Chương 6
Ethan turned toward the reception tent so quickly that I caught his sleeve before he took a step.
“Don’t.”
He looked down at my hand, then at me.
“She knew?”
“That is what Marissa just said.”
“She knew Daniel got her pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“She knew about the adoption.”
Marissa answered this time.
“Yes.”
“And she never told me.”
“You don’t know what Daniel told her.”
“I know she sat three tables away from my mother while his daughter danced at my brother’s wedding.”
The word daughter changed something in his expression.
Not possession.
Recognition.
I released his sleeve.
“Then don’t charge in there and accuse her in front of everyone.”
“Why are you protecting her?”
“I’m protecting Lily.”
He looked toward the tent.
Through the opening, Lily was standing on a chair while Nora tried to fix the ribbon at the back of her dress.
Carol Mercer sat near the far side of the room with a cup of coffee in both hands.
She was sixty-three now, maybe sixty-four, with the same severe silver-blond bob she had worn for years.
I remembered her as practical, unsentimental, and almost aggressively punctual.
At Thanksgiving, she always arrived twelve minutes early and brought her own serving spoon.
She had sent me a sympathy card after my second miscarriage.
I still had it somewhere.
That detail made me angrier than it should have.
“What exactly happened when she came to the restaurant?” I asked Marissa.
Marissa looked uneasy.
“I was about six months pregnant.”
“Did Daniel send her?”
“I don’t think so.”
“What makes you think that?”
“She was furious with him.”
Ethan folded his arms.
“Carol is always furious with somebody.”
“This was different.”
“How?”
“She asked if I knew he was lying to me.”
I felt the back of my neck tighten.
“What did you say?”
“I said I knew he was married.”
Marissa looked ashamed again.
“She stared at me for maybe ten seconds, then asked what his wife’s name was.”
“And?”
“I said I didn’t know.”
Ethan’s mouth flattened.
“What did she do?”
“She laughed.”
Marissa rubbed her palms against the sides of her dress.
“Not because it was funny.”
“I know the kind.”
“So do I,” I said.
Marissa continued.
“She told me Daniel wasn’t married.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You knew before Lily was born?”
“I knew he had lied about being married.”
“That is not a small distinction.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you keep seeing him?”
“I didn’t.”
“When did you stop?”
“The day Carol came in.”
That changed the shape of the timeline.
“You ended it then?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Before Daniel knew you were pregnant?”
“No.”
“He already knew?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I told him at twelve weeks.”
“And he kept seeing you?”
“Sometimes.”
The answer carried more humiliation than affection.
“Until Carol showed up.”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked toward his aunt again.
“What did she tell you about Claire?”
“Nothing at first.”
I felt cold.
“At first.”
Marissa nodded.
“She asked to see the picture Daniel had shown me.”
“You still had it?”
“On my phone.”
“His photo of me.”
“Yes.”
“What did Carol say?”
Marissa’s eyes shifted toward the tent.
“She said, ‘That’s not his wife.’”
A terrible pressure built behind my sternum.
“And then?”
“I asked who you were.”
Marissa stopped.
Ethan’s voice hardened.
“Who did she say Claire was?”
“She said you were his cousin’s wife.”
Ethan looked as though somebody had struck him.
I expected anger.
Instead, he whispered, “She knew.”
Marissa nodded.
“She knew he was using Claire’s picture.”
“And she knew you were pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“Did she know the baby was Daniel’s?”
“I told her.”
I looked at Carol across the tent.
She lifted her coffee and took a small sip.
Nothing about her posture suggested a woman sitting inside seven years of concealed history.
“What did she tell you to do?” I asked.
Marissa hesitated.
“That’s complicated.”
“Make it uncomplicated.”
“She told me to stay away from Daniel.”
“That part makes sense.”
“And?”
“She said if I needed help, she would help.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“With what?”
“Rent.”
His face changed.
Marissa saw it.
“I didn’t take much.”
“How much?”
“Maybe three thousand over several months.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Carol paid you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She said Daniel had caused enough damage.”
“Did she ask you to keep quiet?”
Marissa did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
“What did she offer?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Then what did she threaten?”
Marissa looked at me.
“Not exactly a threat.”
“Marissa.”
“She said if I told Ethan’s family, everyone would assume I was after money.”
Ethan gave a stunned laugh.
“She actually said that?”
“Yes.”
“And you believed her.”
“I was pregnant by a man who had lied about being married, used another woman’s photograph, and stopped answering half my calls.”
Her voice shook.
“Yes, Ethan, I believed people might think I was an idiot trying to get money.”
He looked away.
I watched the shame move through his face.
Not enough to erase his anger.
Enough to complicate it.
“What else did Carol know?” I asked.
Marissa rubbed at a spot on her clutch.
“She knew about the adoption.”
“When?”
“I told her I was considering it.”
“Before you chose an attorney?”
“Yes.”
“Did she recommend one?”
Marissa froze.
Ethan noticed before I did.
“Oh, no.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
“Carol gave you the attorney’s name.”
“Yes.”
The lawn seemed suddenly too bright.
A string of bulbs hung above us, each one trembling slightly in the wind.
I had used that attorney.
Not directly at first.
My own adoption agency had referred me to the firm after my failed match.
At least that was what I had always believed.
“What was the attorney’s name?” Ethan asked.
“Judith Phelan.”
I knew it before she finished saying it.
My mouth went dry.
“That was my attorney.”
Marissa stared at me.
“I know.”
Ethan looked between us.
“What do you mean you know?”
May you like
Marissa’s voice dropped.
“Carol told me after Lily was born.”
