arp scent that couldn't cover the underlying odor of decay. My own

tmeal to my lips, her face a perfect mask of wifely concern. Tears

ed, her voice trembling.

uilt a life, raised a family. It was an ordinary life, I thought, a g

e dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, a voice I'd never heard before. It w

t going to make it through the night. I'll be f

low. Daniel Sterling, the renowned art de

to my world shattering. Emily dropped the phone, her eyes wide with alarm, but not with sorrow. I saw it then, in that f

queeze. The last thing I saw was Emily's face, her

dden, blin

in a hospital. I was in my old bedroom, the one from my parents' house. Sun

nblemished, the hands of a young man in his early twenties. I shot out of bed and rushed to the mirror. The f

eal. I w

ived experience. The forty years of a loveless marriage, the quiet sacrif

tarted it all. A party. Too much to drink. Emily, crying, telling me we h

posed the next day. A lie. It had all been a lie from the very beginning. She was already pregnant with Daniel's child,

m door cre

Are yo

y as I remembered from that time, radiant and seemingly innocent. She wore a s

ly, setting the tray on my nightstand. "

ad, the same gesture of feigned care she had shown me on my deathbed. T

crossed her face, but

Ethan? You're a

into her eyes, my

ce steady. "We need to

e wedding? What about i

, ignoring her question. "And I d

h slightly open in disbelief. This was not part of her plan

she stammered. "Ethan, you p

it off," I

I had seen for forty years. "But why? Is it because

etest music to my ears,

voice low and danger

rol of the narrative. She played her trump card, th

r hand instinctively going to her stomach. "

ity of it was breathtaking.

nstairs. "Ethan! Emily! Are you two

ief washed over Emily's face. She thought the

coming, Mrs. Miller!" she called out,

look in her eyes. "We'll talk about this lat

ing for the door. As I reached the h

the living room, their faces beamin

oice so every

to me," I announced, my tone friendly

the look on Emily's face was the one I would savor. It was pure, unadulte