Chapter 3: The Letter Sarah Never Wanted Him to Read
Robert Hayes refused to enter the house until Michael invited him.
That alone made Michael uneasy.
The elderly attorney stood in the living room, holding his leather briefcase with both hands.
He looked at Emily with a sadness that suggested he had known her for years.
"You're taller than your mother was at your age," he said.
Emily stared at him.
"You knew my mom?""
Robert nodded.
"Very well.""
"Why didn't you come see me?""
He glanced at Michael.
"Because your mother specifically instructed me not to interfere unless certain conditions were met.""
Vanessa laughed bitterly from the doorway.
"Here we go. Another person Sarah manipulated into believing her stories.""
Robert slowly turned toward her.
"Mrs. Carter, I would strongly recommend that you remain quiet.""
Vanessa's jaw dropped.
"Excuse me?""
"You heard me.""
Michael placed the envelope on the coffee table.
"Robert, I want answers.""
"Of course.""
"Start with the DNA test.""
Robert removed his glasses.
"Before I do, I need to ask you something. Did you ever receive an original copy of the test results?""
Michael frowned.
"Vanessa showed me a report.""
"Did you receive it directly from the laboratory?""
"No.""
"Did you speak to the physician who ordered it?""
"No.""
Robert nodded slowly.
"Then you never actually saw the original result.""
Vanessa stepped forward.
"This is ridiculous.""
Robert opened his briefcase.
"Mrs. Carter, I have spent six years waiting for this conversation. I assure you, I didn't come here to exchange opinions.""
He placed a thick folder on the table.
Michael opened it.
Inside were hospital records, letters, bank statements, and several sealed documents.
One page immediately caught his attention.
It was a laboratory report.
At the top was the name of a medical testing facility.
Below it were two names.
Michael Carter.
Emily Carter.
And the result.
99.98% probability of biological paternity.
Michael read it again.
Then a third time.
His eyes filled.
"She's mine.""
Robert nodded.
"She always was.""
Michael looked at Emily.
She stood frozen near the staircase, one hand gripping the railing.
"Dad?""
He crossed the room and pulled her into his arms.
"You're my daughter. You have always been my daughter.""
Emily began sobbing against his chest.
"Why would she say you weren't?""
Michael had no answer.
He looked at Vanessa.
She was standing perfectly still.
Robert removed another sheet from the folder.
"Because someone provided Mr. Carter with a falsified document six years ago.""
Michael turned.
"Who?""
Robert looked directly at Vanessa.
"Your current wife.""
The room went silent.
Vanessa let out a disbelieving laugh.
"You can't prove that.""
Robert placed another document on the table.
"Actually, we can.""
He explained that Sarah had ordered a paternity test shortly after Emily's birth, not because she doubted Michael, but because she had received an anonymous warning.
Someone had contacted her claiming that Michael had been having an affair during their marriage.
Sarah wanted to put an end to the rumors.
The test confirmed what she'd always known.
Michael was Emily's father.
But a few months later, Sarah discovered that someone had accessed her medical records.
Someone had requested a second test.
And the second report had been altered.
"Who had access?"" Michael asked.
Robert opened another file.
"Three people had access to the relevant records. The laboratory administrator, a hospital employee, and an individual who presented herself as a family representative.""
Michael felt cold.
"Who?""
Robert turned a page.
"Vanessa Reed.""
Emily looked up.
"Reed?""
Vanessa's maiden name.
Michael slowly faced his wife.
"You went to the hospital?""
Vanessa said nothing.
Robert continued.
"At the time, Mrs. Carter was not yet married to you. She was using her maiden name.""
Vanessa finally spoke.
"I was helping Sarah.""
"By changing her medical records?"" Michael asked.
"I didn't change anything.""
Robert placed a photocopy beside the original report.
"Then perhaps you can explain why the forged report was sent from an email account registered in your name.""
Vanessa stared at it.
Her mouth opened.
Then closed.
Michael felt as though the floor had shifted beneath him.
"Why?""
Vanessa's eyes filled.
"Michael, you have to understand—"
"Why would you do this to my family?""
She took a step toward him.
"Because Sarah was going to destroy everything.""
Emily moved closer to Robert.
"What does that mean?""
Vanessa looked at the girl.
For the first time, she didn't look angry.
She looked desperate.
"Your mother was planning to leave your father.""
Michael blinked.
"What?""
"She had been seeing someone else.""
Robert shook his head.
"That is not what the evidence shows.""
Vanessa raised her voice.
"How would you know? You weren't there!""
Robert calmly removed a letter from the folder.
"Because Sarah documented everything.""
He handed it to Michael.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Michael recognized the elegant curves of Sarah's letters immediately.
His fingers trembled as he read.
Michael,
If you're reading this, something has happened that I couldn't prevent.
I need you to understand that I never stopped loving you, and I never stopped believing in our family.
Someone has been trying to convince me that you betrayed me.
They have sent messages, photographs, and letters that appear to come from you.
At first, I thought it was a cruel joke.
Then I discovered the truth.
The person responsible is someone we both know.
Michael stopped reading.
He looked up.
"Who?""
Robert handed him another envelope.
"This one was written shortly before Sarah died.""
Michael opened it.
Inside was a single sheet of paper and a small photograph.
The photograph showed Sarah sitting at a restaurant with a woman.
Vanessa.
But the date printed on the back made Michael's stomach drop.
It was dated three months before Sarah died.
He looked at the letter.
I confronted her today.
She admitted that she had been sending me messages pretending to be you.
She admitted that she had made me believe you wanted to leave.
She admitted that she wanted to be part of our family.
But she denied the one thing I needed to understand.
She denied that she had been involved with you before our marriage.
Michael looked up sharply.
"Before our marriage?""
Vanessa's face had gone white.
Robert took the photograph from him.
"Mrs. Carter and Sarah were not simply acquaintances. They had been friends for years. And there was a period when both women believed they were in love with the same man.""
Michael stared.
"Me?""
Robert nodded.
"Yes.""
Vanessa began shaking her head.
"That's not how it happened.""
Michael turned toward her.
"Then tell me how it happened.""
She looked at him, tears streaming down her face.
"Sarah knew I loved you.""
"Did you tell her?""
"She knew before you married her.""
Michael felt a wave of disbelief.
He remembered Vanessa from college.
He remembered her attending parties with Sarah.
He remembered how she had helped organize their wedding.
But he'd never known she had wanted him.
Vanessa wiped her cheeks.
"Sarah knew. She also knew I was the one who introduced you two.""
Michael frowned.
"What?""
Vanessa gave a bitter laugh.
"She never told you?""
Robert interrupted.
"Mrs. Carter, I believe the next document may answer that question.""
He pulled a smaller envelope from the folder.
Unlike the others, it had been sealed with red wax.
On the front, Sarah had written:
For Emily. Only when she is old enough to understand why I kept the truth from her.
Emily stepped forward.
"That's mine?""
Robert nodded.
"Your mother wanted you to have it.""
Emily took the envelope.
Her fingers trembled as she broke the seal.
Inside was a letter and a photograph.
The photograph showed three young people standing outside a university library.
Michael.
Sarah.
And Vanessa.
They were all smiling.
But on the back, Sarah had written something.
The day Vanessa introduced us.
Emily looked confused.
"She introduced you?""
Michael stared at the photograph.
He remembered that day.
He had been sitting alone outside the library when Vanessa approached him and introduced him to Sarah.
He had always thought it was a coincidence.
Emily opened the letter.
Her eyes moved across the first few lines.
Then she stopped.
"Dad?""
Michael knelt beside her.
"What is it?""
Emily swallowed.
"Mom says Vanessa didn't just introduce you because she thought you'd like each other.""
Michael looked at Vanessa.
"What does the letter say?""
Emily continued reading, her voice growing quieter.
"She says Vanessa wanted you to fall in love with her first.""
Vanessa shook her head.
"That's not true.""
Emily looked at the next paragraph.
Then her face changed.
"What is it, sweetheart?""
Emily turned the page toward her father.
There, in Sarah's handwriting, was a sentence that seemed to make the entire room stop breathing.
I married Michael believing Vanessa had finally accepted that he had chosen me. But I discovered years later that she had never stopped trying to take him away.
Michael looked at his wife.
Vanessa began crying harder.
"Michael, I loved you.""
He stood.
"Did you alter the DNA test because you wanted me?""
Vanessa covered her mouth.
"Please.""
"Did you make me believe Sarah had betrayed me?""
She didn't answer.
"Did you tell me my wife died without wanting to see me?""
Vanessa sank onto the sofa.
Robert closed his briefcase.
"There's one more thing, Mr. Carter.""
Michael turned.
"What now?""
Robert removed a small USB drive from his pocket.
"Sarah left a recorded statement. She asked me to preserve it until Emily turned seventeen.""
Emily stared at the drive.
"What's on it?""
Robert looked at Michael.
"Your first wife's final explanation.""
Vanessa suddenly stood.
"No.""
Robert didn't move.
"Mrs. Carter—"
"You cannot play that!""
Michael's voice was dangerously quiet.
"Why not?""
Vanessa backed toward the hallway.
"Because she was confused. She was sick. She was afraid, and she didn't know what she was saying.""
Robert placed the USB drive on the coffee table.
"Sarah recorded this three days before she died. She was perfectly lucid.""
Michael looked at Emily.
Then at the drive.
"Let's hear it.""
Robert connected it to the television.
The screen flickered.
A hospital room appeared.
Sarah was sitting against white pillows, looking thinner than Michael remembered, but her eyes were clear.
She smiled weakly at the camera.
"Michael," she whispered.
"If you're watching this, I'm sorry.""
Michael's knees nearly gave way.
He hadn't heard her voice in six years.
Then Sarah looked directly into the camera.
"And Emily, my beautiful girl, if you're old enough to see this, there's something I need you to know.""
She paused.
Her expression changed.
"Vanessa didn't destroy our marriage because she wanted your father.""
Michael felt Emily's fingers tighten around his hand.
Sarah continued.
"She did it because she was terrified I would tell him what really happened the night Emily was born.""
The recording crackled.
Sarah leaned closer to the camera.
"And Michael, the truth is much worse than the forged DNA test.""
The screen suddenly went black.
Robert stared at the television.
"That's impossible.""
Michael turned.
"What happened?""
Robert checked the USB drive.
"It shouldn't have stopped there.""
Vanessa was standing by the hallway.
For the first time, she wasn't crying.
She was smiling.
Then she said six words that made Michael understand why Sarah had been so afraid.
"Because I wasn't the only one involved.""
And from somewhere upstairs, a phone began ringing.
Emily recognized the ringtone immediately.
It was her mother's old phone.
May you like
The phone Vanessa had supposedly thrown away six years earlier.
*And when Michael ran upstairs to find it, he discovered that someone had been calling Sarah's number every November 14th—the anniversary of her death.*
