“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Claire knows.”
“Probably.”
“And nobody thinks I should?”
Margaret studied her son.
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I be asking?”
“Why didn’t Emily feel safe depending on you when she needed you most?”
Mark looked away.
“I made a mistake.”
“You made several.”
“You don’t know what happened.”
“I know enough.”
His stomach tightened.
“Claire called you?”
“Emily did.”
“When?”
“Tuesday night.”
Mark looked up sharply.
“She called you?”
“She wanted me to know the babies were safe.”
“And she didn’t tell you where she was going?”
Margaret shook her head.
“No. She asked whether I could help with something else.”
“What?”
Margaret hesitated.
Then she walked to the kitchen drawer and removed a small envelope.
Mark recognized Emily’s handwriting.
On the front were three words.
For Mark. Later.
“She left this?”
“She asked me not to give it to you until you came home and asked about her.”
“I’m asking.”
Margaret did not hand it over.
“Mark, before you open this, I want you to understand something.”
“Mom.”
“She knew about Madison.”
His chest went cold.
“What do you mean?”
“She knew you were seeing her.”
“I wasn’t—”
Margaret’s eyes stopped him.
Mark exhaled.
“We were talking.”
“At a country club?”
His head snapped toward her.
“How do you know about that?”
“Because someone from your office saw you.”
Mark said nothing.
Margaret continued.
“They called Emily by mistake while trying to reach you about a client matter. They mentioned the club.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“Stop explaining.”
The exhaustion in his mother’s voice startled him.
“I am not interested in whether you kissed Madison. I am not interested in whether you call it an affair, an old friendship, or unfinished business. What matters is that your wife was afraid something was wrong with her pregnancy, and you left the hospital to meet another woman.”
“I was supposed to be gone twenty minutes.”
“And that changes what?”
He had no answer.
Margaret finally placed the envelope in his hand.
“Emily said the letter would explain what she was willing to explain.”
