Chapter 6: The Deal She Tried to Make
She recovered quickly.
That was the thing about Melissa — she always recovered quickly.
By the time she had crossed the kitchen and poured herself a coffee, her expression had settled into something composed and almost pleasant, like she had simply walked in on a conversation about weekend plans.
"Ryan," she said.
"I didn't know you were coming."
"I called him," I said.
"I can see that." She sat down at the far end of the table, both hands around her mug.
"So.
You found the Nevada record."
"It wasn't difficult to find," Ryan said.
"No, I imagine it wasn't." She looked at me.
"I was going to tell you about Daniel before we got married.
I want you to know that."
"But you didn't."
"I convinced myself it didn't count.
We were so young, and we never lived together properly after the ceremony, and I thought—" She stopped.
"I thought if I told you, you'd end things.
And I didn't want to lose you."
"So you let me marry you without knowing."
"Yes."
The word landed simply, without decoration.
It was the most honest thing she had said since the baby shower.
Ryan tapped his pen against his notepad.
"Melissa, I need to ask you directly.
Was there ever a pregnancy?"
She looked at him.
Then at me.
"No."
"At any point during the marriage?"
"No."
"The ultrasound images on the refrigerator—"
"I downloaded them.
From a medical stock image site." She said it flatly, like she was reading from a list.
"I edited the dates."
Ryan wrote something down.
"Why?" I said.
"Walk me through it.
From the beginning."
She turned the coffee mug slowly in her hands.
"When we got married, I knew you wanted children.
I wanted them too — I want that to be clear.
But after six months, nothing was happening, and I went to a doctor privately, and she told me that conceiving naturally would be very difficult for me.
Possibly not possible."
"You didn't tell me."
"I was ashamed.
And I was scared you would leave."
"So instead of telling me, you faked a pregnancy."
"I told myself I was buying time.
That I would find another way — a specialist, IVF, adoption.
That by the time the nine months were up I would have a solution."
"And when you didn't?"
"I was going to tell you I lost it.
And then start the conversation about other options from a place of — I thought it would be easier.
I thought you would be grieving with me instead of angry at me."
Ryan looked up from his notepad.
"And Daniel?
Where does he fit into this?"
She was quiet for a moment.
"Daniel found out about the pregnancy from someone we both knew, years ago.
He reached out.
He was — he said he was concerned."
"Concerned enough to send an anonymous letter to my mother's address?" I said.
She looked at the table.
"I think so.
Yes."
"Do you still have feelings for him?"
"No." Quick.
Certain.
"No.
That was over a long time ago."
"But you spoke to him the morning of the baby shower."
"He called to warn me.
He said he'd sent something and that I should tell you the truth before it arrived." She looked up.
"I didn't listen."
Ryan closed his laptop.
He looked at me, not at Melissa.
"There are several issues here," he said.
"The validity of the marriage, the question of fraud, and the matter of the joint assets you've accumulated over fourteen months.
I'd recommend—"
"I'm not going to make this difficult," Melissa said.
Ryan stopped.
"I don't want a fight," she said.
"I don't want his money.
I don't want the house.
I made choices that were wrong, and I know that." She looked at me.
"I know that."
"That's a generous position to take at seven in the morning," Ryan said carefully.
"I mean it." She stood up, took her coffee, and walked to the window.
"I'll sign whatever you need me to sign.
I'll cooperate with any legal process.
I just—" She stopped.
Looked out at the garden.
"I just need you to know that I did love you.
Whatever else I did.
That part was real."
I looked at her standing at the window.
The morning light was flat and grey.
She looked smaller than she had at the baby shower.
Less certain of everything.
"Where will you go?" I said.
"My sister's.
In Portland." She turned around.
"I already called her last night."
Ryan looked at me.
I gave him a small nod.
"We'll draw up a separation agreement," he said.
"Given the question of the marriage's legal validity, the process may be more administrative than adversarial.
But I'll need full financial disclosure from both sides."
"Fine," she said.
"And Melissa." Ryan's voice was even.
"If there are any other facts — any other details that are going to surface during this process — it would be better to put them on the table now."
She looked at him for a long moment.
May you like
Then she looked at me.
"There's one more thing," she said.
