Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN AT THE GRAVERain fell over the cemetery in silver curtains, turning the marble headstones into blurred ghosts beneath the gray afternoon sky.
Claire stood several yards away, frozen.
For months, she had avoided Daniel's grave because she had been afraid of what she might feel there. But today, something had drawn her back.
And then she saw her.
A stranger was kneeling beside Daniel's grave.
The woman was young, soaked to the skin, and trembling violently. In her arms was a newborn baby wrapped in a faded white blanket.
Claire's grief instantly turned into anger.
"Who are you?"
The woman looked up.
Her face was streaked with tears.
"I... I knew Daniel."
Claire's heart stopped.
Nobody was supposed to know Daniel's grave except his family.
"Get away from my husband's grave."
The woman rose unsteadily.
Then the blanket slipped.
Claire saw the baby's face.
And everything inside her went silent.
The infant had Daniel's eyes.
The same deep brown eyes.
The same tiny crease between the eyebrows.
Claire stared at the baby as thunder rolled across the cemetery.
The woman swallowed hard.
"His name is Leo."
Claire's lips parted.
"Why are you bringing Daniel's child here?"
The woman looked at the grave.
"Because Daniel wanted his mother to know he existed."
Claire's blood ran cold.
"His mother?"
The stranger nodded.
"Margaret Brooks."
Claire stepped backward.
Daniel had always told her his family was complicated.
He had never told her how complicated.
Then the woman whispered the words that would change Claire's life forever.
"Daniel was dying when he left you."
And suddenly, Claire realized the man she had loved had not disappeared because he stopped loving her.
He had disappeared because he was hiding something.
May you like
Something enormous.
Something that had followed him all the way into the grave.
Related Stories
