The Video Called Me His Mistress, But I Was His Wife novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: My Wife

We didn't speak in the car.

My mother was asleep at Ruby's, with Ruby's spare toothbrush and a plate of toast she had insisted on finishing.

The cash box sat on my lap.

Gavin drove with both hands on the wheel and his eyes on the road.

In the brownstone hall I put the box on the table by the door and turned around.

"Tell me about the fund."

He took off his coat and hung it on the hook.

"It's the same account," he said. "My father pays into it, and I pay into it."

"Since when?"

"Since the spring after the courthouse. You left a bill from the home in the kitchen drawer, and you had circled the shortfall. I saw it when I was looking for a pen."

I stared at him.

"You said nothing."

"You hadn't told me about your mother. I figured you would, when you wanted to. So I made a call, and the shortfall stopped." He rubbed the scar through his eyebrow. "I didn't know my father's money was in there too. I found out this week, from the bank, a few days after I read your notebook."

"Five years."

"Yes."

"I used to pray for the anonymous donor."

"I know. You told me once, in your sleep."

I laughed, and it came out wet.

I had wanted to be angry. I had been ready for it, all the way home.

I stepped up to him and hit him once, flat-handed, on the chest.

"You are the worst secret keeper I have ever met."

"I know."

"You hid me. You paid for my mother. You called me your secretary in a police station."

"I know."

"And you let me think I was alone for five years."

"That's the one I can't forgive myself for," he said.

He put his hand in his trouser pocket and took something out.

It was a plain gold band.

"The sergeant mailed it to the office on Tuesday," he said. "It's been in my pocket ever since. I wanted to give it back in front of my whole company, and then I wanted to give it back in front of your father's shop. I'm done waiting for a better place."

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