Husband Faked His Death and Left Me, Now He Regrets It, Sorry, You Can Only Repent at My Grave novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Family Table

Geneva's POV

Stewart called me at six the next evening and said only, "Come to your parents' house. All of us. Tonight."

I went.

The kitchen table was set for six, with the good plates.

My mother had made pot roast, and nobody was going to eat it.

My father sat at the head with his hands flat on the cloth.

Stewart sat across from Beth, with a gray shoebox on the chair beside him.

Beth wore a cream sweater and no makeup.

She looked up when I came in and gave me a small, brave smile, and I understood that she had decided on her story.

"Sit, Genny," my father said.

I took the empty chair beside my mother.

Stewart cleared his throat.

"Beth," he said. "Tell them what you told me last night."

Beth folded her hands on the table.

"I'm going to say something I've never said to anyone," she said. "And I need you to hear it with love."

My mother took my hand under the table.

"Three years ago, Geneva called me from a hospital in Harmon County," Beth said. "She was drunk. She'd been drinking since the accident. She was so ashamed she begged me never to tell any of you she was alive."

"That's a lie," I said.

"She told me to say you were all better off thinking she was gone," Beth went on, softly, to my father. "She said she'd killed you, in her own mind. I thought if I forced her home she would do something worse. So I kept her secret."

"Beth," my mother whispered.

"I sent her money every month because I felt guilty. I wrote 'life insurance' on the card so she wouldn't feel like a charity case." Her voice cracked on the last word. "I made a terrible choice, Dad. I let you grieve. I did it for her. I'm so sorry."

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