Chapter 1 - WHAT WAS INSIDE THE CRATE
The first thing Chloe saw inside the wooden crate was not expensive.
That was why her reaction terrified everyone.
Six small pink boxes sat in a perfect row.
Each carried one of our daughters' names.
JESSI.
EMILY.
HANNAH.
GRACE.
MIA.
SOPHIE.
Beside them were hundreds of envelopes tied into bundles with faded ribbon.
Birthday cards.
Christmas cards.
Graduation cards.
Letters addressed to our daughters in Chloe's handwriting.
Every envelope had a bright red stamp across the front:
RETURN TO SENDER.
ADDRESS UNKNOWN.
Chloe stumbled backward.
“No.”
Jessi remained beside the crate, still holding the microphone.
“What's wrong, Mom?”
“You had no right to touch those.”
A murmur moved through the reception hall.
I stared at the envelopes.
I had never seen a single one.
Jessi looked at me.
“Dad didn't find them.”
Then she faced Chloe.
“And he didn't return them.”
Chloe's face became even whiter.
Jessi opened the first pink box.
Inside were photographs.
Her first school play.
Her eighth birthday.
Her high school graduation.
Beside each photograph was an empty space labeled:
MOM'S SEAT.
Then Jessi opened the second box.
Emily's soccer championship.
Another empty seat.
The third.
Hannah's dance recital.
The fourth.
Grace in a hospital bed after having her appendix removed.
The fifth.
Mia receiving a scholarship.
The sixth.
Sophie, the nine-month-old baby Chloe had left behind, blowing out candles on her sixteenth birthday.
Fifteen years of moments.
Fifteen years of empty chairs.
Chloe looked around desperately.
“This is cruel.”
Jessi's voice stayed calm.
“No. Leaving six children and then blaming the parent who stayed was cruel.”
Applause did not follow.
Nobody was enjoying this anymore.
That made it more powerful.
Jessi reached beneath the bundles of letters and removed a brown leather folder.
Chloe lunged forward.
“Don't open that!”
Two bridesmaids stepped instinctively between them.
Jessi didn't flinch.
She opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph of Chloe standing beside Daniel in front of their Connecticut mansion.
Someone had written a date on the back.
Fourteen years ago.
But that wasn't what frightened Chloe.
Jessi lifted another sheet.
It was a shipping receipt showing where the entire crate had come from.
Not from me.
Not from our house.
From Chloe's current home.
Jessi raised her eyes.
“You want to know who sent this to me?”
Chloe's mouth opened.
Jessi pointed toward the ballroom entrance.
A young woman had just walked inside.
I had never met her.
But Chloe clearly had.
“Emma?” she whispered.
The woman stopped beside Jessi.
Then she said:
“Hi, Chloe.”
May you like
And I suddenly understood.
Emma was Daniel's daughter.
