Chapter 1 - The Book in the FireMy wife threw the last scrapbook my daughter had of her dead mother into our fireplace.
Lucy screamed before the cover even touched the flames.
“STOP!”
The sound tore through the dining room.
For one second, everyone froze.
Then I saw Caroline's face.
She wasn't angry.
She was terrified.
The firelight reflected in her eyes as if she had just seen a ghost.
The scrapbook belonged to my first wife, Anna.
She had died eleven years ago.
Lucy had been four.
For Lucy, that little book was more than photographs.
It was proof that her mother had existed.
Inside were birthday photographs, hospital bracelets, old movie tickets, pressed flowers, notes written in Anna's handwriting, and tiny drawings Lucy had made as a child.
Every year on the anniversary of Anna's death, Lucy opened it with my mother.
It was their ritual.
Caroline had always hated it.
Not openly.
Never enough for me to accuse her of anything.
But there were always little comments.
“You have a new family now.”
“You shouldn't spend so much time looking backward.”
“Your mother would want you to move on.”
I always stopped her.
That night, we'd gathered for a small memorial dinner.
Lucy came downstairs holding the scrapbook.
“Daddy,” she said, smiling through tears already forming in her eyes, “Grandma found another picture of Mom.”
My mother smiled.
Caroline looked at the book.
Her smile disappeared.
“Put it away.”
Lucy blinked.
“Why?”
“Because nobody wants to spend dinner talking about a dead woman.”
Silence.
I slowly stood.
“Caroline.”
She ignored me.
Lucy hugged the scrapbook tighter.
“She was my mom.”
Caroline's jaw tightened.
Then she walked toward her.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Lucy.”
“No!”
Caroline snatched it.
Lucy screamed.
I stepped forward.
“Give that back.”
Instead, Caroline turned toward the fireplace.
Something cold went through me.
“Caroline, don't.”
She threw it.
The scrapbook landed inside the flames.
Lucy collapsed to her knees.
“MOMMY!”
I grabbed the fireplace tongs.
My mother rushed to Lucy.
I reached into the fire and dragged the scrapbook toward me.
The leather cover had already blackened.
Several pages curled into ash.
I dropped it onto the stone floor and kicked the embers away.
Then I turned.
“Have you lost your mind?”
Caroline shoved me.
I barely moved.
“You don't understand.”
“What don't I understand?”
She slapped me.
The entire room gasped.
She raised her hand again.
I caught her wrist.
“Enough.”
She pulled against me.
Then her eyes went to the floor.
To the scrapbook.
Her expression changed.
“Michael…”
“What?”
“Throw it away.”
My mother opened the damaged cover.
Caroline lunged.
I stepped between them.
“Don't touch my mother.”
Mom turned another page.
Then stopped.
Her fingers trembled.
“Michael.”
“What?”
She ran her hand along the back cover.
“This isn't right.”
“What?”
She pressed the leather.
Something shifted beneath it.
A second layer.
A hidden pocket.
Caroline's face went white.
“Don't.”
Mom looked at her.
“Don't what?”
Caroline whispered.
“Please.”
Mom pulled out a sealed envelope.
My name was written across it.
In Anna's handwriting.
I knew that handwriting immediately.
I could have recognized it in a room full of letters.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Caroline stepped backward.
“Michael, don't open that.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
She swallowed.
“Because Anna is gone.”
Mom held up the envelope.
“She left this for a reason.”
I reached for it.
Caroline grabbed my arm.
“You don't know what she was trying to do.”
I looked into her eyes.
For years, I had thought Caroline was simply insecure about the woman who came before her.
But in that moment, I realized I had been wrong.
She wasn't jealous of Anna.
She was afraid of her.
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a single handwritten page.
Three sentences.
That was all.
My hands began to shake.
The first sentence read:
Michael, if Caroline ever tries to destroy this book, don't trust anything she tells you.
I looked up.
May you like
Caroline was crying.
And for the first time since I'd known her, she looked like someone who knew her life had just ended.
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