The Wife He Left Behind novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Held to It

Nobody moved after Patricia said it.

Then the uncle put his fork down, which was the loudest sound in the house.

"Patricia," he said. "You knew he had a girl in Seattle."

"I knew he had a wife with no sense of loyalty." Patricia turned to me, and her voice stayed brisk. "You live in a house my son pays for, and you spent six years in the next room, typing other people's words. You never once asked what he needed."

"He needed Singapore?"

"He needed someone who'd keep his house warm."

"I was keeping it warm. By myself."

"Camille was carrying his child," Patricia said, "and you had nothing to give him."

The room went still again.

"I'm sixteen weeks along," I said.

"That's not what I was told."

"By who?"

She didn't answer.

Tobias's cousin stood up with her napkin in her fist.

"Aunt Pat," she said. "He told us Cassia left him. In the spring. He said she'd had a breakdown."

"He told the office the same," I said.

"Cassia, sit down," Tobias said. "Everyone, please. This is a family matter."

"Then why am I the only one who didn't know?" said the cousin's husband.

Joan cut herself a slice of pie.

She did it slowly, and the knife made a small sound on the plate.

Camille was looking at Tobias.

She had not looked away from him in a minute.

"Tobias," she said.

"Not now, Cam."

"You said she left you."

"She did."

"In March, you said. You said she moved to her mother's, and you couldn't sign the divorce because she wouldn't open the door."

"That's more or less what happened."

"I'm sitting at her table," Camille said, "in her chair, and she's pregnant."

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