Chapter 1
I found out my husband had been lying to me for six months because his phone lit up while he was asleep.
The message came from a woman saved under the name “V. Office.”
I would have left it alone if the first line had been about work.
I miss waking up next to you.
My stomach tightened. I opened the conversation.
There were photographs of Daniel in another woman’s apartment. Plans for weekends he had told me were business trips. Messages about how much longer she had to wait before he could “sort things out at home.”
The oldest message was dated six months earlier.
I sat on the edge of our bed, reading while Daniel slept beneath the blanket we had received as a wedding gift.
For months, I had tried to explain the distance between us. The late nights. The way he turned his phone over when I came into a room. He told me the pressure at work was making him quiet.
Once, I asked if he still loved me.
“Of course,” he said, sounding hurt that I needed to ask.
I had apologized.
Now I read a message he had sent the same night.
I wish I were there with you instead.
I set his phone down. My hands shook as I pulled a suitcase from beneath the bed.
I packed my clothes first. Then I stopped and called my sister, Grace.
Our seven-year-old daughter, Sophie, was sleeping at Grace’s house. She had asked to stay there after my niece’s birthday dinner. I had said yes because it was a school holiday.
“Leah?” Grace answered, her voice thick with sleep. “Is Sophie all right?”
“She’s with you?”
“Curled up beside Emma. What’s wrong?”
I looked at Daniel.
“I’m coming over. Please don’t let anyone pick Sophie up before I get there.”
Grace was fully awake then.
“Did something happen?”
“I’ll explain when I arrive.”
I hung up and packed Sophie’s favorite sweater from the laundry basket. I would collect the rest of her things later. I checked that her birth certificate was still in the drawer where I kept it, then put it in my bag.
I had nearly reached the front door when it opened.
Ruth, my mother-in-law, walked in carrying her purse and a small black Bible. She looked at my suitcase, then at my face.
She did not ask why I was leaving.
“Daniel called me,” she said.
I tightened my grip on the suitcase handle.
“He’s asleep.”
“He woke when you went downstairs.”
Ruth closed the door behind her. She had a key because I had given her one years ago, when Sophie was little and we sometimes needed her help.
“I need to go,” I said.
Ruth stepped in front of the door.
“You made a sacred vow before God.”
I stared at her.
“Daniel has been seeing another woman for six months.”
Her eyes flickered. The news had not surprised her.
“Marriage asks us to forgive,” she said.
“Did you know?”
Ruth took the Bible from her purse. “I know my son has been lost. I also know you can help him find his way back.”
I felt heat rise behind my eyes.
“Please answer me. Did you know he was sleeping with her?”
She rested a hand on my shoulder. I pulled away.
“God tests the strongest marriages,” she said. “If you walk away now, you will have to answer to Him for abandoning your family.”
I thought of every Sunday Ruth had sat across from me at lunch. Every time she had asked whether Daniel and I were getting along. She had watched me worry over him, and she had said nothing.
“Move,” I told her.
“Sophie needs both her parents.”
“Sophie is safe with Grace. I’m going to her.”
Ruth gripped the Bible against her chest.
“You are angry. Wait until morning.”
I could see the porch light through the small window behind her. I was close enough to the door to touch it, yet she would not let me pass.
Behind me, a floorboard creaked.
Daniel stood at the end of the hall in his bare feet.
He was holding something behind his back.
I could see one corner of a white envelope beside his arm. He noticed me looking and drew it farther out of sight.
“Leah,” he said, “give me ten minutes.”
“You’ve had six months.”
“I can explain the messages.”
“I read them.”
Ruth moved closer to him.
“Son, let me speak to her.”
“No,” I said. “I want to hear him.”
Daniel glanced at his mother. She looked at the floor.
Until that moment, I had thought she had come because he had called for help after I began packing. Now I wondered how much they had already discussed.
“Who is Vanessa?” I asked.
Daniel’s face lost its color.
I had seen her name farther up the conversation, where he had forgotten to use the initials.
He took a step toward me.
I took one back.
“Don’t come closer,” I said.
He stopped. His hand stayed hidden behind him.
“You’re going to wake the neighbors,” Ruth whispered.
“Then move away from the door.”
Neither of them moved.
I took out my phone and called Grace again. I put her on speaker.
“Leah?” she answered.
“I’m at the house. Daniel and Ruth are here. Ruth is blocking the front door.”
Grace’s voice sharpened.
“Put me on video. I’m calling the police if they won’t let you leave.”
Ruth stepped aside at once.
“You’re making this sound terrible,” she said.
I pulled the door open.
Daniel raised his free hand. “Please. Just look at what I have.”
He brought the white envelope partly into view. An image slipped from it, glossy and gray.
I could not make out what it showed from where I stood.
May you like
But Ruth saw it.
“Daniel,” she said, suddenly frightened. “Put that away.”
