Chương 10
"I meant I love you too."
"No, you didn't."
"It came out wrong."
"Mara."
"I'm distracted."
"By what?"
"Grant, I have to go."
"Wait."
I ended the call.
The room remained silent.
Then Dana said, "He knows something is wrong."
"I know."
Marcus stood immediately.
"That changes the plan."
"What plan?"
"Whatever plan you thought you had."
My phone rang again.
I declined it.
Grant called a second time.
Then a third.
A text arrived.
What happened?
Another.
Did Marcus say something to you?
My stomach dropped.
Dana noticed.
"He guessed Marcus."
"He knows Marcus reviews my finances."
Marcus picked up his own phone.
"I am calling the chapel."
"Why?"
"Because there is no reason to maintain the rehearsal now."
I stood.
"Don't."
"Mara."
"If we cancel rehearsal, he knows."
"He already suspects."
"Suspecting is different."
"Different enough to justify what?"
I could not answer quickly enough.
My phone buzzed.
Grant again.
Please answer.
Then:
I'm scared.
That one stopped me.
The word looked naked on the screen.
Grant almost never admitted fear.
I remembered him sitting on my porch the night before his father's heart surgery, staring at the yard and insisting he was fine while shredding a paper napkin into strips.
I remembered putting my hand over his.
I remembered believing that knowing where someone was weak gave you a responsibility to be gentle there.
He had apparently learned the opposite lesson from me.
Still, the memory hurt.
I typed, I need some time.
His reply appeared almost immediately.
For what?
I did not answer.
Then another message came.
Is this about the agreement?
Marcus read over my shoulder.
"He's narrowing it."
A third message appeared.
If Marcus scared you about the house, he's overreacting.
Dana gave a quiet whistle.
"He just volunteered the house."
My hands began to shake.
Grant called again.
This time I answered.
"What did you do?" he demanded.
The tenderness was gone.
"What are you talking about?"
"You talked to Marcus."
"I talk to Marcus all the time."
"About the agreement."
"He's my attorney."
"Jesus Christ."
I heard movement and then the slam of a car door.
"He hates me."
"No, he doesn't."
"Don't defend him."
"I wasn't."
"Where are you?"
"I told you."
"No, you didn't."
His breathing was faster now.
"Are you at his office?"
I said nothing.
"Mara."
"Why does it matter?"
"Because we need to talk."
"We can talk later."
"No."
The force in that single word made my spine straighten.
"Now."
Marcus stepped closer.
I held up one hand.
Grant continued.
"I have spent two years building a life with you."
"Have you?"
"What the hell does that mean?"
"I have to go."
"Don't hang up."
There was a silence.
Then his voice changed.
Not soft exactly.
Controlled.
"Bring the property agreement."
My skin prickled.
"Why?"
"We'll sign it together."
"No."
Another silence.
"What?"
"I said no."
This time the word did not escape accidentally.
I chose it.
Grant breathed once into the phone.
Then again.
"You don't mean that."
"I do."
"Mara, you're upset."
"Yes."
"So don't make decisions while you're upset."
I almost laughed at the familiarity of the tactic.
"You've been asking me to sign it for weeks."
"Because we're getting married."
"Then you can wait."
"It's not about waiting."
"What is it about?"
He stopped.
I heard an engine start.
When he answered, his voice was lower.
"You don't understand the position I'm in."
"Then explain it."
"I can't on the phone."
"Why?"
"Because I can't."
"That's not enough anymore."
There was a long silence.
Then Grant said something I had not expected.
"I'm sorry."
No excuse followed.
No explanation.
Just those two words.
For half a second, the man I had loved seemed to exist again.
Then he added, "But I need you to trust me one more day."
I looked around Marcus's conference room at the files, the legal pad, the grocery bag that had carried my nieces' trust statements, and the people who had spent the morning helping me separate fear from fact.
"That's the one thing I can't give you."
Grant inhaled sharply.
I ended the call.
My hand shook so badly that I nearly dropped the phone.
Marcus took it from me and set it on the table.
"Now we cancel."
I looked through the conference-room window toward the brick rooftops of Lancaster.
A delivery truck was blocking traffic below while two drivers leaned on their horns.
A woman emerged from the bakery carrying a pink box tied with string.
Somebody laughed on the sidewalk.
The world had no idea my wedding was falling apart.
"I still want to go to the chapel."
Marcus swore under his breath.
"Not for the rehearsal."
"Then why?"
"Because Pastor Thomas needs to know."
Priya nodded.
"That part I support."
I looked at Marcus.
"And because Grant left belongings in my house."
His expression sharpened.
"We change the locks before he realizes he no longer lives there."
By one thirty, a locksmith was on his way to the farmhouse.
Elena had agreed to meet him without asking for details.
I remotely removed Grant from the alarm system and changed the garage code.
Marcus drafted a written notice that Grant could arrange a supervised time to retrieve his property.
Every small action felt cruel and necessary at once.
At two seventeen, Caleb texted me.
Grant is here.
My blood went cold.
I called immediately.
Caleb answered in a whisper.
"He's at the front door."
"Are the twins with you?"
"Yeah."
"Is Elena there?"
"Outside with the lock guy."
"Do not open the door."
"He has a key."
I stood so quickly my chair struck the wall.
"Caleb, listen to me."
"I am."
"Take the girls upstairs and lock my bedroom door."
"What about the dogs?"
"Leave them."
"Mara—"
"Now."
His breathing became audible.
Then he said, "Okay."
I heard him call to Maisie and June before the line went quiet.
Marcus was already reaching for his keys.
Dana said, "Call Elena."
May you like
I did.
She answered immediately.
