Part 2: My son h.i.t me 30 times in front of his wife… so the next morning, while he sat in his office, I sold the house he thought was his.

"Because they told me you were dying."

My stomach tightened.

"What?"

She began crying.

"Malcolm said you were losing your memory. He said you wanted someone to protect Cedarline after you were gone."

I closed my eyes.

"And you believed him?"

"I wanted to."

Her voice trembled.

"Gloria, I've known about you my whole life."

My heart broke.

"Then why didn't you ever come find me?"

A long silence followed.

Then Eleanor whispered:

"Because our mother made me promise I wouldn't."

I stopped breathing.

"What?"

She began crying harder.

"She said if we ever met, everything our family had hidden would come out."

I stared at the phone.

"What did she hide?"

Eleanor was silent.

Then she whispered:

"Gloria, Malcolm isn't the reason Cedarline was built."

My stomach tightened.

"What?"

"Your husband knew about me."

I couldn't breathe.

"Henry?"

"Yes."

For several seconds, I couldn't speak.

Then Eleanor said something that made my knees weaken.