Chapter 7 - THE WIFE I FOUND WAS NOT THE WOMAN I LOST
Catherine changed.
Of course.
She hated crowds.
Sat facing exits.
Kept cash hidden in shoes.
Slept with lamp on.
Did not like black sedans.
I had changed too.
I became suspicious.
Workaholic.
Cold.
We could not pretend two years were pause.
Therapy.
First session together:
Counselor asked:
“Do you want marriage restored?”
I said yes too quickly.
Catherine:
“I don’t know.”
That hurt.
Then she explained.
“The Daniel I married let his mother run everything difficult.”
True.
“Funeral. Legal. Security. Company family issues.”
Then:
“The Daniel in front of me investigated her.”
Also true.
“I don’t know which one is permanent.”
Fair.
Then counselor asked me:
“What do you miss?”
I said:
“Her.”
Catherine:
“No. Which version?”
I had no answer.
I missed morning coffee.
Arguments over thermostat.
Her stealing my shirts.
But she was not obligated become.
Then we dated.
From scratch.
Separate homes.
Penelope shared gradually.
At first, dates felt absurd.
We had been married seven years before disappearance.
Now coffee.
Then Catherine said:
“I don’t want gratitude confused with love.”
Good.
I said:
“I don’t want guilt confused either.”
Then months.
Eventually first kiss.
Penelope caught us later.
“Ew.”
Normal.
Then legal marital status.
We finalized a formal dissolution of old marriage? Then remarried later.
To give choice, Catherine insisted.
The court restored identity, then we mutually ended legal marriage that had become impossible to define after false death.
A year later, after dating, I proposed again.
She said no.
I accepted.
Six months later she proposed to me.
At kitchen table.
“Want to try being married on purpose?”
I laughed.
“Yes.”
Small ceremony.
No Kincaid estate.
Penelope flower girl and self-appointed officiant? Legal officiant separate. Fine.
Daria not invited.
Not punishment.
Catherine not ready.
Then years later Daria attended Penelope graduation perhaps.
Separate.
Then Catherine kept surname Kincaid? Maybe chose Catherine Maren Kincaid professionally? She had built identity Maren during survival. She chose Catherine Maren legally after remarriage, keeping Kincaid out.
I did not care.
Penelope Penelope Maren Kincaid.
Good.
Then one day she said:
“You know what scared me most?”
“What?”
“When you pulled out satellite phone.”
I laughed.
“Why?”
“I thought maybe you knew everything and had been waiting to trap me.”
Interesting.
She didn't trust.
Then:
“When you said Phase Two, I thought you’d become someone else.”
We laughed later.
But “Phase Two” became family joke? Maybe not trauma. Penelope once said Phase Two for dessert.
Maybe.
But important: Daniel’s secret investigation did not make him mastermind.
It was cautious evidence preservation.
No vigilantism.
Then Catherine asked why I kept phone.
Because part of me never believed death.
I said:
“The dental records bothered me.”
“Not love?”
“That too.”
She smiled.
May you like
Good.
Evidence and love.
