Chapter 5 - DIANE'S SECRET VISITMichael took the photograph.
His face changed immediately.
"No."
Rachel pointed toward the reflection.
"That's your mother."
"It looks like her."
"It is her."
Michael enlarged the image with his phone and photographed it.
The reflection was blurry, but the burgundy handbag was unmistakable.
Diane carried it everywhere.
Michael stood.
"She told me she never went near the cabin."
Rachel laughed.
"And you're surprised she lied?"
Michael ignored the insult.
"When was this taken?"
Rachel looked at the timestamp printed faintly on the back.
"Wednesday. 4:18 p.m."
Michael went still.
"I was fishing with Noah."
Rachel understood.
"You didn't know Diane was there."
"No."
"Then Samantha did."
Michael immediately called.
Samantha answered after two rings.
"Did Rachel—"
"Was my mother at the cabin?"
Silence.
Michael's face hardened.
"Sam."
"Yes."
Rachel folded her arms.
Michael put the call on speaker.
"When?"
"Wednesday afternoon."
"What did she want?"
Samantha exhaled.
"To talk."
"You told me she hadn't contacted you."
"I didn't want another fight."
Michael stared at the phone.
"What did she say?"
"She offered me money."
Rachel closed her eyes.
Diane's solution to every inconvenient human being.
"How much?" Rachel asked.
Samantha realized she was listening.
"Rachel..."
"How much?"
"Five hundred thousand."
Even Michael looked stunned.
"For what?"
Samantha's voice hardened.
"To take Noah and leave again."
Rachel stared at Michael.
"Leave where?"
"Anywhere. She said she'd arrange a house, school, whatever I wanted."
"On what condition?"
"That Noah never contacted Michael again."
Michael whispered, "Jesus Christ."
Samantha continued.
"I told her no."
"What did she do?"
"She laughed."
Rachel could imagine it.
That tiny, superior laugh Diane used when someone disagreed with her.
"Then?"
"She said I didn't understand what I was doing to Michael's family."
Rachel looked at her husband.
"And what did you say?"
"I said Michael had another family whether she liked it or not."
Michael closed his eyes.
Samantha's voice shook.
"That's when she threatened Emma."
Rachel's body went rigid.
"What?"
"Not physically."
"What did she say?"
Samantha hesitated.
"Tell me."
"She said if I insisted on making Noah part of Michael's life, Emma was going to learn exactly what kind of father she had."
Rachel felt cold.
"That's not a threat against Emma. That's a threat against Michael."
"There was more."
Samantha took a breath.
"She said children get cruel when they find out their father cheated with their mother's best friend. She said she'd make sure Emma's school heard about it before Rachel could control the story."
Rachel's hand curled into a fist.
Diane hadn't merely been worried about reputation.
She had been willing to humiliate her own granddaughter to maintain control.
Michael looked furious.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because your mother has been threatening me for nine years."
Rachel looked toward the phone.
"What did she threaten you with back then?"
Another silence.
"Sam."
"She knew about my dad."
Rachel frowned.
Samantha's father, Robert Hayes, had died seven years ago.
Rachel remembered him as a quiet accountant.
"What about him?"
"He'd stolen money."
Rachel stared.
"From where?"
"His employer. He had a gambling problem. Diane found out."
Michael looked confused.
"I never knew that."
"Of course you didn't. Your mother handled it."
Rachel felt another ugly piece sliding into place.
"Diane threatened to report him unless you disappeared."
"Yes."
"And the two hundred thousand?"
Samantha laughed bitterly.
"She likes telling people she bought me. The money didn't go to me."
"Where did it go?"
"She made my father's employer whole."
Michael sat down.
"Mom told me she paid you."
"She did. Technically. Through an agreement that required me to leave Chicago and stop contacting both of you."
Rachel remembered Samantha disappearing three weeks after the wedding.
One email.
I need a fresh start.
Rachel had been angry for years.
Then worried.
Eventually hurt enough to stop trying.
"You could have told me."
Samantha's voice broke.
"I was pregnant, terrified, and my father was talking about killing himself if he went to prison. Diane told me that if I loved you at all, I'd disappear before I destroyed your marriage too."
Rachel closed her eyes.
The betrayal remained.
Samantha had still slept with Michael.
Michael had still participated in the cover-up.
But Diane had taken their worst mistake and built a prison around it.
Rachel opened her eyes.
"Why come back now?"
"Because Noah found an old photograph of Michael."
"The one from our wedding?"
"Yes."
Rachel almost couldn't breathe.
Samantha continued.
"He asked why the man in the picture looked like him."
Michael whispered, "Sam..."
"I couldn't lie anymore."
Rachel looked at her husband.
One question remained.
"Why didn't you tell Rachel immediately when Samantha contacted you fourteen months ago?"
Michael answered before Sam could.
"Because my mother knew first."
Rachel stared.
"What?"
Samantha spoke quietly.
"I contacted Diane before Michael."
"Why?"
"I thought she could tell me how to reach him without blowing up your life."
Rachel laughed bitterly.
"You went back to the woman who blackmailed you?"
"I was scared."
"And what did she do?"
Samantha's voice dropped.
"She told Michael before I could."
Rachel turned toward him.
Michael looked down.
"She gave me a choice."
"What choice?"
He swallowed.
"Handle Noah quietly..."
Rachel waited.
"Or she'd tell you about the affair herself."
The room went silent.
Rachel finally understood why Diane had smiled at Sunday dinner.
For fourteen months, she had held the same weapon over Michael.
Today, anger had made her finally pull the trigger.
But then Samantha said something that made Rachel's stomach twist again.
"Michael, there's something else you don't know."
He looked at the phone.
"What?"
"Diane didn't come to the cabin only to offer me money."
May you like
Samantha hesitated.
"She asked Noah to call her Grandma."
Related Stories
