Chapter 3
Chapter 3
I pressed my hand against my belly.
"Did Dad know about Vanessa?"
Silence.
That silence told me everything.
Finally, Mr. Harlan answered.
"Yes."
I closed my eyes.
"How long?"
"Several months."
A sob escaped before I could stop it.
"Why didn't he tell me?"
Daniel leaned forward.
"Because he tried to. Twice."
I opened my eyes.
"What?"
"Richard told you he was worried about Caleb. He asked you to slow down, to review your finances, to speak with your own attorney."
I remembered.
Of course I remembered.
Dad had invited me to lunch in April.
He'd asked whether Caleb was treating me well.
I'd laughed.
"Dad, please. He's my husband."
Then, in June, Dad had suggested that I take a more active role in Whitmore Global.
I told him Caleb understood business better than I did.
I could still hear Dad's reply.
"Understanding business and understanding people are two different things, Ellie."
I covered my face.
"I should have listened."
Mr. Harlan's voice softened.
"Your father didn't want you to blame yourself."
Daniel reached into his briefcase and removed a smaller envelope.
"This is the part he wanted you to read alone."
My name was written across the front in Dad's familiar handwriting.
Ellie, my brave girl.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
And a photograph.
The photograph showed me at seven years old, sitting on Dad's shoulders at our family's summer house in Maine.
My mother stood beside us, laughing.
I hadn't seen that picture in years.
I pressed it against my chest.
Then I unfolded the letter.
"My beautiful Eleanor,
"I know you're going to ask why I didn't tell you everything sooner.
"The answer is simple, although it may not be enough.
"I was afraid of losing you.
"After your mother died, I made a terrible mistake. I tried to protect you from every disappointment. I gave you comfort when I should sometimes have given you courage.
"And when you married Caleb, I saw how desperately you wanted your own family.
"I couldn't bear to be the man who shattered that dream.
"But I was wrong to stay silent for so long.
"Please forgive me.
"There is something else I need you to know.
"You think I built Whitmore Global because I was clever.
"I wasn't.
"I built it because your mother believed in me when nobody else did.
"She sold her grandmother's jewelry to help me pay our first employees.
"She worked nights while I traveled.
"She answered customer calls from our kitchen table.
"Everything I became began with her faith.
"And everything I leave behind belongs to the future she wanted for you.
"Not to the man you married.
"Not to the people who flatter you.
"To you.
"Ellie, you are stronger than you know.
"You always have been.
"And if you ever doubt it, remember the little girl who climbed onto a horse after falling off three times and told me, 'Daddy, I'm not finished yet.'
"You're not finished now, either.
"Love always,
"Dad."
I read the letter twice.
Then a third time.
By the time I finished, tears had soaked the paper.
Grace wrapped her arms around me.
For the first time since my father's death, I cried without trying to remain composed.
Not because Caleb had betrayed me.
Not because my life had changed.
But because my father had loved me so completely that even in his final days, he had been thinking about how I would survive without him.
Three days later, Caleb appeared at our house.
It was nearly nine in the evening.
I was sitting in the nursery, folding tiny yellow blankets, when the security gate called.
"Mrs. Bennett, your husband is here."
I looked toward the window.
Rain streaked the glass.
Caleb had not lived in the house for nearly two months.
He had moved into a luxury apartment downtown, claiming he needed space to think.
Apparently, he had found Vanessa there.
"Please tell him he can speak to my attorney," I said.
A moment later, the guard returned to the line.
"Ma'am, he says it's urgent."
I hesitated.
Then I looked at Grace, who was staying with me.
She shook her head.
"You don't owe him a conversation."
She was right.
But I needed to hear one thing from him.
The truth.
I agreed to meet him in the front sitting room, with Grace nearby and security informed.
Caleb entered carrying a bouquet of white lilies.
My favorite flowers.
Or at least, flowers he believed were my favorite.
My favorite flowers were sunflowers.
Dad knew that.
Caleb never had.
"Eleanor."
He looked exhausted.
His expensive suit was wrinkled.
There were shadows beneath his eyes.
He placed the lilies on the table.
"You look beautiful."
May you like
I said nothing.
He cleared his throat.
