The Secret Between Us novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Honest Water

Pierce sailed the way he did everything, which was gladly.

His little racing sloop skipped over the gray swell with the sail full and the spray flying off the bow.

"Take the tiller," he said, and I did, because I'd done it a hundred times.

He sat on the rail with his boots braced and let the wind push his hair around.

"This is the best part of my week," he said. "You know that? You, a boat, no grandmother."

My throat closed.

"Pierce, I have to tell you something."

"Okay." He grinned. "That sounds serious."

"It's very serious."

The grin faded.

I put the tiller over and brought us up into the wind until the sail went slack and the boat sat rocking.

The harbor was quiet except for the slap of water against the hull.

I took a breath and said it all at once.

I told him all of it, start to finish, and I didn't spare myself.

When I finished, my hands were shaking on the tiller.

Pierce didn't say anything for a long time.

"Did you know?" he asked at last. "When I asked you to marry me. Did you know you were still his wife?"

"No. I swear it. I thought it had been undone, years ago."

"Would you have told me, if you'd known?"

"That same day."

He looked at the water, and his jaw moved.

"The chain," he said finally. "Under your collar."

"Yes."

"I asked you about it once. You said it was your mother's."

"I lied. I'm sorry."

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