Chapter 4 - The First Mrs. Harrington
Her name had been Claire Donovan Harrington.
Nathan almost never spoke about her.
When Emily first discovered that he had been married before, he described Claire as a painful chapter from his youth.
They had married at twenty-four.
Claire died three years later after driving off a mountain road during a storm.
Nathan said grief had nearly destroyed him.
Emily had believed him.
Now she stood surrounded by photographs of Claire inside a room Nathan had forbidden anyone to enter.
Rosa removed the sheet from the desk.
“Mr. Harrington kept this room exactly as it was.”
“Nathan’s father?”
“Yes.”
Emily picked up one photograph.
Claire stood beside Nathan’s father, Charles Harrington.
Her hand rested on a swollen stomach.
Emily stared at it.
“Claire was pregnant?”
Rosa nodded.
Emily sat down.
“Nathan never told me.”
“She was seven months pregnant when she died.”
Emily’s hand immediately went to her own belly.
The similarity felt like ice against her skin.
Rosa opened a desk drawer.
Inside were folders.
Letters.
Bank statements.
Medical records.
Then Emily saw an envelope with Nathan’s name written across the front.
She opened it.
The letter inside was written by Charles Harrington.
Nathan,
If Claire or the child is harmed, everything goes to the authorities.
I know what you have been doing with the trust accounts.
I know why you married her.
And I know the baby changes everything.
Emily read the lines twice.
“What trust accounts?”
Rosa pulled another folder from the cabinet.
“The Harrington estate did not originally belong entirely to Nathan.”
Emily looked up.
Rosa continued.
“Charles Harrington’s older brother founded most of the family companies.”
“He died without children.”
“His will divided future control between Charles’s descendants and the descendants of his sister.”
Emily frowned.
“What does that have to do with Claire?”
“Claire was his sister’s granddaughter.”
Emily’s mouth went dry.
“So Nathan married her because she had a claim to the family fortune?”
Rosa nodded.
“And when she became pregnant, her child would have inherited an even larger protected share.”
Emily looked at Claire’s photograph again.
“Then she died.”
“Yes.”
“And the baby died with her.”
Rosa hesitated.
That hesitation terrified Emily more than any answer.
“What?”
Rosa sat across from her.
“The newspapers said the baby died.”
Emily stared at her.
“But?”
Rosa leaned forward.
“No body was ever shown to the family staff.”
“No hospital record was ever placed in these files.”
“And after Claire’s funeral, Charles Harrington began searching for someone.”
Emily felt her pulse accelerating.
“Who?”
Rosa opened another drawer.
Inside was a faded photograph of a newborn wrapped in a yellow blanket.
Written on the back were four words.
May you like
She survived.
Find my granddaughter.
