She had one arm folded protectively across her body while Everett looked toward the camera.
On the back, in his handwriting, was a date.
Below it were two words:
Forgive me.
“Who is she?”
Sadie lowered her head.
“My mother.”
I looked at the photograph again.
Everett appeared to be in his late forties.
The woman beside him was much younger.
“Tell me plainly.”
Sadie clasped her hands together.
“Nolan was not my father.”
“You already said that.”
“He was my brother.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“Your brother?”
“My half-brother.”
She pointed to Everett.
“His father was also mine.”
I looked from the photograph to Sadie’s face.
The gray eyes.
The narrow chin.
The resemblance I had attributed to Nolan.
It came from the same man.
“What happened?”
Sadie took a shaking breath.
“My mother’s name was Liora Dane. She worked as an assistant at Everett’s property office in the fictional district of Wrenfall Reach.”
“How old was she?”
“Twenty-three when their relationship began.”
“Was Everett still married?”
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
“Nolan’s mother?”
“She never knew.”
“Did Nolan know?”
Sadie nodded.
“For how long?”
“Since before you married him.”
The words struck harder than anything else she had said.
“Before our wedding?”
“Yes.”
I laughed, but the sound that came out was hollow.
“He knew about you for more than fifteen years.”
“He knew my mother existed. He learned about me later.”
“How much later?”
“When I was five.”
I stared at the letters.
Sadie continued.
“Everett admitted everything to Nolan shortly before he p.a.s.s.e.d away. He made Nolan swear never to tell his mother.”
“Nolan kept that promise?”
“He believed the truth would destroy her.”
“His mother has been gone for six years.”
Sadie looked down.
“I know.”
“And he still never told me.”
“No.”
I opened the first letter.
It was addressed to Nolan and written by Liora.
She described raising Sadie alone.
She thanked him for money he had sent through an intermediary.
She promised never to contact his family publicly.
The next letter had been written two years earlier.
Liora explained that she was seriously ill.
She asked Nolan to ensure Sadie would not be left without support.
“You said your mother has been gone for two years.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to you afterward?”
“I lived with her friend, Cora Venn.”
The name appeared in another letter.
Nolan had arranged for Cora to become Sadie’s temporary guardian.
He had paid school fees.
Medical expenses.
Clothing costs.
Quietly.
From accounts I had never known existed.
“How long had he been sending money?”
“About ten years.”
I turned toward her.
“Ten years?”
Sadie nodded.
