2: 2

The call had barely ended when Beatrice sent Giles another message.

【Giles, we agreed on this from the start. Once my sister has the baby for us, you divorce her. So when?】

【Rainey's still nursing. Let's at least wait until the baby's two.】

【Then promise me. She's had the baby now, so from now on you don't touch her.】

【I know, my jealous little thing.】

My hands and feet went cold as I read them going back and forth.

So all his begging for me to remarry him was because Beatrice wanted a baby.

But she was afraid of the pain, and afraid of losing her figure.

So he came up with the idea of letting me carry it instead.

【Nanette's one of us, we can trust her. Once the baby's born, I'll divorce her and take custody.】

I laughed out loud, all at once.

And as I laughed, my throat began to tighten.

For three years, everyone had said Giles loved me more than his own life.

He'd drive four hours round trip in the middle of the night to buy the fruit pastries I suddenly craved.

When I ran a high fever, he'd work and watch over me at the same time, three days and three nights without closing his eyes, and once my fever broke he was the one who collapsed.

When my legs cramped during the pregnancy, he'd rub my calves every night before bed, and only after I fell asleep would he slip out to the living room to ice his own aching, sore knuckles.

So all that tenderness was the wages he paid me, his little tool.

The joke of it was that I'd felt sorry for him, going to work and taking care of me and the baby both, so I'd handed in my resignation, planning to stay home and raise our child.

Lost in it, I heard the message tone go off again.

【I saw you gave her a necklace in the bedroom a couple of days ago. Didn't you say you bought it for me?】

【If you want it, I'll just buy you another one.】

She was getting worked up now.

【That's not the point! You promised that to me. Why would you give it to her?】

【And last time, you said you'd take me to a movie, and then because she got a clogged duct you drove halfway across the city looking for a lactation consultant for her, and I waited until the movie was over and you never showed up.】

【Aren't you being too good to her?】

This time he was quiet for much longer before he answered.

【Beatrice, whatever else she is, she's still your sister, not your enemy. In the end we're the ones who wronged her. I'm only making up for it.】

Reading his words, I felt nothing but the irony of it.

Beatrice was supposed to be the closest person I had.

Our parents died too young, and I'd taken on the burden of raising her when I was very small, which was how I grew into someone mature and steady.

Back then Giles had said he loved how quiet and reserved I was, then after he met Beatrice he changed his tune and said a girl ought to be lively and bright.

It wasn't that I hadn't noticed the special way he treated her.

But when I told him to keep his distance from my sister, he only smiled and ruffled my hair.

Told me not to be petty, that she was going to be his little sister-in-law.

What came afterward was so dramatic that I hadn't let myself think about it for a long time.

They grew closer and closer, close enough to share a single straw.

The first time we married, even for the wedding rings, he insisted on picking the style she liked.

On our first anniversary, I walked in on the two of them tangled together, and Beatrice didn't tell him to stop. She just fixed her eyes on me and stared.

When I demanded, half out of my mind, to know why, her voice was very soft. She said, “An older sister is like a mother. You should share everything with me. All of it.”

And he, he kept Beatrice tucked behind him and said nothing, offering no defense.

I couldn't bear that the two most important people in my life had betrayed me.

I divorced him and blocked both of their numbers.

I thought our paths would never cross again as long as we lived.

But he threw himself into getting me back so completely that I softened again.

Thinking of all this, I laughed like a fool, and the tears kept falling.

I really was stupid. Stupid enough to believe he'd changed, stupid enough to want a heart that was true.

But peel back the disguise, and it had rotted through long ago.

Thank goodness there was still time.

3: 3

Once I made up my mind to leave, I started clearing out everything I didn't want.

The whole place had been decorated the way I liked it. Most of what filled it, I'd chosen myself.

Giles said he wanted me to feel at ease here, wanted me to wake up happy and come home happy every single day.

I'd picked the gray-blue curtains.

I'd sat in more than a dozen sofas before settling on that one.

The paintings on the walls—I'd only glanced at them a second too long, and he'd bought them on the spot.

Now, thinking it over slowly, none of it had ever really been my home. It was a cage he'd built to fit me exactly.

Things I used to love, I now hated even to look at.

So I swept it all into black trash bags.

Once everything was cleared, I pulled out my suitcase and packed only what mattered.

Giles came in from outside and frowned.

"Why does the place look so empty?"

I didn't look up, kept packing. "Getting rid of the stuff I don't want. Planning to buy some new things."

"Whatever makes you happy. Just tell me if you're short on money." His eyes fell on the bare vanity table. "I'm going on a business trip in a few days. Anything from duty-free you want me to bring back?"

"No need."

"Didn't you say last time you were out of that face cream, that brand you like?"

I was patting Rainey's back, coaxing her to sleep, and didn't lift my head. "I don't really want it anymore."

The things, the man—I didn't want any of it anymore.

...

Before the overseas posting, the family members traveling along had to get medical checkups too.

I finished Rainey's checkup, and while we were in line waiting for the results, I saw Giles and Beatrice standing outside the urgent-care clinic.

Her voice came soft and stuffed-up with a cold. "This is all your fault. You had the AC blasting yesterday and gave me a fever."

He pinched her nose, helpless. "And who insisted on doing it in the car? Lesson learned. Not next time."

The number was called just as his phone rang, so he didn't go in with her.

He hung up, turned around, and there I was, standing quietly.

The instant our eyes met, he froze, then came striding over.

"Nanette, why are you here? Is Rainey sick?"

He reached out to touch Rainey's face. I took a step back, my voice level.

"Company checkup. I brought Rainey along."

"Oh." His eyes flicked toward the exam room, and he answered before I could ask. "A client's ill. I came to keep them company."

I didn't ask what client was so important that a CEO had to escort them to the doctor himself.

"I'm going home first."

I didn't wait for his reply. I turned and left without looking back.

So I didn't see the complicated look in his eyes behind me.

That night he came home earlier than usual.

I sat in the living room watching TV and ignored him.

He came over carrying a cake.

"Nanette, didn't you say last time you wanted the cake from this place? I took a detour after work and picked it up for you."

I glanced at the logo.

I didn't know the brand.

But last time, following the trail, I'd dug up Beatrice's social media, and she'd posted it there.

On the outskirts of the city, ten-plus miles from his office.

I smiled.

Keep one foot in two boats and sooner or later it capsizes.

He saw me smile and thought I was pleased.

"Go on, try it." He held out the spoon.

I didn't take it. My smile faded. "Giles, I never said I wanted this place."

He went still. I rarely called him by his full name.

"Then I must have remembered wrong." His breathing turned uneven as he leaned in to kiss me. "Don't be upset. Whatever you want, I'll go buy it right now."

I dodged him. "Giles, let's get a divorce."

The color drained from his face, inch by inch.

4: 4

"Just because I bought the wrong cake?"

I couldn't be bothered to invent a reason. I stood up. "It can be."

"If we divorce, where do you think you'll go?" Seeing me head for the bedroom, he panicked, the words spilling out before he could stop them. "Who's going to want a divorced woman with a kid?"

My steps halted.

The air went quiet.

"That's not what I meant..." His voice was frantic. "I just can't accept you wanting a divorce."

His eyes flicked to the fruit knife on the table. He snatched it up and pressed it to his wrist.

"You know how hard it was for me to get you to remarry me. You can't go back on your word."

I looked at his bloodshot eyes and wanted to say that I wasn't the one who'd broken a promise.

Then I decided there was no point.

In the silence, the blade split his skin, and dark red blood welled up.

The same old trick. Once, it might have softened me all over again.

Now all I felt was numb.

Since a mutual divorce wasn't going to work, that left only the courts.

I drew a deep breath and pulled an easy smile onto my face.

"I was joking. It's just that seeing you with another woman at the clinic today left me a little uneasy."

"I told you, she's a client." He exhaled and dropped the knife. "What's gotten into you lately, always thinking the worst?"

"Maybe it's postpartum mood swings," I said, my voice low, and turned into the guest room.

"Rainey and I are going to sleep in here for a while. I want to clear my head."

I didn't press him, and he said nothing more.

Over the next few days, we tacitly avoided the subject, each busy with our own things.

He was busy getting ready for his trip. I was busy getting ready to leave.

Before he left, he slid a bracelet onto my wrist.

"Wait for me to come back. There's something I want to tell you."

It was the Rowe family heirloom bracelet. I'd seen it in that book in the study, the Rowe Family Collection Catalog.

I'd never seen him take it out before, and I had no idea why he was suddenly giving it to me.

But I didn't care anymore.

Beatrice's social media posts kept lighting up my phone.

The newest one was a sunset over the banks of the Seine.

In a corner of the frame sat a half-finished coffee, and along the rim you could make out a blurry cuff.

Those agate cufflinks were the birthday gift I'd given Giles last year.

Her caption read:

【The dusk in Paris lasts a long time, long enough for two people to walk slowly. I never want this trip with you to end.】

Scroll back further and it was just as lively.

One day, a selfie holding crepes in front of the Louvre. The next, flashing a peace sign under the Eiffel Tower at night.

Scattered through the grids were shots of him tying her shoelaces, holding an umbrella over her.

I saved every screenshot, one by one.

Beatrice was living happily now, in her own way.

No one would ever guess she'd once been a baby abandoned at the foot of a bridge.

My parents had adopted her, and right up until they died, they never mentioned it in front of her.

I wondered what she'd do the day she learned where she really came from.

The day I left for Miami.

I set a thick folder on the coffee table, along with a signed divorce agreement.

The bracelet and my wedding ring sat on top of them.

The note read:

【My posting will last at least three years. Look over the agreement. If you agree, sign it and mail it to my company's legal department. If you don't sign, then we wait out two years of separation and go through the courts.】

...

I'd just reached the airport when I saw Giles and Beatrice coming out from inside, still some distance away.

Beatrice rose onto her toes and held her phone up in front of Giles's face.

He laughed and slid an arm around her waist, then bent to press a kiss to her forehead.

The two of them brushed right past me.

I didn't make a sound. I kept walking.

Past security, Rainey suddenly started to cry in my arms.

I rocked and patted her gently, still moving forward, and didn't see Giles stop short in the distance.

His dazed gaze searched through the crowd.

At the security check, my phone buzzed. A message from Giles.

【I think I just saw you at the airport?】

I didn't reply. I turned and walked to the gate.

The plane lifted off.

The night beyond the window glittered here and there, like some grand fireworks display that had never belonged to me.

I gave a small wave, and all my years tangled up with Giles were left behind.