Chapter 3: The Wife I Couldn’t Remember
“Put Lily down and stop her!” Grace cried.
I set Lily behind the kitchen island and ran after Victoria.
She reached the foyer first, but I caught her wrist before she could open the front door.
“Let me go, Nathan.”
“You’re not leaving until you explain what I saw.”
“You saw a thief manipulating a child.”
“I saw you standing over Grace with a hockey stick.”
Victoria’s free hand swept across my chest and closed around the envelope.
The paper tore between us.
She stumbled backward with half of it clutched against her ivory dress.
“Give that back.”
“Ask Grace why she entered this house under a false surname,” Victoria said.
“Ask why she waited until your father was gone.”
Grace appeared in the doorway, holding the counter for support.
Lily stayed beside her, both hands wrapped around Grace’s skirt.
“I used my mother’s name because Victoria rejected every application with mine,” Grace said.
Victoria gave a cold laugh.
“Or because you knew Nathan would recognize you.”
“I didn’t recognize her.”
“You don’t remember half the year before your accident.” Victoria lifted the torn paper.
“How convenient that Grace remembers enough for both of you.”
My phone was still connected to Daniel, the family attorney.
“Nathan,” he said through the speaker, “keep everyone there.
Security is on the way.”
Victoria glanced toward the front windows.
“You called security on me?”
“You raised that stick over a child.”
“She isn’t your child!”
Lily whimpered.
Grace immediately knelt in front of her.
“Don’t listen, sweetheart.”
Victoria pointed at them.
“Look at this performance.
Four years of silence, and suddenly she appears inside your home?”
“Four years of silence?” Grace’s voice shook.
“I called thirty-seven times.”
“You called for money.”
“I called because Nathan woke from surgery asking for his father instead of his wife.”
The room went still.
“My what?” I asked.
Grace reached beneath the collar of her uniform and pulled out a thin chain.
A plain gold ring hung from it.
“We were married in a courthouse outside Boston,” she said.
“Your father and one nurse were the witnesses.”
Victoria shook her head.
“There was no legal marriage.”
Grace slid the ring from the chain.
An engraving caught the light: N & G—Always Home.
My hand went to the pale line around my left ring finger.
“Why is there a mark?”
“Because you wore yours until the morning of the accident,” Grace said.
The security alarm chimed.
Victoria jerked free and opened the door as a black sedan stopped outside.
“Mrs.
Vale told us to expect her,” the gate officer called from the drive.
“I’m not Mrs.
Vale,” Victoria said, backing away.
“Not yet.”
She climbed into the sedan before I reached the steps.
The car shot through the open gate.
Daniel’s voice came sharply through my phone.
“Nathan, did she take anything?”
“Half the letter.”
Grace opened her palm.
The remaining page held only six handwritten words:
Protect the child from Victoria.
Trust Daniel.
“Who is the beneficiary?” I asked.
Daniel hesitated.
“Say it.”
“The trust names Lily Grace Mercer.”
Grace closed her eyes.
May you like
“And Nathan,” Daniel added, “there’s something else.
According to the county record, Grace Mercer is still your lawful wife.”
