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My head was spinning back and forth.
What should I do?
Who could I believe here?
Who was on my side?
Talk to Carter.
This voice in my head seemed to be the only reasonable one. Maybe everything could still be cleared up. The spark of hope in me glowed again.
Often things looked worse than they actually were. I looked at Abigail and was about to ask her something. But at that moment, Johnnie's mother walked past us.
"Hello," she said kindly. "I wanted to thank Carter again. Do you know where he is?"
"He's on the phone," I replied. "Is Johnnie doing well?"
"Everything's fine," his mother assured me.
"I can pass on your thanks to Carter if you'd like."
Great, Isabella, super idea. First, you ask him if he cheated on you with Abigail. And then you pass on greetings from Johnnie's mother. Or maybe the other way around? Offering to do that for Johnnie's mother is a real brainwave!
"I'd like to thank him myself. After everything that happened back then, I never wanted to talk to him again," Johnnie's mother laughed. "But now he's saved the most precious thing in my life, and I'll finally be able to forgive him. Maybe it will do him good to hear that."
"Forgive?" I had no idea what the woman was talking about. From the corner of my eye, I looked at Abigail, but she seemed just as clueless as I was.
"Oh, it's an old story," Johnnie's mother waved it off. "You two seem to be very happy together..." She stopped speaking and a wistful look formed around her eyes. "Back then..." She interrupted herself again.
"You were also with Carter once," Abigail said, looking at Johnnie's mother.
"That was ages ago. Johnnie is three now... it must have been at least six years ago."
Was this party full of women who had once had sex with Carter? Or with whom he had been engaged? Whatever "together" meant, Carter had apparently really made the most of his opportunities.
That's not an offense, Isabella. You can't hold anyone's past against them. You wouldn't want someone to hold your past against you either.
Johnnie's mother still seemed to be thinking about her past with Carter and looked a bit wistful. And that, even though she was obviously still with Johnnie's father. At least she was wearing a wedding ring.
"Did he cheat on you too?" Abigail asked then. "Is that what you can finally forgive him for now?"
Johnnie's mother cleared her throat awkwardly. "I don't think that's a topic for today." She glanced sideways at me. "That's all a very long time ago and people change, so..." She interrupted herself again. "I just wanted to thank him once more. Everything happened so quickly earlier. I'll just see if I can find Carter somewhere later." She nodded to us, turned away, and then slowly walked across the lawn past the buffet. I watched her go. She stopped next to a tall, slightly corpulent man. Johnnie came running up to them.
"I'm sorry I asked so directly," Abigail said. I looked back into her pale eyes. She continued: "But I didn't want you to have any further illusions about Carter's character. Often people think they can change someone or that he will change eventually."
I nodded.
"Be strong, Isabella. Do what I couldn't do."
Do what I couldn't do.
It was clear what Abigail meant. I should tell Carter to go to hell. But why should I do that for her?
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
I would do it.
But not for Abigail.