The Envelope That Almost Destroyed My Wedding

“She's my wife.””

Marcus's words hung in the hallway like a death sentence.

I stared at him, waiting for the punch line, the explanation, anything that could make those three words less devastating.

He didn't smile.

He didn't look away.

He simply stood there, holding the photograph of himself beside another woman, while my engagement ring suddenly felt like a piece of stolen property.

“You're married?”” I whispered.

Marcus swallowed.

“Nia, please let me explain.””

“Don't you dare say my name like that.””

My voice rose until the windows rattled.

“You proposed to me in my apartment. You asked my mother for her blessing. You stood in front of two hundred people and let them congratulate us. And all this time, you had a wife?””

“I was going to tell you.””

“When? At the altar?””

“No.””

“On our honeymoon? After you'd signed the marriage certificate with somebody else's name?””

Marcus reached for me.

I stepped back so sharply that my shoulder struck the wall.

“Don't touch me.””

Claire stood beside the dining table, her face pale with disbelief. Evelyn had sunk into a chair, staring at the carpet as if the answers were written in its fibers.

Dr. Whitmore closed his leather folder.

“Perhaps we should all sit down.””

I turned toward him.

“You knew about this?””

“I knew Marcus had married Victoria.””

“And you let him propose to me?””

“I believed his marriage had ended.””

Marcus shook his head.

“It hadn't ended. We were separated.””

I laughed.

“Separated isn't divorced.””

“I know that.””

“Then why did you tell me you were free to marry me?””

He ran a hand through his hair.

“Because I thought Victoria would never come back.””

The words were so cruelly casual that, for a moment, I couldn't even respond.

Finally, I whispered, “You made me your backup plan.””

“No. I love you.””

“You don't get to use those words as a bandage for everything you've broken.””

Marcus's eyes reddened.

“I married Victoria four years ago. We were young, and we believed we could make it work. But she wanted a life I couldn't give her, and I wanted things she couldn't understand.””

“What things?””

He looked at Claire.

“The truth about our families.””

Claire folded her arms.

“Don't drag me into your excuses.””

“I'm not.””

“You married Victoria, kept it secret, then proposed to Nia. Now you're telling us you did all this because you were investigating a family mystery?””

Marcus lowered his head.

“I made mistakes.””

“You made choices,” I said.

“Repeatedly.””

I pulled the engagement ring from my finger.

Marcus stared at it.

“Nia, don't.””

I placed it on the table.

“You can have this back.””

He looked as if I'd struck him.

“Please. Just give me one chance to explain.””

“You've had five years of chances.””

I turned toward the front door.

Claire followed me, but I stopped when Dr. Whitmore spoke.

“There is something you should understand before you walk away.””

I turned slowly.

“Make it good.””

“Victoria didn't marry Marcus for love.””

Marcus's head snapped up.

“Samuel, stop.””

The doctor ignored him.

“She married him because she believed his family had information about her biological mother. She thought the Reeds could help her discover why Eleanor had disappeared from her life.””

Claire's expression changed.

“Victoria knows about Eleanor?””

“She knows she was adopted. She knows the story surrounding her mother's death never made sense. But she doesn't know about the third baby.””

I looked at Marcus.

“Is that why you married her?””

He didn't answer quickly enough.

My stomach twisted.

“Marcus?””

“Yes,” he admitted.

“At first, I thought marrying her might give me access to the records my mother kept.””

I stared at him.

“You married a woman to investigate her family.””

“I didn't know what I was doing.””

“And when you realized you loved her?””

His silence answered me.

“And when you realized you loved me?””

He closed his eyes.

“I didn't know how to end it.””

I shook my head.

“You knew exactly how. You just didn't want to lose either of us.””

For once, he didn't deny it.

I walked out into the rain.

Claire caught up with me on the porch.

“Where are you going?””

“Anywhere he isn't.””

She glanced back at the house.

“I'll come with you.””

“No. You need answers, too.””

“So do you.””

I looked at her.

For thirty years, we'd lived separate lives, unaware that the same secret connected us. Now, in less than twenty-four hours, we'd discovered that our family was built on lies, that our father might have been involved in a child's disappearance, and that the man I loved had married a woman whose identity was tied to ours.

I was exhausted.

But Claire was right.

We needed answers.

I turned back toward the house.

Marcus stood in the doorway, watching us.

“Tell me where Victoria lives,” I said.

He looked alarmed.

“Why?””

“Because I want to hear the truth from your wife.””

“She won't talk to you.””

“Let her decide that.””

Marcus hesitated, then gave me an address in Boston.

Claire took out her phone.

“I'll book a flight.””

“No,” I said.

“We leave tonight.””

Marcus stepped forward.

“Nia, you can't just walk into her life and tell her everything.””

I looked at him.

“You walked into mine while hiding an entire marriage. I think I'll manage.””

He swallowed.

Then his phone rang.

The name on the screen made him freeze.

*Victoria.*

He answered reluctantly.

“Hello?””

A woman's voice came through the speaker, sharp and furious.

“Marcus, where are you?””

“At home.””

“Which home?””

He closed his eyes.

“Victoria—”

“Don't use that tone with me. I just received a message from someone claiming you've announced your engagement to another woman.””

My heart hammered.

Victoria continued.

“Tell me it's a lie.””

Marcus said nothing.

A bitter laugh came through the phone.

“I knew it. I knew you'd do something this stupid.””

“Victoria, listen—”

“No. You listen to me. I've spent four years waiting for you to finish whatever investigation you were conducting behind my back. I gave you every opportunity to be honest.””

She paused.

Then her voice changed.

“Is she the woman in the photograph?””

Marcus looked at me.

“What photograph?””

“The one your uncle sent me this morning. The one of you standing beside a woman who looks exactly like my mother.””

Claire grabbed my arm.

Victoria's voice dropped to a whisper.

“Marcus, who is Nia Carter?””

He stared at the phone.

Then Victoria said something that made Dr. Whitmore stagger backward.

“Because if she's the girl I think she is, you haven't just betrayed your fiancée.””