“She was scared.”
“So was I.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
I pushed the photographs toward him.
“Your mother came into my home after refusing to attend our wedding. She made me promise not to tell you she’d been there. Then she handed me pictures meant to convince me you were cheating.”
“And somehow I’m still the last person anyone thinks deserves the truth.”
His face tightened.
“You’re right.”
I hadn’t expected that.
I expected excuses.
“You’re right. I should have told you.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because if Camille was telling the truth, it meant my father had built our family on another lie. If she wasn’t, I didn’t want to drag you into it.”
“You don’t protect me by keeping me in the dark.”
“I know.”
There was no defensiveness.
That didn’t erase my anger.
It only made it harder to hold on to.
I pointed to one picture.
“The office building?”
“I was meeting an estate attorney.”
“The park?”
“Camille had just discovered her mother destroyed most of Dad’s letters.”
“The restaurant receipt?”
“Dinner with Camille and Evelyn.”
“And Vermont?”
“I went there for the DNA test.”
Every suspicious detail suddenly made sense.
That didn’t erase the secrecy.
“What trust were you looking into?” I asked.
Ethan unfolded one of the papers Lorraine had brought.
“How much?”
“We don’t know.”
“Your mother does.”
He looked at me.
That was when I finally understood why Lorraine had come.
She knew I’d confront him.
She wanted us fighting before he could finish uncovering the truth.
“She knew exactly who Camille was,” I said.
Ethan nodded.
“I think she did.”
“That sounds like her.”
I stood.
“Call her.”
“Right now?”
“She tried to use me to destroy our marriage. Yes.”
He dialed and put the phone on speaker.
“Why did you go to my house?”
Silence.
Then Lorraine answered.
“I was worried about your wife.”
“Is she there?”
“I am,” I said.
She sighed.
“I hoped she’d study the photographs before speaking to you.”
“So I’d accuse him before hearing the truth?”
“Camille is Dad’s daughter,” Ethan said.
The line went quiet.
Not surprised.
Caught.
We both heard it.
“You knew.”
