Chapter 4 - WHAT CATHERINE FORGAVE
Lucinda did not tell Andrew immediately.
She looked toward Alex first.
The boy stood several feet away with Elizabeth.
His eyes moved between the adults.
Andrew understood.
“Elizabeth.”
The housekeeper took Alex toward the adjoining library.
He resisted at first.
Andrew crouched.
“I’m staying here.”
Alex looked at Lucinda.
Then back at his father.
“Promise?”
Andrew’s throat tightened.
“I promise.”
Alex went with Elizabeth.
Only then did Andrew turn back.
“What did my mother forgive?”
Lucinda sat.
For the first time since he could remember, she looked her age.
Not the Caruso matriarch.
Not the woman who intimidated servants with a glance.
Just sixty-one.
Tired.
Afraid.
When Andrew was seven, Lucinda had secretly told Salvatore that Catherine intended to leave the estate with Andrew.
It was not yet true.
Catherine had only discussed taking him to her sister’s home for the summer.
Lucinda exaggerated.
Why?
Because she was afraid.
Andrew was the closest thing she had to a child.
She had never married.
Never had children of her own.
Catherine once joked that Lucinda behaved as if she were Andrew’s second mother.
Lucinda liked the joke too much.
When Catherine started setting boundaries, Lucinda felt herself being pushed out.
So she went to Salvatore.
She told him Catherine planned to take Andrew permanently.
Salvatore reacted exactly as Lucinda knew he would.
He threatened Catherine.
He told her no Caruso son would be raised away from the family.
The marriage became poisoned.
Catherine began seriously considering leaving only after that threat.
Andrew stared at Lucinda.
“You created the thing you were afraid of.”
“Yes.”
“And she knew.”
“She found out.”
Catherine confronted Lucinda several weeks before the lake accident.
Lucinda confessed.
Catherine was furious.
Then, unexpectedly, she forgave her.
Not immediately.
Not completely.
But enough to give her the locket.
“She said if I truly loved you, I had to stop treating love like custody.”
Andrew looked down at the tiny photograph.
“She gave you that before the lake.”
“Yes.”
“And you still followed her.”
“Yes.”
Lucinda cried harder.
That was the part she could never forgive in herself.
Catherine offered her a path out of obsession.
Lucinda ignored it.
Then Catherine died saving her from the water.
Andrew stood and walked away before anger made the room dangerous.
For several minutes he said nothing.
Then he asked:
“Did Claire know all of this?”
Lucinda’s face changed.
“Yes.”
Andrew turned.
“How?”
“She found the locket.”
Three months before Claire died, she entered Lucinda’s private sitting room looking for one of Alex’s toys.
She found the necklace.
Asked questions.
Lucinda refused.
Claire did not stop.
She found Michael.
He told her what he knew about the lake.
Claire confronted Lucinda.
“She said I had spent my life punishing boys for the weakness I couldn’t tolerate in myself.”
Andrew almost heard Claire’s voice saying it.
“What happened between you?”
“We fought.”
“Physically?”
“No.”
“Did you threaten her?”
Lucinda hesitated.
“Yes.”
Andrew’s eyes hardened.
“What did you say?”
“I told her if she tried to turn you against me, she would destroy this family.”
“And Claire?”
“She said if protecting the family meant Alex growing up afraid, then maybe the family deserved to be destroyed.”
Andrew closed his eyes.
Claire had said something similar to him once.
He had walked out of the room.
Lucinda continued.
On the night Claire died, she asked Lucinda to meet her in the conservatory.
Claire wanted one final conversation.
She said she had decided Lucinda could no longer be alone with Alex.
Lucinda refused.
The argument escalated.
Andrew looked directly at her.
“Was Alex there?”
Lucinda nodded.
“He was downstairs with the rabbit.”
Andrew’s hands curled.
“So he saw you.”
“Yes.”
“Did you push Claire?”
“No.”
“Did you touch her?”
Lucinda looked away.
“Yes.”
Andrew’s breathing changed.
Lucinda grabbed Claire’s wrist when she turned toward the stairs.
Claire pulled free.
They struggled near the upper railing.
Then part of the iron barrier shifted.
Claire slipped.
But she did not fall immediately.
She caught the railing with one hand.
Lucinda dropped to her knees.
Andrew stared at her.
“You had her.”
“Yes.”
“You could have pulled her up.”
Lucinda started shaking.
“I tried.”
Andrew stepped closer.
“What happened?”
Lucinda’s voice became barely audible.
“Claire told me to let go.”
Andrew froze.
“What?”
“She said the railing was coming loose. She thought it would pull me over too.”
Lucinda cried.
“She told me to let go and get Alex.”
Andrew stared.
That did not make sense.
Not with Alex’s accusation.
Then Lucinda whispered:
“I didn’t let go.”
Andrew’s face tightened.
“So how did she fall?”
Lucinda looked toward the library where Alex had disappeared.
“Because she tried to save me.”
The same words.
Catherine.
Claire.
Andrew felt cold.
Lucinda explained.
The railing tore free.
Her own body slid forward.
Claire shifted her grip and caught Lucinda’s wrist with her free hand.
For a few seconds, Claire was hanging while also keeping Lucinda from falling.
Then Lucinda panicked.
She pulled herself backward.
Hard.
Claire lost her remaining grip.
She fell.
Andrew stared at his aunt.
“You used her to save yourself.”
Lucinda covered her face.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Stop.”
The word filled the room.
Lucinda went silent.
Andrew understood Alex now.
At three years old, he had seen his mother holding Lucinda.
Then Lucinda pulled.
Then his mother disappeared.
To him, the truth was simple.
She killed Mom.
Maybe no planned murder.
No weapon.
No calculated push.
Only panic and selfishness at the worst possible second.
Then Elizabeth screamed from the library.
Andrew ran.
Alex stood beside an overturned drawer.
The stuffed rabbit had fallen open again.
Inside its body was something Elizabeth had never seen before.
A small red plastic button.
Andrew pressed it.
Claire’s voice came from inside the toy.
A recording.
“Alex, if Daddy ever hears this, tell him I was never planning to take you away from him.”
Andrew went completely still.
May you like
The message continued.
“I was trying to take both of you away from Lucinda.”
