PART 8 – The Secret Had Been Waiting in the Past for Years, and I Was Finally Ready to Hear What Emily Had to Say

Emily looked at me for a long time.

I could see that she was trying to decide what to say.

I didn't interrupt her.

I had already asked too many questions.

I wanted her to speak when she was ready.

Finally, she took a breath.

"I knew Daniel before you met him."

I nodded.

She had already told me that.

But I knew there was more.

I waited.

She looked down at the papers.

"I knew him before he became your husband."

I felt a strange heaviness in my chest.

I had never thought of Daniel as someone with a separate life that might affect mine.

He had been my husband.

The man I had shared my home with.

The man I had trusted.

But now I was beginning to understand that there had been parts of his life I had never known.

I looked at Emily.

"What does that have to do with the money?"

She lowered her eyes.

"I don't know everything."

I felt my frustration rise again.

"Then tell me what you do know."

She nodded.

"I will."

I looked at the envelope.

The papers were still there.

The address.

The account.

The payments.

I knew they were connected.

I just didn't know how.

Emily seemed to understand that I was waiting for something more.

She took another breath.

"When I found the records, I realized that the payments had been going on for a long time."

I looked at her.

"How long?"

She shook her head.

"I don't know exactly."

I waited.

"But it was before you and Daniel got married."

I felt my stomach tighten.

Before our wedding.

Before I had promised to spend my life with him.

Before I had believed that I knew everything important about him.

I looked down at the papers again.

I couldn't stop thinking about the house.

The old address.

The place where Daniel and I had lived.

I had always thought of it as the beginning of our life together.

Now I was wondering what had happened there before I arrived.

I looked at Emily.

"Why didn't you tell me when you found the records?"

She lowered her eyes.

"I was afraid."

I waited.

"Afraid of losing you."

I stared at her.

I didn't know what to say.

I had spent thirty-seven years believing that our friendship could survive anything.

But now I was beginning to understand that trust could be damaged in ways I had never imagined.

I looked at the photograph on my phone.

The one we had taken the day before.

I remembered how happy I had been when Emily suggested the trip.

I remembered how much I had needed her.

And I remembered the way she had looked at me when she asked for that final picture.

I had thought she was saying goodbye.

Now I understood that she had been trying to tell me something.

I looked at her.

"Is that why you called it our last photograph?"

Emily nodded.

I felt a strange sadness.

Not because I knew what was coming.

Because I didn't.

I had no idea what the truth would mean for my marriage.

I had no idea what it would mean for my friendship.

And I had no idea how much of my life I would have to reconsider.

I looked at the papers one more time.

The address was still there.

The same house.

The same place where Daniel and I had once begun our life together.

I knew that whatever happened next, I would never look at that house the same way again.

Source: kaylestore.net

The End

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