Chapter 2 - THE DATE HIS FATHER FEARED
Daniel did not let security touch her.
He led everyone into the small parish office beside the church: Emily, Victor, the woman, and Emily's father, Alan Reed, who had spent thirty years practicing law before retiring. Outside, wedding guests whispered behind stained-glass doors.
Victor stood by the desk with both hands clenched.
"Her name is Mara Bell," he said. "She worked for us when you were little. She became obsessed with you."
The woman laughed once, without humor. "Is that the story now?"
"You were unstable."
"I was your wife."
Daniel stared at Victor. "You told me my mother died when I was six."
"Your mother did die."
Mara reached slowly into her coat and pulled out a plastic sleeve. Inside was an original birth certificate, yellowed at the edges.
Mother: Mara Elise Voss.
Father: Victor Charles Voss.
Victor's voice hardened. "Documents can be forged."
Alan took the certificate. "Not this seal. At least not easily."
Mara turned toward Daniel. "You hated peas. You called thunderstorms 'sky fights.' You had a blue stuffed rabbit named Captain. When you were scared, you rubbed the satin tag between your fingers."
He had found the rabbit in a storage box when he was fourteen. Victor said it had belonged to a cousin.
Emily touched Daniel's arm. "Sit down."
"St. Catherine's," he said. "What happened there?"
Mara's eyes filled. "A car hit us on Bell Avenue. I woke up eleven days later. My ribs were broken. My left leg was shattered. You were gone."
Victor stepped forward. "Enough."
"He told the hospital he was taking you home," Mara continued. "Then he told a judge I had abandoned you."
"Liar."
"I spent nineteen years trying to prove I was alive to my own child."
Daniel looked at his father. "Why don't I remember her?"
"Because you hit your head in that crash too."
"And because while I was unconscious," she said, "your father signed papers telling the hospital I was dead."
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A gray-haired man in an expensive suit walked in carrying a legal folder.
"Daniel," she whispered. "That's the lawyer who took you from me."
