Chapter 78

Thea looks the same age in this photo. It has to be recent. The other photos are much the same but from different angles. That’s more than I ever wanted to see of my sister so I return those to the envelope.

So Thea has another lover. That she was willing to enter into an affair with a married man already speaks to her lack of good judgement, so I’m not terribly surprised that she isn’t faithful. Not to mention that a young, beautiful woman like Thea could do so much better than Garnar.

I still couldn’t understand what she could see in him. The things about him that attracted me years ago were lies. His true personality is an ugly one.

Thea, maybe, just wanted to make me jealous. That reasoning still doesn’t make any sense to me, but she seemed passionate about it when she yelled at me outside of our parents’ house.

The biggest thing I don’t understand at the moment though is, “Why would you think I have anything to do with this?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Garnar snaps. “This is all your doing! You’ve never agreed with Thea and my relationship, and now –”

“What exactly are you accusing me of?” I ask. “I didn’t make Thea sleep with another guy.”

“You could have introduced them…” Garnar says.

“I don’t even know who this is!”

“You had a private investigator follow her, then,” Garnar says. “And you wrote that letter.”

Curious about the letter, I withdrew it from the envelope and skimmed it over.

“This isn’t my handwriting,” I say at once.

“You could have faked it.”

The letter, addressed to Garnar, explained that Thea has been having relations with other men for years. It directly brings up the issue of paternity – How can you be certain the baby is yours, when, with this timeline, it could be the child of a half dozen others?

Damn. That’s brutal. But also a good point.

Reading it, I think for a moment that this might be blackmail of some kind, but when I get to the end, there isn’t a single thing about money due or payments. The only explanation the anonymous writer gives for the letter is, The truth should always be free.

“I didn’t write this,” I tell Garnar. “Why would I have? What need to I have for secrecy? If I knew my sister was lying about this, I would just come forward. I don’t need to hide.”

“But if you didn’t send it, who did?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I also don’t particularly care.”

“You heartless --!”

“Thea was on my side there in the end, wasn’t she? She wants us to proceed with the divorce as much as I do. Why would I turn against her now? It doesn’t make sense.”

Garnar isn’t always the most logical, especially when he’s amped up on anger like this, but he’s not a total fool. He should be able to see the truth in what I’m saying to him.

After a while, he does. I can see it in the shift of his stance, how he goes from outwardly aggressive, hands in fists at his sides, to more reserved, arms crossed over his chest.

“She betrayed my trust,” he says, mostly to himself.

Part of me wants to gloat. This is how he made me feel, when he and Thea revealed their secret relationship to me. But another, larger part of me takes no pleasure in Garnar’s misery, because I don’t feel anything for Garnar at all anymore.

His joy or his sadness means nothing to me. The only thing I want from him anymore is a divorce and his consent to give me joint custody of the children. Beyond that, so long as he treats our daughters with kindness and respect, I don’t care what he does in his personal life. Or what’s done to him.

I am curious about who would write and send such a letter though. Could it be from one of Thea’s other flames? But why send it to Garnar?

There are so many questions, but no way to parse any answers. Only the writer knows the full truth and without anything to go on, how could we ever track them down?

“I have to think,” Garnar says and turning, heads into his study. He slams the door behind him.

The girls have gymnastics practice tonight, fortunately. So they weren’t home to see this fight. Hopefully Garnar can get himself under control in the next hour before they arrive.

In the meantime, Garnar has left the letter with me. He must have forgotten it, or maybe he just doesn’t want to see it again. Either way, I take it with me into my room and leave it on my dresser as I head into the bathroom to change out of my work clothes.

The letter stays on my mind the entire time and quickly, I’m back in the main bedroom, looking for clues in the text and the handwriting about who the writer might be.

The letter makes no mention of me, there’s no way of knowing if the writer is on my side. Maybe it’s just blind hope, but I get the feeling they might be. It’s enough of a spark to drive me forward. If I investigate, maybe I can uncover the secret author.

As I read through it for the third time, my phone starts to ring. Setting aside the letter, I reach for my purse and dig for my phone.

I’m expecting a call from Cynthia. She should have landed today, back from her trip with Giancarlo. I’m certain she’s ready to share all the sordid details. Honestly, it will be a nice distraction to hear them. I’m kind of looking forward to it myself.

Yet when I find my phone and look at the caller ID, it’s not Cynthia’s number on the screen.

It’s Mom’s.

Oh, God. Did someone die?

Fear crashing through me, I immediately answer the call and bring the phone to my ear. “Mom? You okay?”

“I’m healthy, if that’s what you are asking,” she says. “Everyone’s healthy.”

Thank God. I exhale long and slow, trying to center myself. After being so thoroughly ignored for so long, it was a natural instinct to just assume the worst, I guess.

“However,” Mom continues. “We do have a family emergency to deal with. As such, we are all gathering for dinner this evening.”

“I have to pick up the girls from gymnastics…”

“Dinner at 7. I trust you can make it?”

I do the math in my head. If I rush, I could likely get to my parents at exactly 7. It’d be no trouble if I could take the girls with me, but with the way things are going, I don’t exactly want my daughters exposed to what’s been going on.

“This is truly an emergency?” I ask.

“Would I make this up?” she replies.

“No…”

“Then be here at 7.”

“Okay,” I agree.

“Good,” she says and hangs up.

I pull the phone away and look at the screen a moment, wondering what the emergency could be.

My gaze is drawn to the letter once more.

If Garnar received a letter, then perhaps my family did too?

No. That seems farfetched. The writer is likely just one of Thea’s jilted lovers trying to separate her from her biggest cash cow.

Yet…