"Claire, Charles—" Marissa started.
"Gold digger?" I repeated, interrupting Marissa, disbelief rolling over me. "I never took a dime from your father that I didn't earn. Not one dime."
Mr. Sutherland stood from his desk. "Everyone, please, these things can get heated, I understand that, but really, let's remember this is about Felix's last wishes. He split his entire estate between you," he nodded to Claire, "and Charles."
Claire and Charles glared at him and then turned their suspicious eyes on me. "Fine," Claire said. "Take your envelope. It's all you'll ever get. And we want you out of our father's house in two weeks. If you wish to continue tutoring Sophia on the piano, you'll do it from somewhere else."
Hurt speared through me and I did my best to tamp it down. I had come a long way in the last three years. I was no longer the unskilled, meek girl who'd arrived broken and hungry on Felix's doorstep. I'd learned that I possessed a little more strength than I'd ever imagined, and I'd gained two friends in Felix and Marissa. Yet somehow, I'd ended up alone. Again.
I pressed my lips together, not willing to rock the boat any more than I already had. I cared very much for Sophia and I didn't want them to take her away from me—even if I did only see her twice a week. I comforted myself with the knowledge that although they disliked me, they knew I was a good piano teacher. Sophia's results spoke for themselves.
Plus, I was desperately going to need the income.
"Well then," Mr. Sutherland said, coming from around his desk, apparently spotting a good opening to shuffle us out of his office. Who could blame him? "Thank you all for coming in. Felix was not only a good client, but a good friend. He'll be missed."
Marissa stood and lowered her eyes and nodded. "Yes, he will," she said, taking my hand and squeezing it as I gave her a small smile. We followed along behind Claire and Charles.
Mr. Sutherland showed us to the door and we said our thanks to him one more time, ignoring each other. Just before he closed the door behind us, I turned and he paused. "Raynes," I said softly. "My last name is Raynes."
Mister Sutherland looked at me quizzically, and then smiled, nodding his head once. "Good day, Miss Raynes."
I nodded at him and turned to Marissa, taking her hand in mine. Claire and Charles were already halfway down the hall in front of us.
**********
Once I was back at Felix's house, on my bed in the room I'd woken up in three years before, hungry and grief-stricken, I opened the envelope, my fingers shaking slightly.
Inside was a manila folder with a letter paper-clipped to the front. It was dated one month earlier, right before he'd become so ill, he was only lucid part of the time.
Eden,
If you're reading this, then I'm gone. I fervently hope me writing this is just a safety measure. I hope I'm able to give you this information myself, but with my health, I have to take precautions. I have to make sure you're not left with nothing. I can't bear the thought of leaving you here with as many questions as you arrived with. I'm not a man who finds it easy to express my emotions, but I want you to know how much I've grown to love and care for you over these past three years. And I like to think you think of me as a father figure and that you've come to care for me as well. This is my attempt at caring for you when I'm no longer there.
I believe your parents' names are Carolyn and Bennett Everson.
I gasped and dropped the folder to my bed. The corners of two eight by ten glossy photos slid out and I stared at them for a second before reaching forward and pulling them all the way out. My heart stopped for a brief millisecond and then took up what felt like an irregular beat in my chest. I lifted the photo on top and gazed at it. It was my mother. I knew it was. Misty images danced through my mind - a ring of laughter, the smell of flowers. That face. It was my face, only older. She's alive? My mother is alive? How? Before looking at the second photo, I snatched Felix's letter back up with shaking hands and read the rest.
I believe you were abducted, Eden. And I have questions only you can answer about why you didn't know that. I hope I can ask you them myself once I'm done gathering all the information I can for you. But as I write this letter, this is all I do have. If I'm gone, I hope it's enough.
I started this investigation a few months ago and when I came across the photo of Eden Everson on the missing children's database, I suspected instantly it was you.
Your parents reported you missing fourteen years ago. It was all over the news for months, especially sensational because your father was a suspect in the case. He had been involved in a business scandal earlier in the year, and it was speculated he had gotten involved in something that led to your disappearance. He vehemently denied that to his dying day. He took his own life, his note spelled out his innocence and his grief. After your father's suicide, your mother went into hiding. I can only imagine that after everything she'd endured, being in the public eye was too much to bear.
My investigator found her and discovered that in recent years, she'd been re-married and her name is now Carolyn Collins. Her second husband passed away last year. She never had any other children. Her address is in the envelope.
With the help of a good friend who owns Cincinnati Savings and Loan, I've also opened an account in the name Eden Everson. I know that you've saved all the money you've earned from me so you'll be fine until you can get an ID in your real name and access the money I've left for you. It was the only way I considered that wouldn’t involve Claire and Charles.