{"id":2649,"date":"2026-09-13T21:46:03","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T21:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/?p=2649"},"modified":"2026-09-13T21:46:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T21:46:03","slug":"part-5-emily-wanted-to-know-why-thomas-never-came-for-her-and-the-answer-forced-maryanne-to-reveal-the-letter-she-had-hidden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/?p=2649","title":{"rendered":"PART 5 \u2013 Emily Wanted to Know Why Thomas Never Came for Her, and the Answer Forced Maryanne to Reveal the Letter She Had Hidden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIf he knew I existed all these years, why didn\u2019t he ever come for me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily\u2019s question settled over the room with a weight none of us could move.<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne stood beside the coffee table, one hand still extended toward her daughter. Emily had stepped beyond her reach. Daniel remained near the wall of photographs, staring at the woman who had become his sister less than two minutes earlier. I stood between them, wondering why Thomas had imagined any version of this revelation could be managed gently.<\/p>\n<p>There was no gentle way.<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne lowered her hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily gave a short, sharp laugh. \u201cThat\u2019s not an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou told me my father disappeared. You told me he wasn\u2019t capable of being part of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told you what I thought would keep you from waiting for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor forty-seven years?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne closed her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Emily picked the photograph up from the carpet and held it against her chest. Her anger looked different from Daniel\u2019s. His had been hot and immediate. Emily\u2019s seemed to arrive through layers of shock, as though every memory of childhood now required inspection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he know where we lived?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he know my birthday?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy school?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy wedding?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy son?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne\u2019s voice broke. \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily stared at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen he didn\u2019t fail to find me. He stayed away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne did not answer.<\/p>\n<p>That silence seemed worse than any defense.<\/p>\n<p>Emily turned toward me. \u201cDid you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were married to him for forty-two years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd he never once said my name?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I thought of Claire calling after the funeral.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily looked toward Daniel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI found out three weeks after he died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThree weeks?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlmost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her eyes moved between us. She seemed to be trying to place herself inside a family she had never known existed.<\/p>\n<p>Then she looked at Maryanne again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou lied to all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought I was protecting two families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat phrase should be illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne flinched.<\/p>\n<p>Emily picked up her purse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d Maryanne asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease don\u2019t drive like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily\u2019s hand tightened around the strap. \u201cYou don\u2019t get to manage me right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmily\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She crossed toward the door.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel moved slightly, then stopped himself. He had known her for minutes. Whatever instinct he felt as a brother had no claim yet.<\/p>\n<p>Emily opened the door.<\/p>\n<p>Before leaving, she turned toward me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry your husband died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The words were formally polite and devastating.<\/p>\n<p>Then she left.<\/p>\n<p>The front door closed.<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne collapsed into the nearest chair.<\/p>\n<p>For several seconds no one spoke.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel finally said, \u201cYou have to tell us everything now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne looked up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI already have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. You haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His voice was controlled, which made it harder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou keep saying Dad wanted to come. You keep saying you thought staying away was better. But there\u2019s forty years between wanting something and doing nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne pressed both palms against her knees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen what are we missing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I studied her face.<\/p>\n<p>She looked frightened.<\/p>\n<p>Not ashamed.<\/p>\n<p>Not merely sad.<\/p>\n<p>Frightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something else,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>She looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsn\u2019t there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne\u2019s gaze drifted toward a narrow writing desk beside the window.<\/p>\n<p>That was answer enough.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel followed her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne stood slowly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI made a promise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo Dad?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She crossed to the desk and unlocked its bottom drawer.<\/p>\n<p>From inside she removed a large envelope.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the letters tied with ribbon, this one looked newer. It had been handled often. The corners were soft, the paper creased across the center.<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne remained standing with it in both hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told Thomas I would never show this to anyone unless Emily learned the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho wrote it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne looked at Daniel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy grandfather?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas\u2019s father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The man whose stroke had helped tear Thomas and Maryanne apart.<\/p>\n<p>I had met Frank Bennett only three times before his death. By then he had been severely disabled and unable to speak more than a handful of words. Thomas cared for him with a complicated devotion I had never fully understood.<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne placed the envelope on the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrank wrote this before the stroke.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel reached for it.<\/p>\n<p>She stopped him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need to explain first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cI think explanations have caused enough damage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I put my hand over Daniel\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked at me, then withdrew.<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne sat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrank Bennett believed Thomas was ruining his life by staying with me. He thought Thomas had responsibility to the family business and to his parents. He also thought my family was beneath theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her mouth tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe never said that quite so plainly. Men like Frank rarely did. He spoke about compatibility. Expectations. Stability. The future. All those respectable words people use when they don\u2019t want to admit they think someone isn\u2019t good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That matched the little I remembered.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas had loved his father, but never idealized him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Emily was born,\u201d Maryanne continued, \u201cFrank changed tactics. He offered me money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo leave?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you take it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMonths later, for medical treatment. Not because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She tapped the envelope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore I left Duluth, Frank wrote a statement giving me something I thought I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She slid the letter toward us.<\/p>\n<p>I unfolded it.<\/p>\n<p>Frank\u2019s handwriting was unlike Thomas\u2019s. Angular. Heavy.<\/p>\n<p>The letter was dated January 1979.<\/p>\n<p>It acknowledged Emily as Thomas\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n<p>It stated that Frank and his wife would not interfere with financial support.<\/p>\n<p>Then came the part that made me stop.<\/p>\n<p>Frank promised that if Maryanne permanently removed herself and Emily from Thomas\u2019s daily life, he would transfer enough business interest to Thomas to protect the blue house from creditors.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel read over my shoulder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is blackmail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot legally,\u201d Maryanne said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat would you call it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCruelty disguised as negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I kept reading.<\/p>\n<p>Frank argued that Thomas would destroy himself trying to maintain both his new family and the Bennett business. He described Thomas as incapable of abandoning anyone voluntarily.<\/p>\n<p>That sentence hurt because it was true.<\/p>\n<p>So Frank intended to make the choice for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe made you choose between Thomas and the house?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than the house. If creditors reached Thomas\u2019s personal assets, Emily would have nothing. Frank offered to restructure everything if I stepped aside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Thomas know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel pushed back his chair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh my God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne looked down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought I was buying him freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were letting his father decide his life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was twenty-three.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn\u2019t make it right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her answer stopped him.<\/p>\n<p>She did not defend herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was sick. I had a baby. My parents were terrified. Thomas slept four hours a night and spent every waking minute trying to rescue somebody. I believed if I forced him to choose, he would choose me and Emily, and then spend the rest of his life believing he had killed his father and destroyed twelve families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you chose for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I understood now why Thomas\u2019s letters had sounded desperate.<\/p>\n<p>He had not simply lost Maryanne through distance.<\/p>\n<p>He had been deliberately released without knowing the real terms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Frank keep his promise?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe blue house?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProtected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe business?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSurvived long enough to be sold.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Thomas?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne\u2019s eyes filled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBroken for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The word landed heavily.<\/p>\n<p>I tried to imagine the Thomas I met in 1982. Quiet. Careful. Older than thirty in ways I could not explain at the time. He never spoke about Duluth except vaguely.<\/p>\n<p>I had mistaken scars for temperament.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas eventually found this letter,\u201d Maryanne said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter Frank died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked sharply at her.<\/p>\n<p>Frank had died seven years into our marriage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas learned the truth after he married me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The room seemed to tilt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe came here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel\u2019s head snapped up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou said he never saw Emily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he came to Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c1989.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I remembered 1989.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas had told me he was attending a three-day suppliers\u2019 conference in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n<p>He had returned quiet and exhausted.<\/p>\n<p>I had been pregnant briefly that spring and miscarried early. We were both raw then. Daniel had been five.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas had disappeared to Minnesota while I thought he was at a conference.<\/p>\n<p>Anger rose again, clean and immediate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe lied to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he see you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you sleep with him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The answer came without hesitation.<\/p>\n<p>I believed her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne folded her hands together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas arrived at my door carrying Frank\u2019s letter. I had never seen him so angry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I could picture it.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas rarely raised his voice. His anger became frightening through restraint.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe asked why I had let him believe I no longer wanted him. He asked why I had taken Emily away. He said he would have chosen us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould he?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel looked down.<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen he told me about you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I held my breath.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe talked about you for nearly an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne gave me a sad smile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat you were kind without being soft. That you laughed at his bad jokes. That you made lists for everything. That you could silence him with one look when he tracked mud through the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite myself, I almost smiled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said he loved you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The jealousy I expected did not come.<\/p>\n<p>Instead grief did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said leaving you and Daniel would repeat the same cruelty that had been done to him. He refused.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo Dad chose us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he still didn\u2019t tell Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne\u2019s gaze shifted toward me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I begged him not to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmily was thirteen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I had not calculated that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe believed another man had been her father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat other man?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne took a breath.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter Thomas and I separated, I married someone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel and I said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis name was Peter Cole. Emily grew up believing Peter was her biological father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas he?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd he raised her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom age three.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe died when Emily was twelve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everything rearranged.<\/p>\n<p>Emily had not grown up believing some vague missing father existed.<\/p>\n<p>She had grown up with one.<\/p>\n<p>A man who chose her.<\/p>\n<p>A man she later mourned.<\/p>\n<p>Then Thomas discovered the truth a year after Peter\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wanted to tell her,\u201d Maryanne said. \u201cI told him she had just lost the only father she remembered. I couldn\u2019t let another truth tear apart everything she had left.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo Thomas stayed away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAgain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pattern was becoming unbearable.<\/p>\n<p>Every decision had an understandable reason.<\/p>\n<p>Together they had built forty years of damage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he agree easily?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat convinced him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne looked at the photograph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe didn\u2019t know him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he knew enough about her. I told him she was struggling after Peter\u2019s death. Angry. Withdrawn. Frightened I would disappear too. Thomas decided that arriving as her \u2018real father\u2019 might feel like replacing Peter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel sat down again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen years passed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was the tragedy in its simplest form.<\/p>\n<p>Years passed.<\/p>\n<p>Emily stabilized.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas returned to Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>He remained in contact with Maryanne by mail.<\/p>\n<p>He sent money.<\/p>\n<p>He kept the blue house.<\/p>\n<p>He received occasional photographs.<\/p>\n<p>He told himself there would be a better time.<\/p>\n<p>When Emily graduated.<\/p>\n<p>When she finished college.<\/p>\n<p>After she married.<\/p>\n<p>After Daniel finished school.<\/p>\n<p>After Thomas\u2019s mother died.<\/p>\n<p>After Maryanne recovered from surgery.<\/p>\n<p>After Emily\u2019s son was born.<\/p>\n<p>There was always an after.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually there were more years behind them than ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd this spring?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe decided there was no better time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of cancer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew before you did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That startled me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe suspected something was wrong months before his diagnosis. He wrote that he had been losing weight and having pain. He was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas had told me the symptoms came suddenly.<\/p>\n<p>Another omission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said if the doctors confirmed what he feared, he was telling you immediately. Then he would tell Emily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt cold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe received the diagnosis. Then you had your heart scare.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I remembered.<\/p>\n<p>Two days after Thomas\u2019s oncology appointment, I had been hospitalized overnight for chest pain. It turned out not to be a heart attack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe delayed again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen treatment started.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd he got weaker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at the old photograph.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas had reached the end of his life the way he lived much of it: waiting for the moment when telling the truth would hurt no one.<\/p>\n<p>Such a moment did not exist.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need to call Emily.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne shook her head. \u201cGive her time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe needs\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s had enough decisions made for her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That silenced us.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel took out his phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have her number?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maryanne hesitated, then recited it.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel entered the digits.<\/p>\n<p>He did not call.<\/p>\n<p>Instead he typed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat are you saying?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>He showed me.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m Daniel Bennett. I know today was terrible. I won\u2019t push you. But I\u2019m your brother, and if you decide you want to talk, I\u2019ll answer.<\/p>\n<p>Simple.<\/p>\n<p>No demand.<\/p>\n<p>No explanation.<\/p>\n<p>He sent it.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing happened.<\/p>\n<p>We returned to our hotel that evening.<\/p>\n<p>I slept perhaps two hours.<\/p>\n<p>Near midnight I dreamed Thomas was standing on the porch of the blue house, knocking on a door nobody opened.<\/p>\n<p>At six thirty the next morning, Daniel knocked on my hotel-room door.<\/p>\n<p>I opened it in my robe.<\/p>\n<p>His face was pale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He held out his phone.<\/p>\n<p>Emily had replied.<\/p>\n<p>Not with a greeting.<\/p>\n<p>Not with anger.<\/p>\n<p>With an address.<\/p>\n<p>The blue house.<\/p>\n<p>Below it she had written:<\/p>\n<p>If Thomas Bennett kept that place for me, I want to see it. Meet me there at ten. And bring every letter you have.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/?p=2650\">Click here to continue reading: PART 6: At the Blue House, Emily Found Proof Thomas Had Prepared a Room for Her Decades Ago but Never Found the Courage to Use It<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIf he knew I existed all these years, why didn\u2019t he ever come for me?\u201d Emily\u2019s question settled over the room with a weight none of us could move. Maryanne &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2665,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2649\/revisions\/2665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechapterstory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}