The Man She Thought Abandoned Her
Chapter 06 - The Man She Thought Abandoned Her
Daniel Reyes lived in Newark above a small auto repair shop.
Claire sat in the limousine across the street for ten minutes before asking the driver to let her out.
Eleven years earlier, Daniel had been twenty-nine and working nights in maintenance at the first hotel Claire managed on her own.
He was funny.
Stubborn.
Proud.
He hated being treated like a secret, and Claire hated that she was too afraid of her father to stop hiding him.
Then she became pregnant.
Daniel proposed with a ring he had saved six months to buy.
Claire said yes.
Three weeks later, everything collapsed.
She was told Daniel had stolen company money and disappeared.
He was told Claire had accused him.
Both lies had come from Everett Whitmore.
Claire found Daniel under the hood of a blue pickup.
His hair was shorter now. There was gray in his beard.
But when he looked up, she recognized him instantly.
The wrench fell from his hand.
“Claire.”
She had imagined this moment for eleven years.
In every version, she slapped him.
In every version, he apologized.
Instead, she said, “Our son didn’t die.”
Daniel did not move.
Then his face broke.
He sat down hard on a metal stool.
“What?”
Claire told him what Nora had confessed.
Daniel listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he walked to the office in the back of the garage and returned with a battered cardboard box.
Inside were letters.
Dozens of them.
All addressed to Claire.
All returned unopened.
“I wrote you every week for two years,” he said.
Claire picked up one envelope.
RETURN TO SENDER.
Another.
ADDRESS UNKNOWN.
Another.
REFUSED.
Her hands shook.
“My father.”
Daniel nodded.
“He had me arrested for theft.”
Claire looked up.
“The charges were dropped.”
“After eight months.”
She stared at him.
“He told me you ran.”
Daniel laughed once, bitterly.
“He told me you testified against me.”
Claire sat down.
For eleven years, each had hated the other for a betrayal neither had committed.
Daniel wiped his face.
“Where is our son?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Dead.”
He looked at her.
She told him about Adam.
About the car accident.
About Eli.
Daniel turned away.
The grief that came over him was silent and physical. He gripped the workbench until his knuckles turned white.
“I missed his whole life.”
“So did I.”
Daniel looked at her.
For the first time since they had met again, neither blamed the other.
Claire opened Eli’s photo on her phone.
Daniel stared.
“He has Adam’s eyes,” Claire said.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Claire frowned.
Daniel enlarged the image.
“He has Rachel’s eyes.”
Claire looked at him.
Daniel pointed to Eli.
“Claire, I’ve seen this boy before.”
Her heart stopped.
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Adam came here before he died.”
Claire stood.
“What did he want?”
May you like
Daniel’s answer changed the story again.
“He wanted to know why Everett Whitmore had been paying him every month since he turned eighteen.”
