“Why didn’t you let it go?” Margaret asked, still not getting it.

Sarah frowned and tried to hold back the anger bubbling up in her gut, threatening to spew venomous words out of her mouth. “Let it go? I had over a hundred and twenty employees who depended on their jobs and the money from the company going public. I had a board of directors to answer to and the investors threatening legal action. I couldn’t let all those people lose their money because of what Sean had done. I could have ended up in jail and the boys would have lost their father and me for a time.

“I’m not blameless in all this. I simply didn’t care what Sean was doing anymore. I had turned my back on him and was trying to start a new company, so I could leave him.”

Margaret gasped.

Bridget avoided eye contact with any of them, making Sarah think that Sean had told her something about Sarah divorcing him. Or a version of it that made Sean look like the wronged party.

Margaret shook her head. “I really didn’t know how bad things were. Sean said he was unhappy in the marriage. But I never thought—”

“Yeah. You blamed me. And with all that going on, you demanded I keep the company for the boys. You made me promise. I didn’t want you to know what Sean had become. I couldn’t let anyone find out all he had done or everything would have fallen apart.”

“If I’d known . . . I just wanted something of Sean’s to survive.”

“It did. The children are his legacy. As for the company, well, Luke pointed out what I’m always reluctant to admit. The company was never Sean’s. It was always mine. I did the work. I made it a success.”

She opened the envelope on top of the stack and pulled out the contents.

“I kept my promise to you. The company is thriving. Since you didn’t cash the original check, I invested it in the company. When I was finally able to offer retirement accounts to the employees, I asked the investment specialist to diversify the money I had originally invested for you. This check represents your investment in Spencer Software and other investments I was advised to make. As for not keeping in touch with you, well, if you had opened this mail, you would know the answer to that. You were simply too angry to see the truth, and too stubborn to give me a chance.”

Margaret touched her fingertips to her temple. “I . . . I don’t know what to say.”

Sarah wasn’t done. “You blamed me for Sean’s death. You were right.”

Margaret’s head snapped up. “What?”

Luke leaned forward. “Sarah, that’s not true. Don’t take that on when Sean is the one to blame.”

“Maybe,” she acknowledged, because Sean had turned his back on her, their boys, and his own conscience. “But I’m the one who, with the help of the chief of police, who was a personal friend of mine, covered up what really happened the night Sean died.”