Chapter 4 - THE PICTURE CELESTE SAID WAS TAKEN LAST WEEK
The next morning Emma brought Damian a photograph.
Not from an album.
A glossy print she had hidden inside a coloring book.
It showed Allison standing near a lake in a green jacket.
Damian recognized the picture immediately.
Yellowstone.
Seven years earlier.
Before Emma was born.
Celeste had cropped the image so nobody else appeared.
On the back there was nothing written.
No date.
Emma pointed to it.
“Celeste said Mommy sent this last week.”
Damian sat down.
His hands had begun shaking.
“Sweetheart, this picture is old.”
Emma looked at him suspiciously.
“Celeste said you’d say that.”
That sentence hurt more than the lie itself.
Celeste had prepared Emma for Damian’s denial.
Every correction he made could now be interpreted as proof.
Damian contacted Marissa before questioning Emma further.
Marissa advised him to stop trying to untangle every statement himself.
“Your daughter has been placed between competing adult narratives,” she said. “She needs safety before she needs a complete explanation.”
Damian hated waiting.
He did it anyway.
Then Lauren showed him her messages with Celeste.
There were months of them.
At first harmless.
How is Emma handling grief anniversaries?
Does she ever ask about Allison?
What does she remember?
Then the questions became more specific.
Did Allison ever talk about leaving Damian?
Was she afraid that night?
Did she tell you anything before the crash?
Lauren had answered some.
Ignored others.
One message stood out.
If Emma ever learned the truth about that night, do you think she’d blame Damian?
Lauren had responded:
There is no “truth” that Damian killed my sister. They argued. Allison drove away. A drunk driver crossed the center line. Stop turning guilt into facts.
Damian stared at the message.
“You defended me?”
Lauren looked embarrassed.
“I’ve blamed you for plenty.”
“Not that.”
“No.”
For years Damian had assumed Lauren secretly believed Allison would still be alive if he had handled their marriage differently.
Maybe she did.
But even she understood the difference between regret and responsibility.
May you like
Celeste did too.
She simply found the confusion useful.
