Chapter 4 - The Call Delaney Finally Made
Delaney left the villa that night.
She packed two duffel bags, took the portrait, and drove twenty minutes to Arlington, where her college friend Harper rented a cramped apartment above a dry cleaner.
Grant followed her to the driveway.
He didn’t try to stop her.
“Tell me where you’re going.”
“No.”
“At least text me when you’re safe.”
Delaney opened her car door.
“Mom spent her last year protecting me from your marriage. I think I’m done helping everybody hide things.”
Grant flinched.
She drove away.
The following morning, Delaney called the one person she had avoided contacting since the funeral.
Her mother’s older sister, Diane Mercer.
Diane lived outside Richmond and had barely spoken to Grant after Elise died.
Delaney had always assumed grief caused the distance.
Now she wondered.
When Diane heard Marissa’s name, she stopped Delaney halfway through the story.
“Your father married her?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
Delaney sat straighter.
“They sent announcements.”
“I stopped opening Grant’s mail.”
“Aunt Diane, what happened?”
A long breath came through the phone.
“I promised your mother something.”
Delaney closed her eyes.
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
“What did Grant tell you?”
“That he and Mom were separated.”
“They were.”
The confirmation hurt despite Delaney expecting it.
“And Marissa?”
Another pause.
“I knew there was someone. Elise wouldn’t tell me who.”
“Why?”
“Because she wasn’t angry at the woman.”
Delaney gripped the phone.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It didn’t make sense to me either.”
Diane continued more quietly.
“Elise was furious with your father. But whenever I asked about the other woman, she’d say, ‘She’s not the problem.’”
Delaney thought of the photograph.
Thank you for showing up.
“Did Mom ever talk about Marissa?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“After she was hospitalized in Fairfax.”
Delaney remembered that admission.
She had been in Boston interviewing for an internship. Elise had insisted she stay.
“What did she say?”
Diane hesitated.
“She said Marissa had helped her on one of the worst nights of her life.”
“With what?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
After they hung up, Delaney searched old calendar emails from that year.
Most were ordinary.
Dental appointment.
Foundation luncheon.
Infusion.
Then she found the Fairfax hospitalization.
The date matched the handwriting on the photograph almost exactly.
May you like
And Grant had not been listed as the emergency contact on Elise’s calendar.
Marissa had.
