Chapter 11: Seal Broken

I brought him the envelope from the nightstand drawer and put it on the kitchen island between us.

Nathaniel stood over it with both hands flat on the counter.

The seal was still unbroken, and he stared at it for a long time.

"I'll do it with you," I said.

"No."

"Then I'll stand here."

"That's the same thing."

"Yes," I said. "It is."

He picked it up and slid his thumb under the flap.

The paper tore with a small, dry sound.

He pulled out six stapled pages and read the first one standing, with his lips moving slightly on the dates.

I watched his face.

On the second page, his eyes stopped.

"It says I was the driver," he said.

"I know."

"It gives my license number. It says I was alone at the wheel and had been drinking."

He turned the page.

"There's a line for the officer's signature. It says I refused a breath test."

"Did you?"

"Nobody asked me." His voice cracked on it. "I was in an ambulance with my head split open. Nobody ever asked me anything."

He read to the last page and set the report down very carefully on the granite.

Then he sat on the floor of his own kitchen, with his back against the cabinets, and put his hands over his face.

I had never seen a man cry like that.

It came out of him without any sound at first, only a shaking in his shoulders.

Then a low, ragged sound broke out of his chest.

I sat down on the floor and pulled his head against my chest.

He held on to me hard enough to hurt.

"Four years," he said into my shirt. "I stood at her grave every week. I told her I was sorry."

"I know."

"I thought I'd killed her."

"I know you did."

"He let me think it." His breath shuddered. "My father looked me in the eye in that hospital corridor and let me think it."

Keep reading free with an account. Start I Filmed My Husband Cheating, So I Married the Brother He Fears from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.