Page 55 of Drake Eternal

I couldn’t ask for a more perfect family.

CHAPTER 19

Drake emerged from Sophie’s room, a smile on his face and it made my heart squeeze to see him so happy to have us with him.

Was he happy?

Who was the woman with him in the photograph? Was she one of the nurses? A patient?

Was it Sam?

I just didn’t think Drake would be seduced by Sam — not at this point.

I really didn’t think he would cheat on me, so there had to be an explanation for the photo.

It must have been from before he met me.

He came right over and put his arms around me, pulling me against his body. “I’m so happy to have you both with me. It’s been so lonely here without you.”

He pulled my chin up and kissed me warmly.

“We missed you,” I said, a choke in my throat.

“I missed you more,” he said, smiling. “Let me show you just how much.”

I tried to smile but couldn’t. Not with that image in the back of my mind. “Drake, we need to talk.”

He frowned and pulled back. “That sounds serious.” He took my hand and led me to the sofa in the small living room area. “Sit with me. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

I sat on the sofa and tried to compose my thoughts. How do you ask your husband if he’s cheated on you without sounding like you doubt his fidelity?

Because asking him would mean I did.

Did I? Did I really?

There had to be some explanation for the photo, and so I had to get it out of the way if we wanted to go back to the way we were before he left, and before I got it.

I reached over to my handbag, which was sitting on the coffee table and removed my cell.

“I got this the other day.”

I searched my images and handed the phone over to him. He took it and frowned when he saw it, bending over closer to examine the image.

“What the hell?” He moved the image around and enlarged it, examining it closely. “Who sent it?”

I sighed. “Someone called RiotGrrl21. I looked her up but there are way too many with that handle. Is she a nurse at the hospital or something?”

“This,” he said and shook his head. “This is Sam.” He held the phone out for me. “You can see this mark here. She had a tattoo on her groin area. I guess it was a thing at one time for young women to get one.”

I remembered seeing the small mark, but it was small enough that you couldn’t make it out. It could have been a smudge mark on the photo or a bit of dirt.

“Sam?” It shocked me.

“Yes,” he said and exhaled. “She must have taken it when I was asleep.”

For a moment, I was confused. “When you were asleep?”

He nodded. “Yes. You knew we had a brief affair while I was here before I met you. She must have taken it while I was asleep or something. Look,” he said and pointed to his side, near his hip bone. “You can tell this is old. There’s no scar.”

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