Chapter 5 - The Letters Were Still in Marlene’s House
Ethan did not break into Marlene’s home.
The thought crossed his mind.
He rejected it.
Instead, he called Marlene.
She answered on the fifth ring.
“What?”
“Where are Lily’s letters?”
Silence.
Ethan stood in his garage because he did not want Lily hearing the conversation.
“You told her you were delivering letters to Rachel.”
“I was protecting my daughter.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Rachel couldn’t handle emotional pressure.”
“Where are the letters?”
Marlene exhaled slowly.
“My house.”
Ethan shut his eyes.
“You never gave them to her.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Rachel was barely functioning.”
“Was?”
Marlene caught herself.
Ethan heard it.
Past tense.
“Is she functioning now?”
“Ethan—”
“Is Rachel functioning now?”
Marlene hung up.
That answer was enough to change his next move.
He contacted an attorney.
Not because he wanted to sue Marlene immediately.
Because he needed someone who could help him separate legal rights, medical privacy, custody of Lily, and his own escalating anger.
The attorney advised him to preserve the hospital paper, document Marlene’s admissions, and not bombard facilities or staff with demands.
Then she said something Ethan needed to hear.
“If Rachel currently has capacity and does not want contact with you, you may eventually have to accept that.”
Ethan hated the sentence.
But he accepted its logic.
His goal could not be to recover Rachel like property.
His goal was to know whether Rachel herself had made the decisions everyone attributed to her.
That afternoon Claire Whitmore called him.
Rachel’s cousin.
Ethan had not heard from Claire since Christmas.
“I heard you found something.”
Ethan immediately wondered how.
“Marlene called my mother.”
Of course.
Families moved information faster than institutions.
Claire sounded nervous.
“I don’t know where Rachel is now.”
“Now?”
Another revealing word.
Ethan said nothing.
Claire continued.
“I visited her once.”
Ethan had to sit down.
“When?”
“October.”
Six months earlier.
“Where?”
“Oakridge.”
His grip tightened around the phone.
“How was she?”
“Not good.”
“What does that mean?”
Claire paused.
“She knew me. But she’d lose track of conversations. She had trouble finding words. She cried because she couldn’t remember Lily’s teacher’s name.”
Ethan stared at the garage wall.
“What happened to her?”
“Marlene said there was a medication reaction and then some kind of fall.”
That was new.
A fall.
No one had ever told Ethan about a fall.
“Did Rachel ask about me?”
Claire began crying.
“Yes.”
Ethan could barely speak.
“What did Marlene say?”
“She said you weren’t ready to see Rachel like that.”
The garage seemed to tilt.
“What did Rachel say?”
“She asked if you were angry.”
Ethan covered his eyes.
“And Lily?”
“She asked about Lily constantly.”
For seven months Ethan had believed his wife had abandoned their daughter.
Now he knew at least one thing with certainty.
May you like
By October, Rachel was asking for Lily.
And Marlene had let Lily continue believing her mother did not want her.
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