“Because my mother made you?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because after you came home from the hospital, you called me every day.”
I closed my eyes.
“You remembered that I mattered.
You simply remembered the wrong reason.”
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked:
“What is Mara doing with our house?”
Daniel released a long breath.
“The restitution plan is almost finished.”
“Almost?”
“One family is still owed.”
“Hers.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred forty thousand from the most recent asset sale.
Another six hundred eighty thousand after this house closes.”
I looked around the room.
At the curtains I’d chosen.
At the mark on the wall from the time Daniel had dropped a dresser.
At the floors we had refinished together.
“You’re selling my house.”
“We’re selling property purchased with stolen money.”
“Without telling me.”
“Because the Jennifer you were twenty-nine years ago asked me not to tell you unless your memories came back.”
I laughed.
“That’s insane.”
“I agree.”
“Then why obey her instead of the woman I am now?”
Daniel took a moment before answering.
“Because she knew something you don’t.”
I gripped the phone.
“What?”
“There’s a letter.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Convenient.”
“I’ve spent twenty-nine years looking for it.”
My eyes drifted toward the matchbox beside me.
The small brass key.
“Safe deposit box,” I whispered.
“What?”
“The key.
It’s for a safe deposit box.”
Daniel went completely silent.
Then:
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“I’m coming over.”
“No.”
“Jen—”
“I’m going alone.”
“Please don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because if you’re right, then whatever is inside that box is something you wanted hidden from both of us.”
I stopped.
“Both of us?”
Daniel’s answer came quietly.
“You didn’t trust me with it either.”
