Page 111 of Her Dark Lies

“Maybe. He treated me like shit on the bottom of his shoe, but in the end, he sacrificed himself for me. He went to jail, and I got my shit straight. He gave me a chance to turn my life around. I did.”

“Oh, Claire. That breaks my heart. You were so young.”

“But it made me who I am.”

For some reason, I don’t feel the need to tell him about my father right now. I will later. I will when I get to the bottom of things.

He’s quiet for a few moments.

“Are you... I mean, do you...do you still want to marry me, Claire?”

I get up and move to him, sit in his lap, put my arms around his neck.

“Yes. I do. Even though I’m furious with you for not telling me sooner, I do believe you’re trying to do the right thing, Jack. I do.”

“That’s a relief. Because I don’t know what happens next. Whoever is behind this, whoever is posing as Ami Eister, knows everything and is trying to take the family down. She hired McGowan to plant the cameras. Hacked our servers and tried to release the information to the press through your sister. What’s in those files—this story that was almost picked up—it would be the end of the family, do you understand? If Elliot is behind this, if he hired this woman to pretend to be Ami Eister... I can’t wrap my head around it. I fear Henna realized what was happening and was killed before she could rat him out.”

“That doesn’t make sense though, Jack. Elliot already has access to all of the incriminating information. Why would he...oh. He’s trying to make it look like you are responsible.”

He nods. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. He’s trying to sell me out.”

“What are you going to do about Elliot? If he is trying to hurt you...”

“I’m going to do the one thing that will piss him off the most. Marry you. If you’ll still have me, that is.”

“I will. But why do we have to do it here? Why don’t you quit the family business, and we can elope? Run away. To hell with all of this, and all of them.”

His smile is luminous.

“I couldn’t agree more. But we don’t have to elope. If you’re still up for it, darling, then you need to get dressed. Put on whatever you’d like, and let’s get married.”

I feel a spark of anxiety. “Is that such a good idea? Considering what’s happened?”

Considering I still have Malcolm’s blood under my fingernails?

“Now. Mom’s been putting everything in place to make it happen. Claire, I want you protected in case something goes wrong. In case Karmen can’t trace this woman. In case Elliot does try to do something stupid.”

My God. The aftermath of this woman is incredible. Ten years later, and Morgan is still poison to this family.

“Okay. Let’s do it. It’s never been about the big, crazy wedding for me anyway, Jack. I just want you.”

“I know. I love you, Claire.”

He kisses me, then walks me up the stairs to our room. He retrieves his tux, and says, “I’ll see you downstairs, my love.”

The door closes behind him with a gentle thunk, and I am alone.

63

Little Silences

Jack and I always have had little silences between us. Safe places where we can both retreat. We’d both been broken by our pasts and that’s probably what brought us together so tightly. The commonality of it, the comfort in knowing we’d each had a great loss, suffered great pain.

I wonder if that’s why Henna had insisted on a reading from Genesis for the ceremony:Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. I wonder if she knew. Or at least suspected.

Our silences grew from two bent trees into a forest that provided shelter and safety.

I should have asked. He should have asked. But we spent so much time respecting each other’s emotional limits that we never got to the heart of the things that mattered.