Her Name Was Annie by Beth Rinyu (the little red hen read aloud txt) 📕

“Well, I don’t get it. Dad was always there for me, and you. I mean, I’m pretty sure I know what led to your divorce. How did that have anything to do with his job?” Kara knew very little about the circumstances of the demise of Jack’s and my marriage. She was old enough and smart enough to pick up on the fact that there was another woman involved. She didn’t speak to Jack for a few weeks after she found out, but eventually got over it. What she didn’t know was about the circumstances that had caused us to lose her brother. She was far too young when it all happened. She knew there was a baby, there was an accident, and that baby went to heaven to live.

“It’s just very stressful. That’s all I’m saying. But I will support you whatever happens.” I kissed her on the forehead.

“It’s just Dad.” She groaned. “I don’t really care about telling him. It’s Ian who’s worried.”

“That’s understandable. Just let him make the choice when you should speak to your father about it.”

“So you won’t say anything to him about it?”

“Not my secret to tell…but, Kara, you do have to tell him at some point.”

“I know.” She smiled the smile of a young woman on the brink of falling hard for her Prince Charming, unable to heed any warning I or her father would give her, even if she wanted to. So the best I could do was watch my little girl experience the magic of falling in love for the very first time. My greatest hope would be that she got the fairy-tale ending every parent dreams of for their child. My greatest fear being she’d end up with a broken heart. Whichever the case, I’d always be in her corner, and I knew with a little hesitation on his part at first, Jack would be as well.

Chapter 28

A WEEK HAD passed since meeting with Francesca, and I still couldn’t bring myself to open the letter that was now in my nightstand drawer. Even though I was dying to know what it said, part of me wanted to leave that side of the story a mystery. I wanted to be able to view the man on the beach that day as the stranger in the ocean. Once I read the words he had written, whatever they may have been, it would make him too real, too familiar, and I wasn’t sure if I could handle that. I had witnessed him take his life—the man responsible for my being.

Tears surged in my eyes thinking about it. Francesca and I had texted back and forth throughout the week. We had planned on doing a FaceTime call over the weekend, and I was still apprehensive about asking Kara to join in. I wasn’t sure if it would be better if the two of them met in person for the very first time or through modern-day technology. I was going to leave that decision up to Kara once I got five minutes with her.

She had become basically nonexistent over the past week, spending a good chunk of her time with friends. I was certain Ian was one of those friends she claimed to be with. She had spent one of her nights with Jack going into New York City to see the Christmas tree, then to dinner. She had asked me to come, but since I hadn’t heard from Jack since our phone call from the week prior, I didn’t think it was a good idea to tag along. Besides, it was a tradition she and Jack had carried on ever since she was a little girl. I was hoping that maybe she and Ian would’ve broken the news to him by now, but as far as I knew, Jack was still in the dark about it.

I stared at the twinkling lights on my tree as I sat on the couch, sipping on a glass of wine with Max right beside me. Christmas was less than a week away. Where had the time gone? It amazed me how time seemed to fly at warp speed the older you’d get. There I was, reflecting on the upcoming close of another year like I had so many years prior. But this year was different. So much had happened in the closing months of it. I felt like a different person after all of the discoveries that had come to light. Even with all the newfound knowledge and excitement over it, the ache that had settled deep inside my heart was still there. I was happy Francesca had gotten her wish and maybe the pain she had felt for all those years was gone, but mine would always be there.

Jack was also weighing heavily on my mind. I had such high hopes that we could’ve reconciled our relationship into some form of friendship, but his radio silence over the past week halted any optimism I may have had over that happening. I shouldn’t have slept with him. I shouldn’t have let my emotions lead me that night. I thought we could both look past it and move on. I thought wrong…wouldn’t be the first time, especially when it came to Jack. I had been drowning out the background noise of my television until a story on the news piqued my interest.

“Senator Cavlan sat down with us earlier in the day to talk about the death of his brother and the sexual misconduct accusations swirling around him.”

The news anchor’s face switched from the studio to a female reporter seated across from an older man, sitting beside a blond-haired woman who appeared to be his age. I gulped down another sip of wine and fury overtook me as I watched with great intensity.

“Senator and Mrs. Cavlan, thank you for taking the time to sit down with us. I know you and your family have had a rough couple of months with the death of