I still remembered her old address, but when I called to check, Oliver answered the phone and cheerfully gave me their new one.
An hour later, I was standing on Diane’s porch.
When she opened the door, her smile disappeared.
“Mary? What are you doing here?”
“Fine. Come in.”
“We need to talk.”
“This really isn’t a good time.”
“Fifteen years wasn’t a good time either, apparently.”
She sighed and reluctantly stepped aside.
“Fine. Come in. I’ll make some tea.”
I touched the edge.
While Diane disappeared into the kitchen, I looked around her living room.
Family photographs covered an entire wall.
In one, Blair was holding a newborn Oliver. In another, she and Diane stood beside a Christmas tree, wearing matching red sweaters.
I touched the edge of the frame.
Richard.
I’d missed my daughter’s wedding, the birth of my grandson, countless Christmas mornings.
And Diane had been there for all of them. Then another photograph caught my eye.
It showed a much younger Blair standing between Diane and a man at what looked like a birthday party.
The date printed in the corner was twelve years ago.
I recognized the man immediately.
“He occasionally visited Blair.”
Richard.
I took the photograph off the shelf just as Diane returned.
“Why is my ex-husband in your family photographs?”
Diane nearly dropped the tray. “Oh, Richard? Well, he occasionally visited Blair. You know, they reconnected after she turned eighteen.”
“Occasionally?”
I pointed to another photograph hanging nearby.
“Were you together?”
Richard stood beside Diane at a Christmas party, his arm wrapped around her waist.
“That doesn’t look like an occasional visit.”
Diane’s face turned pale.
“Were you two together?”
She opened her mouth, then closed it.
“I thought you knew.”
I waited. Nothing.
Finally, I walked toward the door.
“Mary, please!”
But I didn’t stop. I needed to find out when it had started.
Back in the car, I exhaled and closed my eyes.
He’d left for my best friend.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
Richard’s late nights at work. Diane’s endless questions about our arguments. The way she’d stopped calling after he moved out.
He hadn’t left because he was tired of family life.
He’d left for my best friend.
I called Blair.
And fifteen years later, when Blair turned eighteen, Diane had somehow helped him reconnect with our daughter.
I remembered Oliver’s words about Blair coming to live with them.
My hands began trembling. Diane hadn’t simply known where Blair was all these years.
She’d helped take my daughter away from me.
And I intended to make her admit it.
“Who convinced you?”
The next morning, I called Blair.
“I know you don’t trust me,” I said. “But if you’re about to lose your house, at least let me look at the paperwork.”
After a long silence, she agreed.
When I arrived, Blair placed a thick folder on the kitchen table.
“Just look at the papers.”
She’d taken out a $120,000 loan against her house to help someone start a business. That person had promised to make every payment.
But the payments had stopped, and the bank was threatening foreclosure.
“Who convinced you to do this?” I asked.
Blair looked away.
“Someone I trusted.”
“Blair, I can’t help you if you keep protecting them.”
Blair looked away.
“Just look at the papers, Mom.”
I opened the folder.
One name immediately caught my attention.
“Blair’s Corner.”
My breath caught.
“Was it your father?”
Richard had once dreamed of opening a little store with that exact name. He’d talked about it when Blair was a toddler.
I searched the state’s online business registry.
There it was.
Blair’s Corner LLC.
And listed among its owners was Richard. The company had recently been dissolved.
Blair’s eyes filled with tears.
I stared at the screen, furious.
I printed registration and held it up to Blair.
“The person you borrowed that money for… was it your father?”
Blair’s eyes filled with tears.
She lowered her head. And that was all the answer I needed.
“He said you were cruel.”
Blair sank onto the couch, burying her face in her hands.
