went back ten years looking at the records and called
the man myself. He remembered you, says he always remembers the ones so in
love.”
Faith’s
heart splintered into a million pieces. She bent over in agony, like it was a
physical pain slicing through her. Jackson was beside her, a comforting hand
on her shoulder, and she was too distraught to pull away as the memory came
flooding back.
She’d
pulled over at a rest stop, the side of the road, tears so thick she couldn’t
see the highway any longer. She wouldn’t mind dying, then the pain would end,
but she didn’t want to crash and take someone with her.
She
sat in the car for an hour until she was all dried up, until she could feel the
hole inside of her where it had all been. Until she knew he wasn’t coming
after her. And just when she’d reached the end of her rope, knowing that she
could never go back, she’d seen it. A phone booth with a light shining down,
as if waiting for Clark Kent to enter and spit out Superman. She wanted to be
a new person, get a new identity, become someone different, anyone but this
girl in so much pain.
So
she’d run, streaking through the rain she’d sworn was lucky just twelve hours
earlier, and pulled the door closed behind her, soaked down to the bone. How
she knew the number was a mystery, but she dialed it, almost crying in relief
when the minister answered.
She
told him the story, or as much as she could get through, repeating over and over
not to file the marriage license until she couldn’t speak anymore. And she’d
believed for the last ten years with the foolishness of youth and
self-assuredness of a girl who got what she wanted, that he hadn’t. Never once
had that been the part of the story she’d doubted.
“What
are you saying, Jackson?” She could feel her illusions crashing down around
her.
“That
for the last ten years you’ve been Mrs. Dustin Andrews even though neither of
you knew it.”
Chapter 5
“Weird
stuff is going on around here.” Harmony closed the door to her bedroom and sat
cross-legged on the floor, looking at her sister’s video feed on her phone.
“You
always think weird stuff is going on. What book are you reading right now?”
Melody asked.
“Not
that kind of weird. Uncle Dust’s acting weird. Did anything else happen when
he came to see you?”
“No.
Pretty sure I told you everything. Came by my dorm, took me out to lunch, met
Eric, saw famous people, went and bought me snow tires for my car, that was
pretty random actually, ate frozen yogurt at the park, and then he left right
before my night class.”
“Hmm.”
Harmony stared off into space, lost in thought.
“Well,
what’s he doing that you think is weird?”
“Um,
he got drunk right after he got home yesterday and was super hungover this
morning. The only time he ever gets trashed is when people die, right? But
Dad was not acting like we should pull out the black dresses. And no one would
talk to me about it. It was just all around weird.”
Melody
rolled her eyes. “Harm, you’re like the only one in our family that likes to
talk about stuff.”
“You’re
a psych major. Don’t you want to hear people’s problems?”
“So
I can help them, not so I can solve them. Our relatives are not puzzles for
you to solve, Nancy Drew.”
“Okay,
let’s talk this out,” Harmony said, ignoring Melody’s assessment. “Either
something happened when he was with you, or something happened on the way
home. But I checked, and his car is not dented like he was in an accident.
Maybe he witnessed an accident? But no, why would that cause him to get
plastered…”
Melody
sighed and decided to play along – it was always easier than arguing with her
sister. She’d just steamroll over any objections anyway. “Maybe he’s just sad
‘cause it’s that time of year.”
“Yeah,
but he never gets wasted. He builds things, remodels things,
the man myself. He remembered you, says he always remembers the ones so in
love.”
Faith’s
heart splintered into a million pieces. She bent over in agony, like it was a
physical pain slicing through her. Jackson was beside her, a comforting hand
on her shoulder, and she was too distraught to pull away as the memory came
flooding back.
She’d
pulled over at a rest stop, the side of the road, tears so thick she couldn’t
see the highway any longer. She wouldn’t mind dying, then the pain would end,
but she didn’t want to crash and take someone with her.
She
sat in the car for an hour until she was all dried up, until she could feel the
hole inside of her where it had all been. Until she knew he wasn’t coming
after her. And just when she’d reached the end of her rope, knowing that she
could never go back, she’d seen it. A phone booth with a light shining down,
as if waiting for Clark Kent to enter and spit out Superman. She wanted to be
a new person, get a new identity, become someone different, anyone but this
girl in so much pain.
So
she’d run, streaking through the rain she’d sworn was lucky just twelve hours
earlier, and pulled the door closed behind her, soaked down to the bone. How
she knew the number was a mystery, but she dialed it, almost crying in relief
when the minister answered.
She
told him the story, or as much as she could get through, repeating over and over
not to file the marriage license until she couldn’t speak anymore. And she’d
believed for the last ten years with the foolishness of youth and
self-assuredness of a girl who got what she wanted, that he hadn’t. Never once
had that been the part of the story she’d doubted.
“What
are you saying, Jackson?” She could feel her illusions crashing down around
her.
“That
for the last ten years you’ve been Mrs. Dustin Andrews even though neither of
you knew it.”
Chapter 5
“Weird
stuff is going on around here.” Harmony closed the door to her bedroom and sat
cross-legged on the floor, looking at her sister’s video feed on her phone.
“You
always think weird stuff is going on. What book are you reading right now?”
Melody asked.
“Not
that kind of weird. Uncle Dust’s acting weird. Did anything else happen when
he came to see you?”
“No.
Pretty sure I told you everything. Came by my dorm, took me out to lunch, met
Eric, saw famous people, went and bought me snow tires for my car, that was
pretty random actually, ate frozen yogurt at the park, and then he left right
before my night class.”
“Hmm.”
Harmony stared off into space, lost in thought.
“Well,
what’s he doing that you think is weird?”
“Um,
he got drunk right after he got home yesterday and was super hungover this
morning. The only time he ever gets trashed is when people die, right? But
Dad was not acting like we should pull out the black dresses. And no one would
talk to me about it. It was just all around weird.”
Melody
rolled her eyes. “Harm, you’re like the only one in our family that likes to
talk about stuff.”
“You’re
a psych major. Don’t you want to hear people’s problems?”
“So
I can help them, not so I can solve them. Our relatives are not puzzles for
you to solve, Nancy Drew.”
“Okay,
let’s talk this out,” Harmony said, ignoring Melody’s assessment. “Either
something happened when he was with you, or something happened on the way
home. But I checked, and his car is not dented like he was in an accident.
Maybe he witnessed an accident? But no, why would that cause him to get
plastered…”
Melody
sighed and decided to play along – it was always easier than arguing with her
sister. She’d just steamroll over any objections anyway. “Maybe he’s just sad
‘cause it’s that time of year.”
“Yeah,
but he never gets wasted. He builds things, remodels things,
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