Rick looked hurt.
“Do you believe her?”
I hesitated.
“No.”
“Then trust me.”
He reached across the table and took my hand.
“I would never do anything to hurt either of you.”
Those words stayed with me.
Because they were true in a way I didn’t understand yet.
Rick hadn’t physically hurt Anna.
He had done something much harder to detect.
He had hidden the truth.
On the morning of our wedding, Anna refused to come.
She said she was sick.
I wanted to stay home.
I almost canceled everything.
But Rick convinced me that giving her space was the right thing.
“She needs to know she’s not losing you,” he said.
“I don’t want her to think I’m choosing you over her.”
“You aren’t.”
He kissed my forehead.
“Go get married. I’ll stay with her.”
So I went.
I walked down the aisle without my daughter.
I smiled for photographs while wondering if she was crying somewhere.
I said “I do.”
And I believed I was beginning a new life.
When we returned home that evening, Anna was gone.
At first, I thought she’d gone to a friend’s house.
Then I found the note.
It was only a few lines.
