Chapter 11 - Megan’s Sister Hates Me
Karen Cole did not hate me for having money.
She hated me because I made her sister carry a secret I could have ended.
We met at her kitchen table.
Ryan was at school.
“You keep saying Megan wanted privacy.”
“She did.”
Karen stared.
“Eight years ago.”
I stopped.
There it was.
“How long did she want it?”
“At first.”
“Daniel.”
I hated that everyone had learned Claire’s interrogation style.
Karen opened a drawer.
Pulled out an envelope.
“Megan left this.”
“For me?”
“For whoever started pretending she forced this until she died.”
I did not touch it.
Karen pushed it across.
Inside were printed emails between Megan and me.
Five years earlier:
Megan:
You need to tell Claire before Lily gets old enough to understand you have another child.
Me:
I will.
Four years earlier:
Megan:
Ryan asked why Dad’s wife doesn’t know him.
Me:
He should not be carrying that.
Megan:
Then stop making him carry it.
Three years earlier:
Megan:
I am no longer asking you to keep my identity private from Claire. I am asking you to protect Ryan from publicity, not from your wife.
There.
Two years earlier:
Megan:
Tell her.
One year earlier, after cancer diagnosis:
Megan:
If I die, he cannot arrive at your house as a secret. I won’t do that to him.
My reply:
I know.
Then:
I need the right time.
Karen watched me read.
“Still want to say Megan made you hide him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
I had built part of my defense around a dead woman’s original fear.
She could not correct me.
Fortunately she had kept email.
The main truth was starting to change.
Megan protected Ryan from publicity.
I protected myself from confrontation.
May you like
Those were not the same thing.
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