
"What happened to Daniel?"
Elaine looked at the man standing beside Rose's grave.
Daniel lowered his head.
"I disappeared because Elaine helped me."
Kyle stared at them both.
"Why?"
Elaine's voice shook.
"Because your father was not the only person who knew the truth."
She looked directly at me.
"Madison knows more than she told you."
I felt my chest tighten.
"What?"
Elaine continued.
"She knows where the original trust records came from."
Kyle shook his head.
"She said she didn't."
"I know."
"Then why would she lie?"
Elaine looked at the blanket.
"Because she promised her father."
Daniel closed his eyes.
Elaine whispered, "And because the person who originally created the trust is still alive."
Nobody spoke.
I looked from Elaine to Daniel.
Then to Kyle.
"Who?"
Elaine swallowed.
"Your father's first wife."
Kyle went completely still.
I couldn't breathe.
Frank had been married before me.
I knew that.
But his first wife had died.
Or so I had always believed.
Elaine looked toward the cemetery entrance.
"She's been waiting for this document for thirty years."
I tightened my arms around the blanket.
For the first time, I understood that the baby shower had never really been about a blanket.
Someone had been trying to destroy evidence.
And now everyone who had spent decades hiding the truth knew exactly where it was.
Click here to continue reading: PART 9: The Woman We Believed Had Been Dead for Decades Was Waiting Nearby, and She Knew Exactly What Frank Had Hidden
The Blanket She Threw Away Was Worth More Than Anyone at That Party Could Have Imagined
Part 8 of 20
