Chapter 7 - Maren Had Not Given Up on Ellie
Mateo opened the newest letter with Ellie beside him.
He did not read every adult detail aloud.
But he refused to hide the part meant for his daughter.
Maren wrote:
Ellie turns seven soon. I don’t know if she still likes lemon cake or if she still sleeps with Mr. Rabbit. I don’t know if she remembers the song I used to sing when she was scared. I know I have no right to ask her to wait for me. Please just tell her I never stopped asking.
Ellie pressed both hands over her mouth.
Mr. Rabbit was upstairs.
The song was still the one she asked for during thunderstorms.
Mateo continued privately.
Maren had moved twice.
First to Maine.
Then to Vermont.
She had worked under her maiden name because after the separation she wanted distance from the Caldwell family’s public attention.
That explained why Mateo’s original investigator lost the trail.
Not because Maren vanished illegally.
Because she had every right to rebuild privately.
She believed Mateo knew how to reach her through Celeste.
She never imagined Celeste was the reason he couldn’t.
The letter also revealed the cruelest twist.
Maren had tried contacting Mateo directly once.
A year earlier.
She called the mansion from a number he did not recognize.
Celeste answered.
Maren asked for him.
Celeste told her:
“Mateo is with Ellie. He asked me not to let you disrupt her again.”
Then Celeste added:
“He’s getting married.”
At the time, Mateo and Celeste were only discussing engagement.
Maren hung up.
After that, she returned to letters.
Not because she was weak.
Because she believed forcing direct contact would hurt Ellie.
Maren wrote:
If he truly believes my presence harms her, I will not make Ellie choose between us.
Mateo threw the letter onto the desk.
“That was never my choice.”
Celeste started crying.
“I know.”
“You knew then.”
“Yes.”
“Why keep the letters?”
She could not answer.
Ruth—no, Nora—looked toward the yellow diary.
Maybe the answer was already there.
Celeste did not throw all the letters away because part of her wanted proof that Maren still existed.
Proof that the life Celeste had taken a place inside was never fully hers.
She hid the evidence.
But kept touching it.
Reading it.
May you like
Recording it.
As if control required constant confirmation.
