“What expression?”
He looked at me.
“That one.”
I realized I must have looked terrified.
And heartbroken.
“Mark,” I whispered, “I’m looking at you like this because I love you, and you frightened me.”
He rested his forehead against mine.
I held him.
For a long time, neither of us said anything.
A stranger walked around us on his way to another car.
We didn’t care.
—
I drove us home.
Dave agreed to collect Mark’s truck.
When I called, he didn’t sound surprised.
That told
me he already knew.
During the drive, Mark explained that he’d told his fishing friends about the diagnosis in June.
He needed their help arranging the second wedding.
Dave had driven him to the jeweler.
Tommy had helped with the hotel reservation.
Ray had been assigned to post plenty of fishing photographs so I wouldn’t suspect anything.
I told Mark about the breakfast picture.
“Ray photographed three of you while your untouched pancakes sat on the table.”
Mark closed his eyes.
“Of course he did.”
For a moment, we both laughed.
Then I asked about Carol.
He explained that she’d owned the Gull’s Nest for thirty years.
Before it became a café, the building had been a bait shack.
It was beside the same dock where he’d told me he intended to marry me.
He’d called Carol to reserve the deck.
And somehow, he’d ended up telling her everything.
When
she learned why he wanted the wedding there, she’d offered to organize the gathering at cost.
“She cried on the phone,” he said.
I thought about her voice.
Oh, honey.
Now I understood.
She hadn’t been pitying me because my husband was unfaithful.
She’d been heartbroken because he was ill.
And she’d assumed I already knew.
I sat quietly for a while.
Then asked,
“Does Sophie know?”
Mark shook his head.
“No.”
His voice trembled.
“I couldn’t figure out how to tell her.”
“We’ll tell her together.”
He turned toward me.
“Are you angry?”
I stared ahead at the road.
“Yes.”
He lowered his eyes.
“I’m furious, actually. You’ve known for five months. You went to appointments alone. You lied about seeing the dentist. You let me believe everything was fine.”
“I know.”
“And I’m probably going to be angry for a while.”
He nodded.
