Chương 7
"It means Lauren wasn't just the notary."
No one moved.
Chloe looked at the false identification on the screen.
"She helped me build everything."
For several seconds, even Eleanor seemed unable to find a response.
Chloe remained standing between us, her veil hanging crooked behind one shoulder.
"Build everything how?" I asked.
She looked toward the empty altar.
"At first, Lauren just helped me remember what I'd already told people."
I felt something inside me harden.
"You needed help remembering lies."
"Yes."
"And that became what?"
"A timeline."
Eleanor's voice was barely above a whisper.
"What kind of timeline?"
Chloe rubbed both hands over her face.
"Dates, places, names."
"Names of imaginary people?"
"Some imaginary."
"Some?"
Chloe glanced at me.
"Some real."
I took one step closer.
"Whose?"
"People from my childhood."
My chest tightened.
"What people?"
"Teachers."
"Neighbors?"
She nodded.
"Friends' parents?"
Another nod.
I could hear my own breathing now.
"You used real people to support things that never happened."
"I didn't contact all of them."
"That isn't what I asked."
"No."
Her voice broke.
"I used some names because they sounded believable."
Eleanor sat down again.
The strength seemed to drain from her all at once.
"Lauren helped with this?"
Chloe nodded.
"She said if Julian's family ever checked, inconsistencies would make everything worse."
Eleanor gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
"So her solution to a lie was professional-quality fraud."
"She thought she was protecting me."
"From whom?"
Chloe looked at her.
"You."
That answer landed cleanly.
Eleanor stared at her.
I expected anger.
Instead she looked wounded.
"Did I frighten you that much?"
Chloe opened her mouth, then hesitated.
"Yes."
Eleanor looked down at her phone.
The screen still showed the false driver's license.
"I never asked you to invent a dead mother."
"No."
"I never asked for an affidavit."
"No."
"I never asked you to forge documents."
"No."
"But you thought I would reject you if your life looked too ordinary."
Chloe swallowed.
"Not ordinary."
"What then?"
"Small."
Eleanor's expression shifted.
Chloe looked at me.
"That's what it felt like."
I stared at her.
"Our life?"
"No."
"Say it."
She wiped her cheek.
"Yes."
The word hurt.
It also explained more than I wanted it to.
I thought about the house where she grew up, the narrow kitchen with one drawer that never closed properly, the secondhand sofa, the years when I repaired things instead of replacing them.
I had always believed endurance looked like dignity.
Maybe to a child, endurance simply looked like not enough.
"Did Lauren ever meet me?" I asked.
"No."
"See photographs?"
Chloe hesitated.
"Yes."
"What photographs?"
"Facebook."
"I barely use Facebook."
"Old ones."
"From where?"
"Your profile."
"I don't have public pictures."
Chloe's face tightened.
"I sent her some."
The answer embarrassed her.
It enraged me.
"You sent photographs of me to help fabricate an abusive version of me."
"I know."
"Do you?"
"Mom, I know."
"You keep saying that."
"I don't know what else to say."
I stepped away before I said something I could not take back.
The cathedral had become unbearably warm.
I loosened the clasp at my coat collar and realized my hands were shaking.
Eleanor stood.
"We should leave."
"No."
"Clara."
"If I go home right now, I'll spend the entire drive imagining what else she hasn't told me."
Chloe looked at me.
"There is more."
Of course there was.
I nodded.
"Say it."
She looked at Eleanor instead.
"I used Mom's name when I applied to the family foundation's hardship fellowship."
Eleanor went very still.
"What hardship fellowship?"
"The one for professional training."
"That was eighteen months ago."
"Yes."
"Applicants certify their family history."
"I know."
"Did you receive money?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Twenty-five thousand."
My stomach turned.
"For what?"
"Certification courses and debt relief."
Eleanor's voice sharpened.
"Debt relief was not an eligible expense."
"It was structured as living support."
"By whom?"
Chloe didn't answer.
"Lauren?"
"Yes."
Eleanor sat back down.
This time she looked sick.
I could suddenly see the problem from another direction.
Lauren had not merely helped a friend tell convincing lies.
She had touched funding decisions.
She had altered paperwork.
She had exposed the foundation.
"Does Julian know about that?"
"No."
"Does anyone else?"
"Lauren."
"Anyone else?"
"I don't think so."
Eleanor's mouth tightened.
"You don't think so."
"She handled the application."
Eleanor looked at me.
Her eyes had changed.
The mother of the groom was gone.
The woman who ran a foundation had taken her place.
"This may involve financial misconduct."
Chloe flinched.
"I didn't steal."
"You obtained funds using false information."
"The money was used for what it was supposed to be used for."
"That does not make the application truthful."
"I know."
"Stop saying that."
Chloe looked away.
Her phone vibrated again.
She checked it.
Not Julian.
I saw Lauren's name.
Eleanor saw it too.
"Answer."
Chloe shook her head.
"Answer it."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because she'll know we're all together."
"She already knows something is wrong."
Chloe stared at the screen until the call ended.
A message appeared almost immediately.
Her eyes moved across it.
"What does it say?" I asked.
"Nothing."
"Chloe."
She handed me the phone.
Lauren had written only six words.
Don't say anything until we talk.
I handed the phone to Eleanor.
Her face hardened.
"That is not a normal response."
Chloe gave a bitter little laugh.
"Nothing about this morning is normal."
Eleanor looked at her.
"Did Lauren know about the wedding lie?"
"Which one?"
The question slipped out before Chloe could stop herself.
I closed my eyes.
She whispered, "Sorry."
"Which one?" Eleanor asked.
Chloe sat down.
"The cemetery."
Julian's voice returned to me.
You showed me a grave.
"What happened there?" I asked.
Chloe stared at her shoes.
"Julian wanted to visit my mother's grave."
I waited.
"He said it mattered to him."
"So you took him to your father's."
"At first."
"At first?"
"I couldn't use Dad's grave."
"Why not?"
May you like
"Because it had his full name."
I stared at her.
