Chapter 6 - ELEANOR KNEW
Eleanor requested to speak with Kate alone.
Kate refused alone.
They met in Rosewood Hall’s library with Rebecca present and General Hale sitting near the window.
Richard had left for a hotel under his attorney’s advice.
The children were warm upstairs.
Sophie’s fever had come down after pediatric urgent care confirmed a viral infection and no immediate danger.
Only then did Kate sit across from her mother-in-law.
Eleanor looked smaller without Richard beside her.
Not innocent.
Smaller.
“I knew about the first transfer,” she said.
Kate waited.
“I signed it.”
“I know.”
“I also knew Richard expected Daniel to return the house eventually.”
“He didn’t.”
“No.”
“Because he paid your debts.”
Eleanor looked down.
“Yes.”
There it was.
The family secret beneath the family image.
Whitmore wealth nearly collapsed.
Daniel saved it.
Richard never forgave him for knowing.
Eleanor continued.
After Daniel added Kate to the deed, Richard became obsessed.
He believed Kate had manipulated him.
That Daniel’s adopted children would eventually receive pieces of “Whitmore land.”
“He said Matthew Ellis’s children would inherit what his father built.”
Kate’s face hardened.
“They were Daniel’s children.”
“I know.”
“Did you?”
Eleanor began crying.
Kate did not rescue her from the question.
Finally:
“Not enough.”
Good.
Truth.
Then Rebecca placed the forged quitclaim on the table.
“Did you know about this?”
Eleanor stared at it.
Her face changed.
“No.”
Kate watched carefully.
She believed her.
Then Eleanor said something unexpected.
“But I know who might.”
Richard’s younger brother.
Thomas Whitmore.
Seventy.
Estranged from the family for twelve years.
Former attorney.
The man Richard blamed for “trying to steal Rosewood” during the business collapse.
Kate had met him once.
At her wedding.
He left early.
Eleanor whispered:
“Thomas handled the original debt negotiations. When Richard started talking about getting the house back, Thomas told Daniel never to sign anything without independent counsel.”
“Where is he?”
“Richmond.”
“Why haven’t we heard from him?”
May you like
Eleanor looked ashamed.
“Richard made sure we didn’t.”
