Chapter 13 - The Dinner Before We Met

Dad didn't deny the photograph. He took one look and sat heavily on the hallway bench.

"I met Harper at a meeting with Alder Ridge," he said. "She called herself Mara. She was part of their marketing team."

"You introduced us," I said.

He shook his head. "I didn't plan to. At the spring fundraiser, you were standing alone by the windows. She walked over. I recognized her, but she asked me not to mention the business meeting. She said she was leaving the company."

"And you kept quiet?"

"I liked the way you smiled with her. You'd been unhappy for so long. I wanted to believe she was telling the truth."

I didn't know what to do with that confession. Dad hadn't orchestrated the romance, but he'd watched it begin while holding information I needed. He'd stayed silent when she moved into my apartment, when she met Mom, when I bought a ring.

"You had two years," I said. "You had two years to warn me."

"I know."

His apology didn't make the lost time any smaller.

I went out to the garage, where Mom had stored the bicycles I never got around to fixing. I was angry enough to break something. Instead, I sat on the concrete until Jonah found me.

"I can't tell who betrayed me first," I said.

"You don't have to rank them," he answered. "You just have to decide what you're doing next."

He handed me his phone. Leah had found more footage from the reception setup. It showed Grant leaving through the loading gate after giving Harper the key. In the background, a catering van pulled up. A woman in a blue jacket stepped out and spoke to him. She pointed toward the venue office as if directing him somewhere.

"Who is she?" I asked.

"Tessa, the wedding planner," Jonah said. "She called this morning. She wants to explain why she gave Grant a badge."

Tessa arrived shaking. She'd been offered a large fee to arrange a private meeting room for a potential sponsor of my nonprofit. Harper had told her the sponsor wanted anonymity until after our vows.

"I thought he was donating to the training center," she said. "I never knew about the land."

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Then she opened her planner to an entry she'd written in Harper's presence: MONDAY, 8:30 A.M. - COUNTY RECORDS - MARLOWE.

Underneath it was one line in Harper's handwriting: If Helen says no, use the incapacity papers.