Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN MY MOTHER NEVER MENTIONED
My mother had known Vivienne Cole.
Not casually.
Not as an employee.
They had been standing together in a photograph that looked like two women celebrating something extraordinary.
I moved closer.
“Where was this taken?”
Lucas glanced at the photograph.
“Twenty years ago. During the opening of Cole House's first design studio.”
I stared at my mother's face.
She looked younger.
Happier.
Her hands rested proudly against the purple gown.
“Mom never told me she worked for Cole House.”
Lucas studied me.
“Are you certain?”
“She spent her life working as a seamstress. She took alterations from neighbors, repaired wedding dresses, and made school uniforms.”
Lucas frowned.
“My mother told me she founded Cole House with a brilliant young seamstress who later disappeared.”
I looked at him.
“Disappeared?”
“That's what I was told.”
The office suddenly felt cold.
My mother hadn't disappeared.
She had raised two daughters.
Worked herself to exhaustion.
And died believing she had left us almost nothing.
Lucas opened a locked cabinet.
Inside were carefully preserved design journals.
He removed one.
The cover was purple leather.
My breath caught.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
Rose Carter.
I reached toward the journal.
“That's my mother's.”
Lucas handed it to me.
The pages were filled with sketches.
Silk gowns.
Embroidered jackets.
Wedding dresses.
And dozens of designs using the rose-lock stitch.
My eyes filled with tears.
For the first time since Mom died, I felt as though I were hearing her voice again.
Then I turned to the final page.
A photograph slipped out.
It showed my mother holding a newborn baby.
Beside her stood Vivienne Cole.
On the back was a handwritten date.
June 14, 1995.
My birthday.
I stared at Lucas.
“That's me.”
He looked at the photograph.
His expression changed.
“Why would my mother have this?”
I turned the photograph over again.
Beneath the date was a short message.
For the daughter who will inherit what we built.
My heart pounded.
“What does that mean?”
Lucas didn't answer.
He was looking at another document hidden inside the journal's back cover.
A legal agreement.
The heading read:
Cole House Founding Partnership.
Two signatures appeared at the bottom.
Vivienne Cole.
Rose Carter.
Lucas slowly looked up.
“Elena…”
I couldn't breathe.
“Tell me.”
His voice dropped.
“According to this document, your mother owned forty percent of Cole House.”
I stared at him.
“That can't be right.”
Lucas turned the final page.
Then his face went pale.
“There's another clause.”
“What clause?”
He read it aloud.
“Upon Rose Carter's death, her ownership interest transfers equally to her surviving daughters.”
I covered my mouth.
Sophie.
Me.
Lucas looked directly at me.
“Elena, you and your sister may own forty percent of my company.”
Then he examined the attached ownership schedule.
May you like
His expression changed again.
“Except someone filed papers five years ago claiming you were both dead.”
