Chapter 6: The Letter With My Mother's Signature
Maya stared at Vanessa.
For a moment, the ballroom seemed to tilt beneath her feet.
The letter.
Vanessa had found out.
Maya's hand moved instinctively toward the small evening bag hanging from her shoulder. Inside it, folded between a tissue and a spare hairpin, was a photograph of the letter she had discovered three months earlier.
She had never taken the original.
She had only photographed it.
The paper had been inside a locked drawer in Vanessa's home office, beneath a stack of insurance correspondence and old foundation reports.
Maya had found the drawer open one afternoon while searching for her mother's birth certificate.
She remembered the envelope clearly.
Cream-colored.
A little yellowed around the edges.
Her mother's name written across the front in familiar blue ink.
Maya had recognized the handwriting immediately.
Renee Carter used to leave notes beside Maya's cereal bowl before school.
Have a beautiful day, baby.
Don't forget your lunch.
I love you more than all the stars.
The writing on the envelope was hers.
The signature on the letter was hers, too.
But the words inside had changed everything Maya believed about the months following her mother's death.
“Did you take a letter from my desk?”” Vanessa demanded.
Maya forced herself to answer.
“I found a letter addressed to my mother.””
“You had no permission to enter my office.””
“I was looking for her birth certificate.””
“You went through my private files.””
“I found her name on the envelope.””
Vanessa raised the microphone again.
“And then you photographed confidential correspondence and began accusing me of wrongdoing.””
Maya shook her head.
“I never showed you the photograph.””
Vanessa froze.
The words had escaped before Maya could stop them.
A few guests noticed the sudden change in the older woman's expression.
Charles looked from Vanessa to Maya.
“Why would that matter?””
Maya opened her mouth, but Vanessa interrupted.
“Because she has been invading my privacy for months. This is what I have been dealing with behind closed doors.””
Maya stared at her.
“You knew about the letter.””
Vanessa's face hardened.
“I know you have been searching through my belongings.””
“You told me that letter didn't exist.””
“I told you that you had no business interfering in matters you couldn't understand.””
Maya felt the room pressing in around her.
The letter had been the first concrete evidence that something was wrong.
It referred to an insurance benefit payable after Renee's death and instructed the recipient to preserve the funds for Maya's education and future living expenses.
The letter also mentioned a separate account established in Maya's name.
Maya had searched for both.
She had found neither.
When she confronted Vanessa, the older woman said the letter was an outdated draft and that the insurance company had rejected the arrangement.
Maya had asked for proof.
Vanessa had slapped her hand against the kitchen counter and told her to stop questioning the person who had sacrificed everything for her.
After that, Maya had stopped asking questions aloud.
But she had kept looking.
“Vanessa,” Charles said, “you mentioned a letter. What exactly did it say?””
“Nothing relevant.””
“Then why bring it up?””
“Because Maya is using it to justify her behavior.””
Maya took a breath.
“I have a photograph.””
Vanessa's eyes widened.
Just slightly.
But enough.
Maya pulled the phone from her bag.
The cracked screen illuminated her fingertips.
“I took a picture of the letter,” she said.
“I didn't steal it. I didn't remove it. I photographed it because I was afraid you'd destroy it.””
Vanessa descended from the stage.
“Give me the phone.””
“No.””
“You have already caused enough damage tonight.””
“You're the one who keeps asking people to believe things without showing them anything.””
Vanessa stopped directly in front of her.
“You have no idea what you're accusing me of.””
“Then explain it.””
“You are a child.””
“I'm old enough to know when someone is lying to me.””
Vanessa's jaw tightened.
For a second, Maya thought the older woman might grab her again.
Charles moved closer.
“Vanessa, step away from her.””
Vanessa didn't look at him.
“You have made me look like a criminal,” she told Maya.
“I didn't make you do anything.””
“You think your mother's money was supposed to be handed to you without restrictions? You think raising you was free?””
Maya felt the words strike deep.
There it was.
The argument Vanessa always returned to whenever Maya asked for something that should have been hers.
The groceries.
The school uniforms.
The bedroom.
The roof over her head.
Every ordinary responsibility of caring for a grieving child had become a debt Vanessa expected Maya to repay with obedience.
“I never asked you to buy my silence,” Maya whispered.
Vanessa's eyes flashed.
“I gave you a home!””
“And I loved you for it.””
The answer seemed to catch Vanessa off guard.
Maya's tears spilled again.
“I defended you when people said you were controlling. I told myself you were strict because you cared. I told myself you were angry because you were grieving, too.””
Her voice broke.
“I kept making excuses for you because you were my aunt.””
Vanessa looked away.
Maya continued.
“But every time I asked about my mother, you made me feel guilty for asking. Every time I tried to understand what happened to her money, you reminded me how much I owed you.””
She wiped her cheek.
“I don't know what happened to that money. That's why I wanted the records.””
Charles's expression softened.
“Then the records should be examined,” he said.
Vanessa spun toward him.
“You cannot be serious.””
“I am.””
“You're going to take the word of a seventeen-year-old over mine?””
“No,” Charles replied.
“I'm going to take the documents seriously enough to stop guessing.””
The distinction unsettled several guests.
For the first time, they were no longer being asked to choose between Vanessa's reputation and Maya's word.
They were being asked to examine evidence.
Maya unlocked her phone and opened the photograph.
Her fingers hovered over the screen.
She had imagined showing it to someone a hundred times.
Every time, she imagined a different response.
Sometimes people believed her.
Sometimes they accused her of misunderstanding the letter.
Sometimes Vanessa appeared behind her and took the phone away.
Now, surrounded by hundreds of people, Maya finally turned the screen outward.
“Here,” she said.
“This is what I found.””
Charles leaned closer.
Denise stood beside him.
The photograph showed a handwritten letter with Renee's signature at the bottom. Several lines referred to funds intended for Maya's education and care.
Charles read silently.
Then his eyebrows drew together.
“Where is the original document?””
“In Vanessa's office,” Maya answered.
Vanessa laughed sharply.
“That photograph proves nothing. Anyone can manufacture a document.””
Maya's heart sank.
Charles looked at the signature again.
“Is that your sister's handwriting?””
Vanessa's face went rigid.
For the first time that night, she didn't answer immediately.
Denise noticed.
“Vanessa?””
The older woman reached for Maya's phone.
Charles stepped between them.
“Don't.””
Vanessa lowered her hand.
Then, with a strained smile, she turned toward the guests.
“I think this evening has gone on long enough. The foundation will issue a statement after I've consulted my attorney.””
She started toward the ballroom entrance.
But before she reached it, Charles spoke again.
“One more question.””
Vanessa stopped without turning around.
“What?””
“If the letter was meaningless, why did you keep it locked away?””
Vanessa's shoulders stiffened.
The ballroom fell silent.
She slowly turned back.
Her face was pale, but her voice was sharp.
“Because there is another document that Maya hasn't seen.””
Maya felt her fingers go numb around the phone.
Vanessa looked directly at her.
“And if you want to know why your mother's signature is on that letter, you should ask yourself who else had access to it.””
She paused.
May you like
Then she delivered the words that made Maya's blood run cold.
“Because your mother didn't write that letter alone.””
