Chapter 14: What He Knew

My father stopped on the flagstones, six feet from us.

Danielle looked at him once.

Then she picked up her skirt and walked back to the house without a word, and the door closed behind her.

"Is it true?" I asked.

"Yes."

"She called you on Monday."

"At noon, Boston time."

"And you did nothing."

He stood straight, with his hands behind his back, the way he stood in front of the board.

"I did nothing," he said.

"I was fitting a veil that afternoon."

"I know."

"I sent you an invitation. You didn't come, and you didn't call, and you knew."

"I thought that if it came apart," my father said, "you would have nothing left to stay in Charlestown for."

I heard it and could not make it mean anything else.

"You wanted it to come apart."

"I wanted you home."

"You waited four more days to see if I'd lose everything first."

"Five, counting Saturday. I sent the text on Saturday night, after you had left him."

"After I had left him and Danielle and my job was in the news." My voice was rising, and I let it. "Did you have somebody watching the hospital too?"

"I had people who told me what was happening."

"Is Rafe one of them?"

His eyes moved for the first time.

"Rafe has been loyal to this house," he said.

I heard that as a yes.

My father looked at the roses.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Heiress Who Refused the Family Key from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.