Chapter 7 - The Man Behind Nick's Name.
.The bank statement made the dead seem suddenly alive.
Elena read Mara's name three times before she could breathe normally.
"My mother died when I was nineteen."
Nick looked at the paper.
"Then why did my mother pay someone with her name last month?"
Richard called the bank.
The account was real.
The recipient address belonged to a private assisted-living residence two counties away.
Elena demanded they leave immediately.
Richard wanted security.
Elena refused to wait.
Nick drove, but she sat in the back with Lily and did not speak to him.
Adrian followed them despite Richard ordering him to stay away.
At the residence, a nurse checked the account information and went silent.
"There is a resident here under the name Maria Benton."
Elena's pulse hammered.
"May I see her?"
The nurse hesitated.
"She has cognitive impairment and severe anxiety around unfamiliar men."
Elena swallowed.
"Does she have a scar on her left wrist?"
The nurse nodded.
Elena nearly collapsed.
Mara had gotten that scar when Elena was nine after a kitchen glass broke.
The nurse led Elena alone into a garden room.
An older woman sat near the window folding a napkin into smaller and smaller squares.
Her hair was white at the temples.
Her shoulders were thinner.
But Elena knew her immediately.
"Mom."
The woman looked up.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then her eyes filled with terror.
"No pearls."
Elena began to cry.
"It is me."
Mara stared at her face.
"Elena?"
The name came out like a prayer.
Elena dropped to her knees beside the chair.
"You were alive."
Mara touched her cheek.
"I tried to come home."
Her voice broke.
"She said you did not want me."
Elena felt rage so sharp it steadied her.
"Who said that?"
Mara's hand began to tremble.
"The woman in pearls."
Outside the glass wall, Vivian had arrived.
Elena saw her standing in the corridor beside Adrian.
Mara saw her too.
A scream tore from Mara's throat.
She backed away from the window, knocking over the chair.
"No, no, no."
Elena held her.
Vivian did not move.
Nick stared at his mother as if seeing her for the first time.
Richard entered from the opposite hall.
When Mara saw him, she went completely still.
"Richard?"
His face crumpled.
"Mara."
She looked at him for a long time.
Then she lifted one shaking finger toward Adrian.
"He took my baby papers."
Nick's face tightened.
Adrian stepped back.
Richard asked, "What baby papers?"
Mara pressed both hands to her temples.
"The hospital records."
She looked at Nick.
"You were born the same week she came to threaten me again."
Vivian snapped.
"She is confused."
Mara's fear suddenly turned to fury.
"No."
She pointed directly at Vivian.
"You begged me to keep quiet because Richard's baby was not the baby in your arms."
Nick went pale.
Elena realized Mara had not merely known about his parentage.
She had witnessed the secret from the beginning.
May you like
Then Mara whispered the name that made Adrian close his eyes.
"His father was Adrian."
