Caroline’s voice softened.
“She’s been trying to call you all afternoon.”
I closed my eyes.
David reached toward me.
“Mom—”
I stepped away.
A moment later, Emily came on the line.
“Grandma?”
Her voice was shaky.
“Sweetheart, what happened?”
She began crying.
“I found the papers.”
“What papers?”
“The ones Mom wants you to sign. And there was another document. It had your signature on it, Grandma, but I knew it wasn’t yours.”
My heart pounded.
“How did you know?”
“Because you always put a little line under the H in Helen. Grandpa used to tease you about it.”
I looked at the cream-colored folder on the dining table.
Emily continued.
“I took pictures because I thought Dad would stop her if he saw them.”
A terrible silence followed.
Then she whispered, “But Dad told me to delete everything.”
I looked at my son.
He stood perfectly still.
Emily’s next words destroyed the last excuse I had been making for him.
“He said if I told you, I’d have to find somewhere else to live.”
I couldn’t breathe.
David had threatened his own daughter.
A seventeen-year-old girl who had done nothing except try to protect her grandmother.
I pressed the phone against my ear.
