The address was written in Frank's handwriting, but the final words Laura had spoken stayed with me all the way back to the car.<\/p>\n
Anna did.<\/p>\n
I kept repeating the sentence silently.<\/p>\n
Frank hadn't found the address.<\/p>\n
Anna had.<\/p>\n
But how could a woman who had supposedly died twenty-seven years earlier have sent Frank an address?<\/p>\n
Michael drove faster than before.<\/p>\n
Diane sat beside me in the back seat. Ross was on the other side, staring through the window. Neither of them asked questions. There were too many now, and every answer seemed to create another one.<\/p>\n
Laura had wanted to come with us.<\/p>\n
Michael had refused.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe hasn't slept properly in days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe deserves to know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe will know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the cottage disappearing behind us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she has waited twenty-seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael's hands tightened around the steering wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo have I.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words surprised me.<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
He kept his eyes on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought you were only helping Frank.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you knew about Anna?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did you say you've been waiting?\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael was silent for several seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause my mother died believing she had failed Frank.\u201d<\/p>\n
I remembered the name on the letter.<\/p>\n
Evelyn Grant.<\/p>\n
Michael's mother.<\/p>\n
The woman Laura had just claimed knew where Anna was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did your mother have to do with this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou read her letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn't written to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho was it written to?\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael looked at me in the rearview mirror.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank.\u201d<\/p>\n
The car became quiet.<\/p>\n
I reached into my coat and unfolded the copy of the address.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why did she give him an address?\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause she wanted him to find someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnna?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross finally spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she was alive, why didn't Dad tell us?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody answered.<\/p>\n
He continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy hide something like that?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe because he didn't know how to tell us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Dad always knew what he was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
I thought about that.<\/p>\n
Frank had certainly planned things carefully.<\/p>\n
But planning did not mean understanding.<\/p>\n
Perhaps he had spent years following clues without ever knowing where they would lead.<\/p>\n
Diane leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow far?\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael checked the dashboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwenty minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the address again.<\/p>\n
It belonged to a quiet residential street.<\/p>\n
No business.<\/p>\n
No hospital.<\/p>\n
No institution.<\/p>\n
Just a house.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho lives there?\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael shook his head.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank didn't write a name.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly the address?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross gave a humorless laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is insane.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad believed she was alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat doesn't mean she is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard Laura.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard Laura say she doesn't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody corrected him.<\/p>\n
That was the truth.<\/p>\n
We didn't know.<\/p>\n
The house appeared at the end of a tree-lined street.<\/p>\n
Two stories.<\/p>\n
Gray siding.<\/p>\n
White porch.<\/p>\n
A child's bicycle leaned against the railing.<\/p>\n
I stared at it.<\/p>\n
A bicycle.<\/p>\n
Something about that small object made my stomach tighten.<\/p>\n
Michael parked across the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'll go first.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
He hesitated.<\/p>\n
Then nodded.<\/p>\n
We crossed the street together.<\/p>\n
Diane and Ross followed.<\/p>\n
Michael climbed the steps.<\/p>\n
He knocked.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
He knocked again.<\/p>\n
Footsteps sounded inside.<\/p>\n
Slow.<\/p>\n
Careful.<\/p>\n
The door opened.<\/p>\n
A woman stood there.<\/p>\n
She looked to be in her late twenties.<\/p>\n
Dark hair.<\/p>\n
Green eyes.<\/p>\n
I stopped breathing.<\/p>\n
Frank's eyes.<\/p>\n
Not similar.<\/p>\n
The same.<\/p>\n
Michael froze beside me.<\/p>\n
The woman looked at all of us.<\/p>\n
Then at Michael.<\/p>\n
Her expression changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Grant?\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael could barely speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you Eileen?\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart slammed against my ribs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know my name?\u201d<\/p>\n
She stepped back.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Frank told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I heard Diane inhale sharply.<\/p>\n
The woman opened the door wider.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease come inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
None of us moved.<\/p>\n
She looked frightened now.<\/p>\n
But determined.<\/p>\n
\u201cI've been waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael finally stepped through the doorway.<\/p>\n
I followed.<\/p>\n
The house smelled of cinnamon and laundry detergent.<\/p>\n
It was ordinary.<\/p>\n
Painfully ordinary.<\/p>\n
Family photographs covered the walls.<\/p>\n
A wedding picture.<\/p>\n
A graduation.<\/p>\n
A little girl on a swing.<\/p>\n
A man holding a newborn.<\/p>\n
I looked away.<\/p>\n
The woman noticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Anna.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room seemed to lose all sound.<\/p>\n
Diane covered her mouth.<\/p>\n
Ross whispered something I couldn't hear.<\/p>\n
Michael stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnna what?\u201d<\/p>\n
She hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnna Bennett.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at the woman.<\/p>\n
Bennett.<\/p>\n
Laura's surname.<\/p>\n
My hands began trembling.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cLaura.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n
Then Anna asked the question that made everything real.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs she alive?\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eyes filled instantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe never died?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna covered her face.<\/p>\n
A sob escaped her.<\/p>\n
Michael stepped toward her.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnna, do you know who your father was?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank Coleman.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane began crying.<\/p>\n
Ross turned away.<\/p>\n
I could not move.<\/p>\n
The name sounded different coming from her.<\/p>\n
Not from a document.<\/p>\n
Not from a story.<\/p>\n
From the woman herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you find Frank?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Anna wiped her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't.\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe found me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThree years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Michael.<\/p>\n
Three years.<\/p>\n
The same period when Frank had last spoken to Laura.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna invited us into the sitting room.<\/p>\n
She sat on the edge of a chair.<\/p>\n
Frank had apparently found her through records connected to her mother's family.<\/p>\n
But when he first contacted her, he did not tell her he was her father.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe called himself Frank Coleman.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you meet him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many times?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFour.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt something twist inside me.<\/p>\n
Frank had never mentioned those meetings.<\/p>\n
Not once.<\/p>\n
Anna looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe talked about you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat you were kind.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said you saved his life.\u201d<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said after finding me, he was terrified of losing everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn't explain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael leaned forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he tell you about Laura?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat she had believed I died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane whispered, \u201cShe did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat truth?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat I was taken from her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room became silent.<\/p>\n
Anna explained that the records surrounding her birth had been deliberately altered.<\/p>\n
She had been raised by Laura's sister, Marianne.<\/p>\n
But Marianne had died when Anna was young.<\/p>\n
Before her death, Marianne had left Anna a box.<\/p>\n
Inside were documents.<\/p>\n
Photographs.<\/p>\n
Letters.<\/p>\n
And one photograph of a young Frank holding a newborn baby.<\/p>\n
Anna had recognized him.<\/p>\n
She had spent years searching.<\/p>\n
Then she found an old trust document connected to Frank's company.<\/p>\n
That was how she located him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew who I was when I contacted him,\u201d Anna said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why didn't he tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I wasn't ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo meet my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
Anna had spent her life believing her mother had abandoned her.<\/p>\n
Laura had spent hers believing her daughter was dead.<\/p>\n
Two people separated by a lie.<\/p>\n
Frank had found both.<\/p>\n
But he had not known how to put them back together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he ask you to do?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Anna looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked me to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor you.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe?\u201d<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said you would eventually come.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the truth would be too heavy if he gave it to you all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n
I sat down.<\/p>\n
That sounded like Frank.<\/p>\n
Always another layer.<\/p>\n
Always another reason.<\/p>\n
Always believing that timing could somehow soften pain.<\/p>\n
Anna looked at Michael.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also asked you to protect the trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich trust?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one for my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would Laura need a trust if Frank was already supporting her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he knew she would refuse his money if she knew it came from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds like her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna smiled faintly.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross suddenly asked, \u201cDid he love your mother?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross lowered his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he loved Eileen too.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
My eyes filled.<\/p>\n
Anna continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said Laura was his first love.\u201d<\/p>\n
She paused.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you were his home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Diane started crying.<\/p>\n
I reached for her hand.<\/p>\n
She took it.<\/p>\n
For the first time, I realized that Anna had inherited something from Frank besides his eyes.<\/p>\n
She knew how to say difficult things without cruelty.<\/p>\n
Then she looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna stood.<\/p>\n
She walked to a cabinet.<\/p>\n
From inside, she removed a sealed envelope.<\/p>\n
She handed it to me.<\/p>\n
Frank's handwriting was on the front.<\/p>\n
Eileen.<\/p>\n
I stared at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere did you get this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gave it to me six months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
My hands shook.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me not to open it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it wasn't mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Michael.<\/p>\n
He seemed as stunned as I was.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't know.\u201d<\/p>\n
I broke the seal.<\/p>\n
The letter was short.<\/p>\n
Frank wrote that if I was reading it, then Anna had finally told me who she was.<\/p>\n
He apologized for waiting.<\/p>\n
He explained that he had discovered the truth about Anna only after years of searching.<\/p>\n
But he had not immediately introduced her to Laura because he wanted Anna to choose.<\/p>\n
He did not want another person making that choice for her.<\/p>\n
Then came the part that frightened me.<\/p>\n
Frank wrote that there was a reason he had connected Anna's future to the cottage.<\/p>\n
Not because Laura needed a place to live.<\/p>\n
Because the cottage contained the evidence that would prove what happened to Anna.<\/p>\n
I looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cottage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me never to let anyone sell it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the truth is still there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat truth?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth about who took me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went silent.<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour grandfather?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandfather didn't want Frank to marry my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat much we know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn't only separate them.\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at the letter in my hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made sure Frank would spend the rest of his life believing his daughter was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross stared at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna's voice dropped.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe lied about the death certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Michael.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
Anna answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was never a death certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The address was written in Frank's handwriting, but the final words Laura had spoken stayed with me all the way back to the car. Anna did. I kept repeating the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7370,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7335\/revisions\/7370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}