Chapter 1 - OPEN THE BOX
Diane Morgan snatched the small wooden box from Claire’s hands.
“OPEN IT!”
Claire lunged for it.
“GIVE IT BACK!”
Diane jerked the box behind her.
“What are you hiding?!”
“I’m not opening it!”
Diane slapped her.
Claire recoiled, one hand against her cheek.
Then Diane shoved the box back into Claire’s chest.
“OPEN. THE. BOX.”
Claire stared at her mother.
Tears filled her eyes.
She backed toward the table.
“You’ll regret this.”
Diane stormed forward.
“OPEN IT NOW!”
Claire shook her head.
Diane slammed her palm onto the table.
“ENOUGH LIES!”
Claire’s hands trembled.
She set the box down.
Diane leaned closer.
Claire touched the tiny metal latch.
Her face went pale.
“Mom…”
“Open it.”
Claire lifted the latch.
The lid rose.
Inside were letters.
Dozens.
Yellowed envelopes tied with fading blue ribbon.
A small stack of mini-cassette tapes.
An old motel key.
A hospital bracelet.
And one photograph.
Diane saw the face in the photograph and stepped backward.
“No.”
Claire looked at her.
“You know who she is.”
Diane’s lips parted.
The photograph showed two teenage girls.
Diane at sixteen.
And her older sister, Rebecca Morgan.
The woman Diane had spent twenty-five years describing with one sentence:
“She destroyed herself and left us to clean up the mess.”
Claire reached into the box.
Pulled out the first cassette.
A handwritten label:
IF DIANE EVER HAS A DAUGHTER.
Diane stopped breathing.
May you like
Claire said:
“I think this was meant for me.”
