Chapter 9 - Melanie Had Left Derek One More Place to LookDerek went through Melanie’s laptop backups.
The physical laptop had been replaced years earlier.
But cloud storage remained.
Folders.
Photographs.
Tax documents.
Cancer notes.
Then a hidden archive protected by a password.
Derek tried birthdays.
Wedding date.
Caleb’s birthday.
Nothing.
Then he remembered Melanie’s favorite ridiculous phrase.
Whenever Derek forgot something obvious, she said:
Use your whole brain, Holloway.
He typed:
WHOLEBRAIN
Wrong.
Then:
USEYOURWHOLEBRAIN
Unlocked.
Derek laughed and cried at the same time.
Naomi sat beside him.
“You married a menace.”
“The best.”
The archive contained emails between Melanie and Evelyn.
Derek hesitated before reading.
These were private words between two women, one dead and one alive.
Naomi said:
“You can stop.”
“No.”
Caleb’s truth lived there.
He opened the first message.
Melanie wrote:
I believe you. I don’t know what to do with that yet.
Evelyn:
You don’t owe me anything.
Melanie:
I owe Caleb honesty.
Derek closed his eyes.
That was Melanie.
Next:
I am terrified Derek will think I knew from the beginning. I didn’t.
Evelyn replied:
I know.
Melanie:
Lenora will say you’re trying to take him.
Evelyn:
I’m not.
Melanie:
I believe you.
Several messages later, Melanie asked about the attempted withdrawal of consent.
Evelyn told her everything.
Lenora’s lies.
The fake collapse.
The invented threat from Derek.
Melanie wrote:
I had a migraine. She used a migraine to convince you our lives were collapsing.
Even through text, Derek could feel her anger.
Then another conversation.
Melanie:
I’m going to tell Derek after my next oncology appointment.
Evelyn:
Please wait.
Melanie:
Why?
Evelyn:
Because if the scan is bad, he needs you more than he needs this truth right now.
Derek’s hands shook.
The next oncology scan had been catastrophic.
Cancer spread to liver and bone.
Melanie’s world became appointments, pain management, Caleb, goodbye.
She never found the right moment.
Then an unsent draft appeared.
Addressed to Derek.
Subject: Caleb
Derek opened it.
Derek, if I lose the nerve to say this, make me.
His eyes filled immediately.
There is something about Caleb’s adoption that Lenora hid from us. Evie is his birth mother.
Direct.
I am angry, but not at Evie. I am angry that we were used. I am angry she was used. I am angry Caleb may someday think our love depended on not knowing where he came from.
Derek cried.
Please do not let that happen.
Then:
If I die before we finish this, do not turn Evie into a threat because you are scared. She is not trying to replace me.
Derek stopped.
It felt as though Melanie were speaking directly to the version of him who had panicked days earlier.
You are Caleb’s father. I am his mother. Evie is also part of his story. Love is not a chair with only two seats.
Naomi wiped her own eyes.
Derek kept reading.
Lenora will tell you she did everything to protect the family. Ask yourself who needed protection from whom.
Then one final line.
There is a paper copy in the green recipe book because you never open recipe books.
Derek laughed through tears.
“She knew me.”
He ran to the kitchen.
Melanie’s green recipe binder sat above the refrigerator.
He had not opened it since she died.
Inside, behind a page for chicken casserole, was an envelope.
Three documents.
First:
A copy of Evelyn’s original adoption preference statement.
Birth mother requests adoptive parents be informed that she is a relative by marriage.
Second:
A revised version removing that sentence.
Signature supposedly Evelyn’s.
Third:
A forensic handwriting comparison Melanie had commissioned.
Preliminary conclusion:
Significant inconsistencies suggest the revised signature may not have been written by Evelyn Mercer.
Not definitive.
But enough.
Behind the report was Melanie’s note.
Lenora had access to Evie’s signature constantly. School forms. Medical forms. Everything.
Derek stared.
Then another paper fell out.
A bank statement.
Lenora.
A payment of $15,000 from an account associated with Victor.
Date:
Two days after Caleb’s adoption finalized.
Recipient:
Harold Wren Legal Services.
Derek frowned.
“Legal fees?”
Naomi examined it.
“Possibly.”
“But we paid our own adoption fees.”
“Yes.”
“Why would Lenora pay him?”
Naomi’s expression changed.
“We ask.”
They called Wren.
He became silent when Derek mentioned the payment.
“Mr. Wren.”
“It was not a fee.”
“What was it?”
“A settlement.”
Derek stared.
“For what?”
Wren looked ashamed.
“Lenora accused my office of mishandling Evelyn’s confidentiality.”
“That makes no sense.”
“She threatened a complaint.”
“And you paid her?”
“No. She paid us.”
Derek frowned.
“What?”
Wren explained.
Lenora transferred $15,000 into a client trust account.
She claimed it belonged to Evelyn for relocation after adoption.
Wren forwarded it to an account Evelyn designated.
Except Evelyn later said she never received the money.
Naomi asked:
“Who controlled the destination account?”
Wren searched old records.
Then read the name.
Mercer Transitional Support Fund.
Naomi searched quickly.
The account had been created by Lenora.
Derek stared.
“She paid herself?”
“Possibly through an entity.”
The lie now included money moving around the adoption itself.
Then Wren added:
“There was another payment.”
Derek’s stomach dropped.
“How much?”
“Thirty thousand.”
“From who?”
“Victor.”
“When?”
“Three months after adoption.”
“To where?”
Wren looked uncomfortable.
“Lenora’s account.”
Derek sat back.
“Why?”
“I was told it was reimbursement for helping Evelyn relocate.”
Derek thought of the story everyone received.
Arizona.
Boyfriend.
Fresh start.
“Did Evelyn receive any of it?”
No one knew.
Derek called her.
Evelyn answered.
“No.”
“Did Victor give Lenora money for you?”
“I never saw a dollar.”
“Did she tell you he helped?”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“She told me Victor said I was no longer welcome.”
Derek closed his eyes.
Another invented rejection.
Then Evelyn said:
“Derek, there’s something I never told Melanie.”
“What?”
“When I left Illinois after Caleb’s birth…”
She hesitated.
“I didn’t go willingly.”
Derek’s pulse changed.
“What do you mean?”
“Lenora bought the bus ticket.”
“Where?”
“Colorado.”
“Why?”
“She said if I stayed anywhere near you, she would tell child services I was stalking the adoptive family.”
Derek stared.
“She threatened you.”
“Yes.”
“And the money?”
“What money?”
“The thirty thousand Dad gave her.”
Evelyn went silent.
Then:
“She told Victor he was paying for my new life.”
Derek’s chest tightened.
May you like
“But?”
“I arrived in Denver with eighty-six dollars.”
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