“Because I was angry.”
She gave a sad smile.
“I blamed him. I blamed you. I blamed myself.”
I looked down.
All those years.
All that history.
And I had never known.
“Then why did he tell you about it?”
“He didn’t.”
She paused.
“I found out years later.”
“How?”
“His mother.”
I remembered Jeremy’s mother.
Evelyn.
She had died twelve years ago.
I had always liked her.
She had been the one person in his family who never made me feel like an outsider.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
I stared at Lacey.
“She told you?”
“She found me.”
I felt dizzy.
“Why?”
“To apologize.”
“For what?”
Lacey looked toward the window.
“She said Jeremy blamed himself for losing the baby.”
My heart broke in a way I didn’t understand.
I had known my husband for twenty-two years.
And suddenly there were entire rooms inside him I had never entered.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because he was ashamed.”
“That doesn’t explain twenty-two years.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“It doesn’t.”
A knock came at the door.
We both turned.
Jeremy stood there.
His face was pale.
His eyes were red.
He looked at me.
Then at Lacey.
Then at the envelope in my hand.
His entire expression changed.
“Jill.”
I stood.
“You knew.”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
“You knew she was pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“You knew she had cancer?”
“Yes.”
“You knew she wanted to marry you?”
“Yes.”
“And you thought I didn’t deserve to know?”
He looked at me.
“I thought you deserved to keep your life.”
I laughed.
“That’s what you call three years of lying?”
“I know.”
“No.”
I stepped toward him.
“You don’t know.”
My voice broke.
“You don’t know what it feels like to discover your husband has another marriage because you went to get a copy of your own.”
He looked down.
“I never stopped being your husband.”
“You don’t get to decide that.”
Lacey closed her eyes.
“Please.”
We both looked at her.
She was crying.
“I don’t have enough time for the two of you to spend all of it fighting.”
Jeremy went to her bedside.
He took her hand.
I watched.
There was tenderness there.
Real tenderness.
And for the first time, I realized something painful.
He loved her.
Maybe not in the way I feared.
Maybe not instead of me.
But he loved her.
And she loved him.
That didn’t erase what he had done to me.
It just made the truth more complicated.
I held up the envelope.
“What is this?”
Jeremy looked at it.
His face went white.
“Lacey.”
She looked at him.
“I told you I would.”
He shook his head.
“You promised.”
“I promised I’d wait.”
She looked at me.
“I can’t wait anymore.”
Jeremy stepped toward me.
“Jill, please don’t open that here.”
I looked at him.
“What is in it?”
He didn’t answer.
“Jeremy.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“It’s the reason I married her.”
I stared at him.
“I already know why.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You don’t.”
I looked at Lacey.
She nodded.
“Open it.”
My fingers trembled as I tore the envelope.
Inside was a single folded document.
I opened it.
The first line made my knees weak.
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF LACEY MARIE TOLLEY.
I looked at her.
Then at Jeremy.
She whispered,
“Keep reading.”
I did.
And the first sentence beneath her signature changed everything I thought I knew about the last twenty-two years.
PART 5
The first sentence beneath her signature changed everything I thought I knew about the last twenty-two years.
“I leave my entire estate, including my Nashville property, investment accounts, and life insurance proceeds, to Jill Marie Tolley.”
I stopped breathing.
I read it again.
Then again.
My eyes went to the bottom of the page.
There was Lacey’s signature.
There was a witness signature.
There was an attorney’s seal.
Everything was real.
I looked at her.
“What is this?”
Lacey smiled weakly.
“My apology.”
I shook my head.
“I don’t want your money.”
“It isn’t about the money.”
“Then what is it about?”
She looked at Jeremy.
“He wouldn’t tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
Lacey took a slow breath.
“The house.”
My stomach tightened.
“What house?”
“The house in Nashville.”
I looked at Jeremy.
He wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“What house?”
Lacey answered.
“The one you thought Jeremy was helping his friend buy.”
I stared at my husband.
“The side job?”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
My mouth fell open.
“The Tuesday trips?”
“Yes.”
“The money?”
“Yes.”
I took a step backward.
“How much?”
Neither answered.
“How much, Jeremy?”
He whispered,
“Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because my mind couldn’t find another way to process it.
“Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars?”
“It wasn’t stolen.”
“I didn’t ask whether it was stolen.”
My voice rose.
“I asked how much.”
“Every dollar was accounted for.”
“From where?”
“Lacey.”
I looked at her.
She nodded.
“I sold my house.”
I stared.
“What?”
“My Nashville house.”
She took another breath.
“I had bought it years ago. When I got sick, I sold it. Jeremy helped me manage everything.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew I wasn’t going to need it.”
She looked at me.
“And because I knew you and Jeremy had a mortgage.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“You need to hear me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
Her voice was suddenly stronger.
“You’ve spent twenty-two years believing you took everything from me.”
I couldn’t speak.
“I wanted to give something back.”
I looked at the will again.
“I don’t want this.”
“I know.”
“Then why leave it to me?”
“Because I don’t have children.”
She looked at Jeremy.
“And because Jeremy told me something.”
“What?”
“He said you never stopped helping other people.”
I almost laughed.
“I work at a warehouse.”
“You worked overtime when your neighbor had surgery.”
I stared at her.
“You paid your nephew’s college deposit.”
My eyes widened.
“How do you know that?”
“Jeremy told me.”
I looked at him.
“You talked about me?”
He nodded.
“All the time.”
“Then why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“Because every time I tried, I was ashamed.”
I shook my head.
“You should have been.”
“I know.”
That was the first time he didn’t defend himself.
He simply accepted it.
Lacey continued.
“I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life wondering if I took your husband.”
I looked at her.
“You didn’t.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“No.”
She smiled.
“You did.”
The words hurt.
But they were true.
“You were his wife first.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
