PART 4
I stared at the photograph.
For several seconds, I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing.
Richard was younger.
Evelyn looked almost exactly the same, except for the darker hair and sharper expression.
And between them stood a woman I had never seen before.
She was smiling at the camera.
Richard wasn’t.
His arm was around her waist.
I zoomed in.
The necklace around her neck was unmistakable.
A thin gold chain with a small oval pendant.
I had seen that necklace many times.
It had belonged to me.
Or at least, I had always thought it did.
Richard had given it to me on our first anniversary.
He told me he’d found it in an antique jewelry shop and that the little pendant reminded him of a promise.
I had treasured it for seventeen years.
My fingers tightened around the phone.
Then I noticed something else.
The woman was wearing a wedding ring.
Not on her left hand.
On her right.
I looked at Richard’s hand in the photograph.
He wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.
The picture had been taken before our wedding.
I knew that.
But there was something about the woman’s face.
Something familiar.
Not familiar enough to recognize.
But familiar enough to disturb me.
I called the number that had sent the photograph.
A woman answered.
“Claire?”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Natalie.”
“Why are you sending me pictures of my husband?”
There was a long pause.
“Because I think you deserve to know the truth.”
“What truth?”
“The truth about why Richard married you.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you weren’t the first woman he planned to marry.”
I closed my eyes.
“Who were you?”
“I was Richard’s fiancée.”
The world seemed to go quiet.
I looked at the photograph again.
“You’re the woman in the picture.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He left me.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother-in-law made him.”
I said nothing.
Natalie continued.
“Richard and I were engaged for almost two years.”
I leaned against my car.
“Then why did he leave?”
“Because Evelyn found out I was pregnant.”
My breath caught.
“Pregnant?”
“Yes.”
I looked at the photograph again.
“How far along?”
“Six months.”
I couldn’t speak.
Natalie’s voice became softer.
“I lost the baby.”
Something inside me sank.
“I’m sorry.”
“I was devastated.”
“What happened afterward?”
“Richard disappeared.”
“And Evelyn?”
“She came to my apartment.”
“What did she say?”
Natalie laughed bitterly.
“She told me that if I ever contacted Richard again, she’d make sure everyone knew I had been unstable and that the baby hadn’t even been his.”
I felt sick.
“Was it his?”
“Yes.”
“Are you certain?”
“He knew.”
Silence filled the line.
Then Natalie said:
“Three months later, Richard met you.”
I stared at the road.
Cars passed in front of me.
People were going home.
People were buying groceries.
People were making plans for tomorrow.
My entire life suddenly felt like something I had been watching from outside.
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because I saw what happened at Thanksgiving.”
My head lifted.
“You were there?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Evelyn told someone.”
“Who?”
“Someone who told someone else.”
I almost laughed.
Even now, the family had a way of turning private cruelty into public information.
Natalie continued.
“Claire, I don’t want anything from you.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I want you to understand that Richard has spent years allowing his mother to make decisions for him.”
“That doesn’t explain the financial documents.”
“No.”
She paused.
“That part came later.”
“What part?”
“The plan.”
I tightened my grip on the phone.
“What do you know about it?”
“I know Evelyn has done this before.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“She tried to control Richard’s previous relationships.”
“Previous relationships?”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because after I left, I started looking into her.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to know why someone could convince the man I loved to abandon his own child.”
Her voice cracked slightly.
“I found things.”
“What things?”
“Letters.”
“From Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“To Richard.”
“About me?”
“About you.”
My stomach turned.
“What did they say?”
“She told him you were financially stable.”
I went completely still.
