I corrected the wording. Explaining my choice without blaming her took most of the night. I submitted it before I could soften it again.
***
Later that week, Nora posted our wedding photograph online: me in my tie, Alicia in her scarf.
This doctor exploited my dying sister to obtain an inheritance, she wrote.
My hand shook as I called.
“Why would you do this? The review isn’t finished.”
“Because I think the hospital will protect you. They’ll quietly bury it.”
“I’ve refused the money.”
“After I complained.”
She disconnected.
People were sharing the picture. I began typing an explanation, then opened Alicia’s note.
I almost photographed it for my reply. But she’d trusted me with private words, and now I wanted to expose them to escape strangers’ judgment.
Besides, her note couldn’t prove what I’d known before the wedding.
I knew the silence might be mistaken for guilt. Still, releasing her private message would not change the choice I had made, and it would turn a gift meant for me into an argument for strangers to dissect.
