Chapter 5: The Voice on the Phone
“Celeste, are you there?””
Marcus Reed's voice crackled through the phone speaker.
Celeste gripped the device so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Did she open it?””
Amara stepped closer.
“I'm standing right here, Marcus.””
Silence.
The graduation courtyard seemed to shrink around them. A photographer called for the graduates to line up near the stage, but Amara didn't move. Derrick stood beside her, one hand resting on the back of an empty white chair.
He could hear Marcus breathing.
Then the man spoke again.
“Amara?””
“Yes.””
“Oh, God.””
Derrick's expression hardened.
“Who are you?””
Marcus ignored him.
“Amara, listen carefully. You need to give that envelope to your mother and forget what you saw.””
Amara let out a disbelieving laugh.
“You've got to be kidding me.””
“I'm serious.””
“You helped keep my father's letters from me?””
“I didn't know you would find them like this.””
“Like what? On my eighteenth birthday? At my graduation?””
“Amara, there are things you don't understand.””
“Then explain them!””
Marcus fell silent again.
Derrick leaned toward the phone.
“This is Derrick Williams. You have my name on a letter telling me never to contact my own child. I want to know who wrote it.””
A long pause followed.
Then Marcus answered, “I didn't write that letter.””
Derrick's jaw tightened.
“Then who did?””
“I can't explain that over the phone.””
“Funny. You seem perfectly comfortable explaining why I shouldn't speak to my daughter.””
“Mr. Williams, please—”
“Don't call me that like we're strangers discussing a business problem. You put yourself between a father and his child. You don't get to ask me for patience.””
Marcus exhaled sharply.
“Celeste, take Amara somewhere private.””
“No,” Amara said.
“She's not taking me anywhere.””
“Amara, please. I'm trying to prevent something worse from happening.””
“What could possibly be worse than eighteen years of lies?””
Marcus's voice dropped.
“Your father was not the only person who received a letter.””
Derrick went still.
“What did you say?””
“I said there were other letters.””
“From whom?””
“I can't discuss this here.””
Amara looked at her mother.
“Did you know about other letters?””
Celeste shook her head, but the movement was hesitant.
Marcus heard the question.
“Celeste, don't answer that.””
Amara's eyes widened.
“Why are you telling my mother what she can say?””
“Because I know how this is going to sound, and I need you to hear the entire story before you make a decision that you can't take back.””
“What decision?””
Marcus hesitated.
“Whether you believe your father.””
Derrick's mouth tightened.
“She's my daughter. She doesn't need your permission to believe me.””
“No,” Marcus replied.
“But she needs the truth.””
For the first time, his voice sounded less frightened than exhausted.
Amara lowered the phone slightly.
“Then give it to us.””
Marcus took a deep breath.
“When your parents separated, Celeste came to me because she was struggling financially. She was frightened, angry, and convinced that your father was going to leave both of you with nothing.””
“That isn't true,” Derrick interrupted.
“I know what you believe happened,” Marcus replied.
“But I'm telling you what she told me.””
Derrick stared at Celeste.
She looked down at the pavement.
Marcus continued.
“She asked me to help organize some documents. There were custody forms, financial records, and correspondence. At first, I thought I was helping a friend. I didn't realize how much of the information I was being given was incomplete.””
“Then when did you realize?”” Amara asked.
“Several months later.””
“What did you do?””
Another pause.
“I made a mistake.””
Amara shook her head.
“That isn't an answer.””
“No. It isn't.””
For a moment, Marcus sounded as if he might confess everything. The background noise on his end suggested he was outside, perhaps standing beside a road. A car horn sounded faintly.
Then his voice changed.
“Celeste, did you keep the blue folder?””
Celeste looked up sharply.
“What?””
“The blue folder. The one with the original documents.””
Her face drained of color.
Derrick noticed.
“What blue folder?””
Celeste shook her head.
“I don't know what he's talking about.””
Marcus gave a bitter laugh.
“Don't do that now. Not after all these years.””
Amara stared at her mother.
“You have it?””
Celeste's eyes glistened.
“I don't know where it is.””
“Then look for it,” Marcus said urgently.
“Because if the original documents still exist, they're going to show exactly who made the first false statement.””
Derrick felt the ground shift beneath him.
“False statement about what?””
Marcus was quiet for several seconds.
Then he said, “About why you stopped seeing Amara.””
Derrick's heart hammered against his ribs.
“I never stopped trying to see her.””
“I know that now.””
“Now?”” Derrick repeated.
“What did you believe before?””
Marcus didn't answer.
Amara stepped closer to the phone.
“You said you didn't understand everything at first. Then you found out something was wrong. Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because I was afraid.””
“Of my mother?””
Marcus sighed.
“Of what I had helped create.””
Celeste suddenly reached for the phone.
“That's enough.””
Amara pulled it away.
“No! You don't get to decide when the truth ends.””
Celeste's voice broke.
“Amara, I was trying to keep you safe.””
“From what?””
Her mother looked at Derrick.
For the first time that day, there was something beyond anger in her eyes.
Fear.
“From losing everything,” Celeste whispered.
Derrick shook his head.
“You keep saying that. But you've never told us what we were supposed to lose.””
Marcus interrupted.
“Amara, there's something else you need to know. The letters aren't the only thing your mother kept.””
Amara stopped moving.
“What else?””
“A document.””
“What document?””
“The original custody agreement.””
Celeste closed her eyes.
Marcus continued, speaking faster now.
“It's signed, dated, and attached to a statement that changes everything you think you know about your parents' separation.””
Derrick stared at the phone.
“Does it prove I abandoned her?””
“No.””
The answer came with such certainty that Derrick's eyes filled with tears.
“No,” Marcus repeated.
“It proves you were trying to come back.””
Amara covered her mouth.
For eighteen years, she had imagined her father walking away without looking back.
Now a stranger was telling her that the truth might have been the opposite.
“Where is the document?”” she whispered.
Marcus exhaled.
“Ask Celeste where she hid the blue folder.””
Celeste suddenly lunged for the phone.
The call ended.
Amara stood frozen, staring at the blank screen.
Then she looked at her mother.
“Where is the folder?””
Celeste shook her head.
“I can't do this here.””
“Where is it?””
“Amara, please.””
Derrick picked up the gift bag from the chair.
“I think we've heard enough excuses for one day.””
Celeste grabbed his arm.
“Derrick, don't walk away again.””
He looked at her hand until she released him.
“I didn't walk away from my daughter.””
Then he turned to Amara.
“Sweetheart, I'll stay as long as you want me here.””
Amara took his hand.
And for the first time since she was a little girl, she held on to her father without wondering whether her mother would allow it.
Celeste watched them, tears sliding down her carefully made-up face.
Then she reached into her handbag and pulled out a small brass key.
Amara stared at it.
“What does that open?””
Celeste's lips trembled.
“The drawer where I kept the folder.””
May you like
She pressed the key into Amara's palm.
“But before you open it,” she whispered, “you need to understand that your father wasn't the only person I lied to.””
