Chapter 7 - MY SISTER'S SECRET|
I read the message several times.
Then I called the number.
It went straight to voicemail.
I sent a reply asking who it was, but no answer came.
Rachel urged me to tell the police. I agreed to keep the message, though I wasn't sure whether it contained anything useful.
The photographs were already enough to change everything.
I spent the afternoon going through old messages between Owen and me. I found a conversation from the week before Lily's birth.
Are you coming to the appointment tomorrow?
Can't. Meeting.
It's our last scan.
I'll make it up to you.
He never did.
There were other messages.
Can you help me finish the nursery?
Ask Brooke. She knows what looks good.
I want you there.
I'm busy, Nat.
I had once read those replies and told myself he was under pressure.
Now I saw how often I had been asking for something basic.
A husband.
A partner.
Someone who wanted to be there.
At six, my mother called.
“Your sister is upset.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why?”
“She says you are spreading rumors about her and Owen.”
“I haven't spoken to her.”
“Rachel has been sending people photographs.”
“Are the photographs real?”
My mother went quiet.
“Natalie, relationships are complicated.”
I felt a chill move through me.
“Do you know?”
“Know what?”
“Are you aware that Brooke has been seeing my husband?”
She sighed.
“I think you should speak to Owen before accusing anyone.”
That was an answer.
I ended the call.
An hour later, Brooke arrived at my door.
She looked immaculate. Her hair was styled, her makeup perfect, and she wore the same expensive coat she had worn to her wedding rehearsal.
I didn't invite her inside.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“About Owen?”
Her face tightened.
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
She looked past me toward the hallway.
“I'm your sister.”
“Then you should have remembered that before you started sleeping with my husband.”
Her eyes filled.
“It's not what you think.”
I almost laughed.
“That's what people say when the photographs are accurate.”
She stepped closer.
“Owen and I have feelings for each other.”
I stared at her.
“How long?”
She looked down.
“Since before the wedding.”
“Before your wedding?”
She nodded.
My throat tightened.
“So you married Ethan while seeing Owen?”
“I didn't know what I wanted.”
“You knew exactly what you wanted. You wanted both.”
She began crying.
“I never meant for you to get hurt.”
“You never meant for me to find out.”
She flinched.
Then she said something that made me feel as though the ground had disappeared.
“Owen was going to leave you after the baby was born.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He told me he couldn't keep pretending forever.”
“Pretending?”
“He said your marriage had been over for a long time.”
I looked at the nursery door.
My daughter had never even had a chance to come home.
And my husband had already been planning a future without us.
I opened the front door wider.
“Get out.”
“Natalie, please—”
“Get out before I forget that we're sisters.”
She left.
May you like
But before she reached her car, she turned around.
“One more thing,” she said. “Owen knows about the money your grandmother left you. That's why he wanted the house.”
