Chapter 2

The moment I finished speaking, several of them rushed over and closed ranks around Lucy Henson.

They watched me with wary, guarded eyes, as if terrified I might do something to hurt her.

My mother, who had lost her mind after my accident, made her way to Patrick with quick, trembling steps.

"Son-in-law, why are you shielding another woman?"

"My Irma is your bride!"

Patrick gave her a complicated look, and his hand slid away from Lucy's waist.

He soothed the others, telling them to leave first, then paused as he passed me.

"I'll see everyone home first."

"I'll explain to you when we get back tonight."

They drifted off in twos and threes, glancing back at me, shaking their heads and sighing.

As if I were the one who couldn't stop pushing.

Once the crowd had thinned, Lucy came forward, her pregnant belly thrust out, glowing with triumph.

"Such a shame, Irma. Five years ago I sent you flying right before your wedding, and five years later my son ruins the wedding all over again."

"Looks like you and my husband really weren't meant to be."

I looked at the Lucy in front of me.

Flushed cheeks, skin smooth enough to break at a touch.

She was nothing like the little girl I'd brought down out of the mountains all those years ago, the one with rough, red cheeks and timid, wide eyes.

I steadied my mother, not wanting anything more to do with a pregnant woman.

But she stepped closer, gazing into my mother's confused eyes, and gave a soft laugh.

"Irma, tell me. Did my husband tell you your mother lost her mind because the shock of you becoming a vegetable was too much for her?"

Looking at the malice in her teasing eyes, something in me went cold.

"What are you talking about?"

Three months ago, when I woke, my mother, who had treated me as her whole life, was nowhere to be found.

Patrick had sighed and told me it was my sudden accident that had broken her mind.

After I was discharged, I visited her at the psychiatric hospital, and she was still stroking the jade bracelet she'd prepared for my wedding five years before.

The guilt was so heavy I couldn't forgive myself.

But now she was telling me there was more to it?

Lucy stroked her belly gently and spoke with contempt.

"Your mother came to my husband with the evidence she'd dug up about my accident, wanting to talk it over. And she walked right in on the two of us, going at it beside your hospital bed."

"She watched her trusted future son-in-law on his knees for me, the very woman who'd hit you, and then she watched him snatch that evidence out of her hands and destroy it."

"Irma, the reason he wouldn't let me appear in front of you was to protect me. He stopped loving you a long time ago."

"Even this wedding they threw together for you, with no real title to your name, I'm the one who talked him into throwing it to you as charity..."

Listening to her flaunt it, mockery and all, I felt the blood in my body freeze and my mind go blank.

I remembered how, after I woke, Patrick had knelt at my feet, his eyes red.

"Irma, I waited five years for you, and you're finally awake."

"Lucy Henson, who hurt you and your child, is already behind bars. I got justice for both of you."

I never checked. I believed him without a shred of doubt.

Only now did I understand.

All of it was nothing but a lie he'd carefully put together.

Lucy's mocking words pushed my mother over the edge.

Her eyes slowly widened, as if she were remembering images too ugly to bear.

She lunged at Lucy in a rage.

"You cheap little mistress, you didn't just hurt my daughter, you seduced my son-in-law too."

"I'll strangle you!"

But before my mother's hands could reach her neck, she was flung to the ground with brutal force.

Her head struck the corner of the table, and blood poured out at once.

Panic seized me, and I scrambled to hold her up.

"Mom... Mom... are you okay?"

Patrick stared at his own hands, dazed.

"Irma... I didn't mean to!"

Watching my mother slip toward unconsciousness, my tears spilled over in a rush.

I no longer cared about my pride. I looked at him and begged.

"Patrick, I'm begging you, take my mother to the hospital."

"I won't make trouble, and I don't need an explanation."

"I'll let go... I'm letting go. Isn't that enough?"