CHAPTER 4: REBECCA'S LETTER
CHAPTER 4: REBECCA'S LETTER
For several seconds, no one moved.
Thomas stared at the words on the folder as if they might disappear.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME—DON'T TRUST PATRICIA.
Catherine rested both hands on the kitchen table.
"I prayed I would never have to open this."
Lucy looked from the folder to Catherine.
"Mommy wrote that?"
"Yes."
"Before she died?"
Catherine nodded, tears already filling her eyes.
"About three weeks before."
With trembling fingers, Catherine untied the faded blue ribbon wrapped around the folder.
Inside were medical records.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
A handwritten journal.
And, resting on top of everything else...
A sealed envelope.
Across the front, in Rebecca's elegant handwriting, were the words:
For Whoever Is Protecting My Girls.
Thomas swallowed hard.
"I don't think I'm supposed to read this."
Catherine looked him straight in the eye.
"You found them."
"You believed them."
"You kept them warm."
"I think Rebecca was writing to you... even if she didn't know your name."
She handed him the envelope.
Thomas carefully broke the seal.
Inside was a four-page letter.
The paper trembled in his hands.
If you're reading this, then my daughters needed someone I couldn't be.
First... thank you.
Thank you for believing them before asking whether they were difficult children. Thank you for seeing frightened little girls instead of trouble.
Thomas had to stop reading.
His vision blurred.
He cleared his throat and continued.
My name is Rebecca Dawson.
I am dying.
Not today, perhaps not tomorrow, but soon enough that I have run out of time.
Across the table, Lucy quietly took Lily's hand.
Patricia wasn't always cruel.
Or perhaps she was, and I simply refused to see it because she was my sister.
After my diagnosis, she became indispensable. She cooked. She cleaned. She drove me to treatments. Everyone admired her.
But kindness performed for an audience isn't kindness.
Thomas read each word carefully.
She never hit me.
She never had to.
Instead, she whispered things while no one else was listening.
"You're going to die."
"Those girls deserve someone stronger."
"Without me, they'll end up in foster care."
"Sign the papers."
Thomas felt anger rise like fire in his chest.
Catherine quietly spoke.
"Rebecca was heavily medicated near the end."
"Patricia handled almost everything."
"The lawyer."
"The paperwork."
"The hospital visits."
Thomas looked up.
"You think Patricia manipulated her?"
"I know she did."
He returned to the letter.
I made the greatest mistake of my life.
I signed temporary guardianship papers while recovering from surgery. Patricia told me they were only for emergencies.
Later I learned she had filed for permanent guardianship if I died.
Lucy gasped softly.
"I remember Mommy crying."
Lily nodded.
"She thought we were asleep."
Thomas continued reading.
When I realized what I'd signed, I tried to change it.
Patricia found out.
She told me no judge would listen to a dying woman changing her mind at the last minute.
Then she threatened Catherine.
Thomas looked toward Catherine.
"What did she do?"
Catherine took a slow breath.
"She accused me of trying to steal Rebecca's money."
"There wasn't much money."
"But the accusation was enough."
"She filed complaints."
"Spread rumors."
"Even suggested I was mentally unstable."
Jason frowned.
"That's mean."
Catherine smiled sadly.
"Yes."
"It was."
Thomas reached the final page.
Rebecca's handwriting became shakier.
Some words drifted downhill as her strength failed.
If Patricia still has my girls...
Please don't ignore small things.
Lucy will pretend she's fine.
She believes protecting Lily is her job.
Lucy looked down.
That was exactly what she had been doing.
Lily apologizes when she's frightened.
Lily blinked.
She hadn't realized anyone had noticed.
Neither of them likes loud footsteps.
If someone raises a hand too quickly, they'll flinch.
Thomas remembered both girls recoiling the night before when he had reached for mugs in the kitchen cabinet.
He hadn't understood then.
Now he did.
The last paragraph was barely legible.
Please tell them I never stopped fighting.
If I failed them...
It wasn't because I loved them less.
It was because I ran out of time.
And please...
Please let them know none of this was ever their fault.
Thomas could not continue.
He folded the letter carefully.
Across the table, Lucy was crying silently.
"So Mommy didn't leave us?"
"No," Catherine whispered.
"She fought for you until the very end."
Lily buried her face in Catherine's shoulder.
"I thought..."
She couldn't finish.
Catherine finished for her.
"You thought she chose Patricia."
A tiny nod.
"Oh, sweetheart."
"Never."
An hour later, after everyone had gathered themselves, Catherine opened another section of the folder.
"This," she said quietly, "is why I believe Patricia wanted custody."
She spread several bank statements across the table.
Thomas examined them.
There wasn't much.
Rebecca's checking account had been nearly empty.
Hospital bills had consumed almost everything.
"I don't understand."
"Keep looking."
Catherine slid one more document toward him.
It was a deed.
Rebecca Dawson.
Joint ownership.
Forty acres.
Thomas frowned.
"This isn't in Lakeside."
"No."
"It's about twenty minutes north."
"Rebecca inherited it from our grandfather."
Jason's eyes widened.
"Forty acres?"
Lucy looked confused.
"We're rich?"
Catherine sadly smiled.
"No, sweetheart."
"Not rich."
"But the land has become valuable."
Thomas noticed an appraisal clipped to the deed.
His eyebrows shot upward.
The property had recently been rezoned for commercial development.
Estimated value:
$2.8 million.
Silence filled the kitchen.
"So Patricia knew?" Thomas asked.
Catherine nodded.
"She found out shortly before Rebecca died."
"And the girls inherited it?"
"They inherited everything."
Lucy stared.
"We have a farm?"
"You own land," Catherine corrected gently.
"But you won't touch any of it until you're adults."
Thomas slowly leaned back.
Everything suddenly made horrible sense.
Patricia hadn't taken in two orphaned girls out of love.
She had taken custody of two children who controlled a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
The abuse...
The isolation...
The constant reminders that they "belonged" to her...
It wasn't only cruelty.
It was control.
Just then, Thomas's phone rang.
The caller ID read:
Melissa Harper – CPS.
He answered immediately.
"Thomas speaking."
Melissa sounded tense.
"We have a problem."
His stomach dropped.
"What happened?"
"Patricia hired an attorney first thing this morning."
"And?"
"She's accusing you of kidnapping her nieces."
Thomas looked at the twins.
Both had gone pale.
"There's more," Melissa continued.
"She also claims the girls invented the abuse because you coached them."
Thomas gripped the phone tighter.
"That's absurd."
"I know."
"But she's presenting herself as a respected guardian with spotless community references."
Thomas closed his eyes.
"What happens now?"
Melissa's voice became serious.
"The emergency custody hearing has been moved up."
"To when?"
A brief silence.
"Tomorrow morning."
As Thomas lowered the phone, another car pulled into Catherine's driveway.
A black luxury SUV.
Its engine idled.
The driver's door opened.
A sharply dressed woman stepped out, wearing an expensive wool coat and dark leather gloves.
Even from the kitchen window, Lucy began trembling.
Lily clutched her sister's arm.
Catherine's face turned white.
May you like
Thomas didn't need anyone to tell him who it was.
Patricia Wells had found them.
