“Was she trying to protect me?”
“Maybe at first. But after a while, I think she was protecting herself too.”
“Did she love me?”
“Every single day.”
Rebecca sat quietly for a moment.
“Does Anna know about me?”
“She knows everything.”
“Does she want to meet me?”
“More than anything.”
Rebecca swallowed.
“I want to meet her. Soon.”
“You should.”
She studied my face.
“Are you okay with that?”
“I’ve had enough people deciding what’s best for someone else.”
She reached across the table and took my hand.
“So have I.”
For the first time since Carol died, I no longer felt like I was carrying her secret by myself.
There would still be pain ahead—for Rebecca, for Anna, and for me.
But at least now, that pain belonged to the truth.
I still loved Carol.
Thirty-six years of marriage didn’t disappear simply because I finally knew what she’d hidden from me.
But I would never mistake silence for protection again.
