Chapter 2
Daniel's question hung over the ballroom.
Nobody moved.
Vanessa stood beneath the crystal chandelier, clutching her bouquet so tightly that several rose petals fell onto the floor.
"Daniel, you're embarrassing me," she whispered.
He lowered the microphone.
"I'm asking why you moved Clara."
"It's complicated."
"Then explain."
I wished I could disappear.
I had never wanted revenge against my sister.
I wanted her to love me the way she once had.
But standing near the ballroom doors, watching her refuse to answer a simple question, I finally understood that I couldn't force her to become that person again.
Melissa, the wedding planner, stepped forward.
"Mr. Bennett, perhaps we could discuss the seating arrangements privately."
Daniel looked at her.
"Did you move Clara's chair?"
Melissa hesitated.
Vanessa interrupted.
"Melissa was following instructions."
"Whose instructions?"
Vanessa said nothing.
Daniel waited.
Finally, Melissa looked at me.
"Mrs. Bennett requested the change this afternoon."
My stomach dropped.
Daniel turned toward his bride.
"You asked her to move Clara?"
Vanessa lifted her chin.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because this is my wedding, Daniel."
He looked stunned.
"I understand that."
"Then stop interrogating me."
Daniel glanced toward Grandma Margaret.
"Your grandmother was sitting beside Clara."
"She's old-fashioned."
Grandma straightened.
"I'm old, Vanessa. Not confused."
Several people gasped.
I almost smiled through my tears.
Daniel put the microphone down.
Then he looked at me.
"Clara, I'm sorry."
I shook my head.
"You didn't do anything."
His expression darkened.
"Someone did."
Vanessa stepped between us.
"Can we please stop acting like Clara is some innocent victim?"
I felt the words strike.
"What have I done to you?"
My sister turned toward me.
For a moment, her carefully controlled expression cracked.
"You really want to know?"
I nodded.
"Yes."
She laughed bitterly.
"You came into my life and everyone acted like you were a miracle."
The room went quiet.
I stared at her.
"What?"
"Dad was fifty when you were born. Suddenly, everything revolved around his new little family."
My throat tightened.
"You were eighteen."
"Exactly!"
Her voice rose.
"I was starting college, and he was buying baby furniture!"
I stared at the floor.
I had heard pieces of this resentment before.
But never so openly.
Vanessa continued.
"He missed my college awards ceremony because your mother went into labor early."
I looked up.
"I didn't know that."
"Of course you didn't."
Daniel touched her arm.
"Vanessa, that's not Clara's fault."
She pulled away.
"Nobody ever listens to me!"
Grandma stepped forward.
"I listened when you cried about that ceremony."
Vanessa froze.
Grandma continued.
"I remember sitting with you in your dorm room afterward. Your father apologized. He spent the next twenty years trying to make sure you knew he loved you."
Vanessa's eyes filled.
"He loved Clara more."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Yes!"
She pointed toward me.
"He left her the house!"
The words hit me like a physical blow.
Several relatives exchanged confused glances.
Dad's house.
The house where I'd grown up.
The place my mother and I had lived until she died when I was seventeen.
I had been living there alone since Dad's death.
Vanessa had always told me she deserved it.
But Dad's will had divided his estate according to arrangements he had made years earlier.
I looked at her.
"This is about the house?"
Her face hardened.
"It's about fairness."
Daniel frowned.
"What house?"
Vanessa turned toward him.
"Daniel, please."
He stared at her.
"You told me Clara inherited a small family cottage."
My stomach twisted.
A cottage?
Dad's home was a large property outside Atlanta.
It had six bedrooms, a guesthouse, and several acres of land.
My father had bought it with my mother when I was born.
I'd never described it as a cottage.
Daniel looked between us.
"Vanessa?"
She said nothing.
He turned toward me.
"Clara, how large is the house?"
I swallowed.
"It's the old family property in Roswell."
His expression changed.
"Wait."
He looked at Vanessa.
"That's the house you said your father promised to you?"
The ballroom seemed to tilt.
I stared at my sister.
"What?"
Daniel took a breath.
"Vanessa told me she'd inherited that property, but the transfer was being delayed because of estate paperwork."
I couldn't speak.
Vanessa had been telling her new husband that my house belonged to her.
I looked around the ballroom.
People were whispering.
My grandmother suddenly gripped my arm.
"Clara, come sit with me."
I shook my head.
"I don't understand."
Daniel looked devastated.
"Neither do I."
Vanessa began crying.
"You're making me sound like a criminal!"
Nobody had accused her of being one.
Not yet.
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
"Vanessa, I paid thirty thousand dollars toward renovations on that property."
My stomach dropped.
"What renovations?"
He stared at me.
"The guesthouse."
I stepped backward.
The guesthouse had been renovated three months earlier.
Vanessa told me a contractor had offered to repair it at a discount.
She said it was a gift from her and Daniel before the wedding.
I had thanked them repeatedly.
Now I understood why Daniel looked sick.
He thought he'd been improving property that would eventually belong to him and Vanessa.
I looked at my sister.
"You lied to him?"
Vanessa wiped her face.
"I was trying to make things right."
"By telling him my home was yours?"
She glared at me.
"Dad should have left it to me!"
Grandma's voice cut through the room.
"Your father left you something else."
Vanessa went still.
I turned toward Grandma.
"What?"
She looked exhausted.
"Vanessa received an inheritance when her mother died, and another distribution from your father."
Vanessa whispered, "Grandma."
Grandma ignored her.
"Your father also paid off the mortgage on Vanessa's first home."
I stared at my sister.
She had never told me that.
Daniel looked stunned.
"You told me your father left you nothing."
Vanessa covered her mouth.
The silence was unbearable.
Then Grandma reached inside her handbag.
She removed a small blue envelope.
My father's handwriting appeared across the front.
TO MY GIRLS.
My heart began pounding.
"Grandma?"
She looked at me sadly.
"Your father asked me to give this to both of you when the time was right."
Vanessa took a step backward.
"No."
Grandma looked at her.
"I think the time has come."
She handed the envelope to me.
My fingers trembled.
It had been four years since I'd seen Dad's handwriting.
I slowly opened it.
Inside was a folded letter.
And a document I didn't recognize.
Grandma touched my shoulder.
"Read it, Clara."
I unfolded the first page.
The opening sentence made my knees weak.
"My daughters, there is something about our family I should have told you while I was alive."
I looked up.
Vanessa was staring at the letter in terror.
May you like
And suddenly, I knew she wasn't afraid of losing a house.
She was afraid of something my father had never allowed us to discuss.
