Chapter 4
His name was Calder Ashby.
Thirty-nine now.
Alive.
Living in Vermont.
No mystery about that part.
The mystery was why Althea needed everyone to believe he never existed.
Elowen knew because she had been present at the wedding.
Not as family.
As the only adult either of them trusted enough to stand nearby.
Althea was twenty-two.
Calder twenty-five.
He came from a family that owned a small furniture business.
No money by my standards.
No shame either.
They married privately after dating two years.
Elowen had known Althea since childhood because she worked for Althea’s grandmother.
She helped raise her.
Sabella stared.
“You knew Althea?”
Elowen nodded.
“All her life.”
Another lie.
Althea had treated Sabella as though they were strangers from different worlds.
In reality, Sabella and Althea had spent childhood summers in the same house.
Sabella was too young to remember most.
Althea was not.
“What happened to Calder?” I asked.
Elowen looked toward the fire.
His family business collapsed.
Then Calder was injured badly enough that recovery took almost a year.
No graphic details.
Just a man suddenly unable to be impressive.
Althea changed.
At first she stayed.
Then visited less.
Then disappeared.
Eventually she told everyone in her newer social circle that Calder had died young.
He had not.
“He let her go?”
Elowen nodded.
“He was tired of begging someone to choose him.”
Fair.
Years passed.
Then Althea met me.
She rebuilt her biography.
No husband.
No struggling years.
No Elowen.
No old house where Sabella’s mother had watched her grow up.
Six months ago Elowen saw our engagement photograph online.
She contacted Althea privately.
Not to expose her.
To tell her:
“You cannot marry another man while pretending Calder never lived.”
I looked away from the word marry.
No legal discussion needed.
The betrayal was already enough.
“What did Althea do?”
Elowen gave a sad laugh.
“She came to see me.”
Cried.
Apologized.
Asked for one week to tell me herself.
Then invited Elowen to Willow House for a quiet conversation.
Elowen came voluntarily.
By the third day, every path home had become more complicated.
Not locked.
May you like
Managed.
And Sabella’s job became the reason she stayed.
