Chapter 3 - The Promise
The engagement dinner had been planned for Saturday at my sister's house. By Friday morning, I had canceled it twice and reinstated it twice. Marcus wanted to explain everything to my family himself. I wanted to know whether there was anything left to explain.
At six-thirty, my sister Elise opened the door and took one look at my face.
“Do I need to hide the good knives?”
“Probably.”
Marcus arrived ten minutes later carrying a bakery box and the expression of a man reporting for trial. He kissed my cheek, but neither of us pretended it was normal.
Elise put wine on the table. “Start with the part where the best friend crashes the proposal and claims veto power.”
Marcus set the bakery box down. “Kate and I grew up together.”
“That is the second sentence,” Elise said. “Try the first.”
He told her about Lila. He told her about the lie. He told her about the kiss.
Elise listened with her arms folded. When he finished, she said, “So Kate has spent ten years punishing you for a secret you created to protect her.”
“That sounds simple,” Marcus said.
“It sounds accurate.”
The doorbell rang.
Marcus went white.
Elise moved toward the entryway, but I stopped her. Through the glass, Kate stood on the porch holding a silver gift bag.
“I didn't invite her,” I said.
“Neither did I,” Marcus answered.
Kate lifted the bag and smiled as though we were all celebrating something.
I opened the door but kept the chain fastened.
“You need to leave.”
“I brought a gift.”
“Leave it on the porch.”
“This is about Marcus, not you.”
“You are standing at my sister's house. That makes it about me.”
Kate's smile vanished. “He hasn't told you the whole promise.”
“I know he promised not to leave you.”
“He promised more than that.”
Marcus came up behind me. “Kate, go.”
She turned toward him. “Tell her what you said in the hospital.”
“I was frightened.”
“You said, ‘Whatever happens, your life is mine.’”
The words made my stomach contract.
Kate looked back at me. “He gave me his future that night. He said I could decide who was allowed into it.”
“Did he sign anything?” I asked.
She blinked. “What?”
“A contract. A deed. A medical directive. Anything that makes your approval real.”
“You think this is about paperwork?”
“I think you are trying to turn guilt into ownership.”
Her expression changed. For one instant, I saw not rage but panic.
“You don't know what he did,” she whispered.
“Then stop appearing at people's homes and tell me.”
Kate threw the gift bag against the porch. A small wooden box fell out and split open. Inside was a silver watch, scratched across the face.
Marcus stared at it.
“That belonged to Lila,” Kate said. “He gave it to me after the crash. He said I was supposed to keep it until he was ready to be honest.”
“Honest about what?” I asked.
Kate's eyes never left Marcus. “Ask him who was really driving.”
She walked away before either of us could answer.
Elise shut the door. “I am going to say something unhelpful.”
“Go ahead.”
“If he doesn't tell you tonight, you leave.”
Marcus put both hands on the back of a chair. “Kate was driving.”
The room went silent.
“You told me you were driving.”
“I know.”
“You told the police.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you killed Lila.”
His eyes filled, but he did not look away. “I never said that in so many words.”
“You said you were driving. What was I supposed to believe?”
“I thought if I told you, you would see me as a liar.”
“You are a liar.”
He nodded. “Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer broke something in me.
“Why take the blame?”
“Kate had stolen her father's car. She had been drinking. Her father had threatened her all week. I thought the court would go easier on me because I was an adult and had a clean record.”
“It did?”
“I got probation. Community service. The report said I was driving. Kate's father paid for my lawyer, then reminded me every month that he could change his mind.”
“And Kate?”
“Kate said Lila died because she was trying to save me from her father. She said I owed her whatever life I had left.”
“Do you owe her?”
“No.”
“But you keep paying.”
Marcus lowered his head.
I removed the ring and placed it on the table between us.
“I cannot marry a man whose life is being managed by someone else.”
“I want to choose you.”
“Wanting is not choosing.”
“What do you need?”
I looked at the ring, then at him. “No more secret calls. No more keys. No more money changing hands. You tell Kate the promise is over, in front of me. And you tell the truth about the crash to everyone who was harmed by your lie.”
He nodded slowly.
“And if I do all that?”
“Then I decide whether I still want to marry you.”
The next morning, Marcus called Kate on speakerphone.
“I am ending all personal contact,” he said. “Do not come to Nora's home or workplace. Do not contact her family. Do not contact me except through an attorney if there is a legal matter.”
Kate was quiet for so long that I wondered whether the call had dropped.
Then she laughed.
“You think she is going to save you?”
Marcus's voice shook. “No. I am saving myself.”
“You will come back.”
“No.”
“You always come back.”
He ended the call.
For three days, nothing happened.
On the fourth day, an envelope arrived at my office. Inside was a photograph of Marcus asleep in our bed and a handwritten note.
May you like
“If he tells you the truth, Nora, you will hate him. If he doesn't, you will hate yourself.”
At the bottom, Kate had written one date: May 14, 2012.
