The little girl stopped when she saw me.
She looked at Ryan.
Then she looked at my dress.
I was wearing a simple white sundress from the morning after the wedding.
Her eyes widened.
“Are you Emma?”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
She looked terrified.
Not excited.
Terrified.
“I’m sorry.”
I frowned.
“For what?”
“I know I’m not supposed to bother him anymore.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
That did it.
I crouched so we were closer to eye level.
“Who told you that?”
“Nobody.”
She looked toward Ryan.
“It’s okay. I know he has you now.”
I had to look away for a second.
Later, Megan took Sophie downstairs for ice cream.
Ryan and I stayed behind.
I asked one question.
“Why did Linda have a key?”
Ryan stared at the floor.
“Dad gave it to her.”
“One key?”
“Two.”
He took his own from his pocket.
“Before he died, Dad gave Linda the spare.”
“For what?”
Ryan hesitated.
Then laughed bitterly.
“He knew me better than I thought.”
Thomas had told Linda to keep it.
If Ryan ever got serious with someone and started hiding Sophie because he was afraid of Carol, Linda was supposed to give that woman the key.
“He actually said that?”
“Pretty much.”
“Why didn’t Linda give it to me earlier?”
“She thought I’d tell you myself.”
“And yesterday?”
“She realized I hadn’t.”
I looked at the key in my hand.
Suddenly her words made sense.
“You’ll need this sooner than you think.”
I was still angry.
That didn’t disappear because Ryan’s secret turned out to be a little girl instead of another woman.
He had lied to me for years.
He’d allowed his mother’s shame to dictate what I was allowed to know about my own husband.
And worst of all, he’d nearly passed that shame on to Sophie.
We postponed the honeymoon.
Carol was furious when she found out why.
She called me two days later.
“You don’t understand what that child represents.”
I answered, “A child.”
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