Chapter 9 - CARTER’S MARRIAGE
Chloe asked to meet me six weeks later.
I almost refused.
Then she sent one message:
I don’t want anything from you. I need to know whether you knew about me when you contacted Carter during your pregnancy.
I agreed.
We met in a coffee shop.
She looked different from JFK.
No pale green dress.
No wedding glow.
Just jeans, a gray sweater, and exhaustion.
“I’m sorry for what I said about Lucy.”
“Thank you.”
“I was cruel.”
“You were shocked.”
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
I respected her for saying that.
She stirred her coffee.
“Carter and I are separating.”
I said nothing.
“He thinks I blame you.”
“Do you?”
“I did for about forty-eight hours.”
Fair.
She gave a humorless smile.
“Then I read the emails.”
Carter had shown her Evelyn’s archive.
“He was going to leave me before our first wedding date,” Chloe said.
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He told his mother he couldn’t marry me because he still loved you.”
My throat tightened.
“When?”
“Before the engagement announcement.”
That made no sense.
“Then why did he stay?”
“My father threatened to pull financing from the company during the succession fight. Evelyn convinced Carter that hundreds of employees would lose jobs if the deal collapsed.”
I closed my eyes.
Of course.
Another choice disguised as no choice.
Chloe continued.
“I knew he didn't love me the way he loved you.”
“Why marry him?”
She looked at me directly.
“Because I loved him enough to believe eventually that would be enough.”
There was nothing satisfying in that answer.
Only sadness.
“Were you involved in blocking my messages?”
“No.”
“I believe you.”
Her eyes filled.
“Thank you.”
Then she took off her wedding ring and placed it on the table.
“Evelyn told me about you once.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did she say?”
“That you had contacted the family after the breakup and then disappeared when nobody gave you money.”
I laughed once.
“That sounds like her.”
“I believed it.”
“I probably would have too.”
Chloe nodded.
Then she said something I did not expect.
“Don’t take him back because of Lucy.”
I stared at her.
“I’m not planning to.”
“Good.”
She smiled sadly.
“Take him back only if you can forgive the choices that were actually his.”
That sentence stayed with me.
Because Evelyn had stolen choices.
But not all of them.
Carter had still chosen silence during our breakup.
Chosen the company over confrontation.
Chosen to let family pressure direct his life.
He had not known about Lucy.
But he had known I was hurting.
May you like
If there was ever going to be anything between us again, biology could not erase that.
And Lucy deserved parents who understood the difference between guilt and love.
