Carol slowly lifted her hand from the lid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI knew he was sick,\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The room seemed to shrink around me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat do you mean, sick?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She looked at the photographs still scattered across the table\u2014Mia and Owen with frosting on their cheeks, their tiny birthday crowns crooked on their heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDaniel told me in March that he was dying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My knees went weak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continue reading on next page\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
I gripped the back of a chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo,\u201d I said. \u201cThat\u2019s not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe made me promise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou knew for months?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carol’s eyes filled with tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor nine months, almost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stared at her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The anger came first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then disbelief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then something much worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Betrayal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou watched me plan a nursery while you knew my husband was dying?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe made me swear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was my husband!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou should have told me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to,\u201d she whispered. \u201cEvery single day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She reached into her purse and pulled out a folded piece of paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI nearly broke the promise so many times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She handed it to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel’s handwriting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My heart stopped before I even read the first line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carol, if she ever finds out, she will hate us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy would he say that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBecause he knew you,\u201d Carol said. \u201cHe knew you’d spend the rest of your life wondering why he didn’t trust you enough to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My fingers trembled as I unfolded the paper completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were only a few paragraphs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My love,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re reading this, I’m gone. And I’m sorry.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I know you’re going to be angry. You have every right.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But please don’t spend your life asking whether I loved you enough to tell you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn’t tell you because I wanted you to have something I knew I was going to lose.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I couldn’t breathe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol reached for my hand, but I pulled away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The letter continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the doctors told me what was happening, the first thing I thought about wasn’t dying.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I thought about the babies.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our babies.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I wanted you to remember me laughing in that kitchen. I wanted you to remember me complaining about the coffee maker. I wanted our children to be born into a house full of hope instead of a house waiting for death.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe that was selfish.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe it was the worst decision I ever made.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But for those nine months, I got to be your husband.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not your patient.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not a man counting down his days.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Just Daniel.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tears blurred the page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I pressed it against my chest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe was afraid,\u201d Carol whispered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo. You don’t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She reached back into the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe left more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She pulled out a small envelope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On it were four words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Mia and Owen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside were two letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One for each child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And beneath them was a flash drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol shook her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDid you watch anything?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThen why are you looking at me like that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBecause Daniel gave me one last instruction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat instruction?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She looked directly at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe told me that if you ever asked me what I knew, I was supposed to tell you everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I swallowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverything?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven the part he didn’t want you to know until today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at the flash drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat part?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol’s voice dropped to a whisper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDaniel wasn’t only sick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe was investigating something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My blood ran cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol opened the bottom compartment of the box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There, beneath the letters, was a photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel stood beside a woman I’d never seen before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the back, in his handwriting, were six words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I die, find her first.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I stared at the photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I noticed the date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It had been taken two days before our wedding<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And suddenly, the entire life I thought I knew about my husband began to feel like a carefully constructed lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carol squeezed my shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere’s one more thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She pointed toward the front door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSomeone has been sitting in a car across the street for the last twenty minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n My heart pounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don’t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then my phone buzzed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unknown number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You opened the box.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A second message appeared before I could move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now you need to know why Daniel really kept his diagnosis secret.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at Carol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She looked at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neither of us spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then the phone buzzed a third time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t trust the woman in the photograph.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Carol slowly lifted her hand from the lid. \u201cI knew he was sick,\u201d she whispered. 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