“That’s great.” Juliet turned her gaze to Aunt Winnie, their father’s only sibling, who sat quietly beside Miranda with her hands folded primly in her lap. The exact details of the news struck Juliet. “But what about Aunt Winnie? Why wouldn’t she be included? That stinks.”
Winnie looked up, affection for her niece shining bright in her hazel eyes. “I’m sure Father and Ronald know what’s best.”
Juliet exchanged a glance with Portia, who rolled her eyes at her aunt’s statement.
Rissa spoke up. “I wouldn’t be too sure of that. Not after what we found out about how Grandfather took ownership of the factory.”
All the girls nodded in agreement. It had been a blow to learn that their grandfather hadn’t built Blanchard Fabrics from the ground up as they’d all been told. Howard Blanchard had used some less than ethical tactics to acquire the factory from a man named Lester Connolly.
Grandfather and Lester Connolly apparently once loved the same woman, who chose Lester over Howard. In retaliation, Howard went after the man’s company. The whole ordeal was much too sordid and embarrassing to think about. Especially now with Grandfather’s Alzheimer’s advancing so rapidly.
Juliet suppressed a shudder. She prayed that neither she nor her sisters would be afflicted with the dreaded disease in the future. It was so hard watching a vibrant man decline.
Juliet turned her gaze to Bianca. “Is there anything we can do to include Aunt Winnie?”
Bianca frowned. “I don’t know. I’ll have to check into it.”
“You’d better tell her the rest,” Mirada prodded.
Bianca gave her hand a squeeze. “There’s more.” She looked to Portia. “Portia?”
Juliet braced herself as she turned her attention back to Portia.
Portia’s dark eyes were filled with an intensity that made the hair at Juliet’s nape stand on end. “Mick also recently discovered a document with our mother’s signature on it. The paper was dated a year after her supposed death and gave Father full custodial rights to all of us.”
A sharp thudding started behind Juliet’s left temple. She tried to rein in the anxious flutter of dread that took flight in her stomach. “First that picture dated after Mother’s death and now a document dated after her death? How can this be?”
“Apparently Daddy lied to us,” Miranda stated, her complexion going even paler.
“Apparently,” Juliet repeated dryly. Of Bianca, she asked, “Have you authenticated the document?”
Bianca nodded. “It’s legal. Assuming it’s our mother’s signature,” she added. “We’ve sent it to a lab that specializes in verifying signatures. We should know soon.”
“It might not be her signature, right? Just like the photo Leo gave you. The date could be wrong. Both could be some kind of sick joke or a mistake.”
Juliet saw the flash of hurt in Bianca’s eyes. Leo Santiago and Bianca were dating now, even though Leo had been working for their father with orders to bring Bianca into the family business. He’d quit working for Ronald because he didn’t like being manipulated, especially since he fell in love with Bianca. He’d even moved to Boston to be near Bianca.
“I’m sorry, Bianca. I can’t help being skeptical about the date written on the back of the photo. That could have been written at any time by anyone. Just because the date is after Mother’s death, doesn’t prove she’s alive. Neither does this latest piece of ‘evidence.’”
“You know I discovered that Mother may have been at the sanitarium in Chicago,” Bianca said grimly.
Juliet cringed. “I know nothing of the sort. You didn’t find her. All you found were more questions, more dead ends and nothing but false hope.”
Rissa jumped to her feet. “Juliet, how can you be so mean?”
Portia rose, as well. “Come on, Juliet, you have to see that things don’t add up.”
Juliet shook her head. “I’m not trying to be mean, Rissa. And you’re right, Portia, things don’t add up.” She shifted her gaze to Bianca, hating the tears she saw shimmering in her eyes. “I just don’t want more pain. For any of us.”
It had been agonizing growing up under the dark cloud of their mother’s abandonment and death. To be stirring up the old fears and hurts now couldn’t be good for any of them.
In a steady voice, Bianca stated, “I’m sure in my heart that our mother is alive and I plan to keep trying to find her.”
And she would keep at it, Juliet had no doubts. “But at what cost?”
She could see that Bianca understood her meaning. Emotionally this quest would have a high price tag.
Aunt Winnie pleaded, “Girls, really, you shouldn’t fight.”
“We’re not fighting, Auntie,” Juliet reassured her. To her sisters, she asked, “Have any of you talked to Father about the document?”
Portia sat on the arm of the settee. “No. He’s still off in Europe with what’s-her-face.”
Rissa began to pace. “Oh, don’t get me started on that tickle-brained baggage. Let me tell you—”
Juliet suppressed a giggle at Rissa’s use of a Shakespearean insult.
“I hate this,” Miranda blurted out. “Families shouldn’t be like this.”
Juliet didn’t know what a normal family was supposed to feel like.
Aunt Winnie put an arm around Miranda. “Don’t upset yourself, dear. It’s not good for you.”
Rissa whirled around to face her sisters. “I sometimes feel like I’m stuck in a bad soap opera.”
A smiled tugged at Juliet’s mouth. Leave it to the artsy playwright, Rissa, to put things in perspective. The situation was a bit melodramatic. But for now it was their reality. “We have each other, don’t we?”
“Of course we do,” Bianca agreed. The others all nodded.
“Then we stick together,” Juliet stated firmly. “If you need to pursue looking for Mother, then we all do.”
Bianca gave her a grateful smile. “I want to start with the night Mother died. We all heard the raised voices. I want to know what that was about.”
Tightness pulled at Juliet’s chest. She’d been only a baby that night. She had no memories of her mother at all, not even the sound of her raised voice, to cling to.
Rissa snorted. “Only Father can tell us, and you know he wouldn’t, even if he were home.”
“What about Grandfather? Would he know anything?” Juliet asked.
Portia shrugged. “I’ll ask him. But he’s not doing so well these days.”
Portia and their grandfather had always had a good relationship. Juliet had even less of a relationship with her grandfather than she did with her father. Not that long ago, at Aunt Winnie’s sixtieth birthday party, Grandfather had nearly attacked Juliet because he’d thought she was her mother. This only supported Juliet’s theory that the Blanchard men kept Juliet at an emotional distance because she looked too much like her mother.
Judging from the few pictures Aunt Winnie had been able to tuck away of Trudy Blanchard, Juliet could easily have passed as Trudy’s sister. They both had the same long, platinum-blond hair and green eyes.
“Well, I can snoop around the company