Page 115 of The Husband Hour
Lauren walked back into the house. Beth, feeling the crisis temporarily on hold, sat on the edge of Stephanie’s seat.
“Sweetheart, tell me what happened.”
Stephanie cried, and Beth tried not to panic. She hugged her, wishing for magic words that would unlock whatever wasn’t being said.
“Oh my God,” Stephanie said, sobbing.
“Hon, it’s going to be okay.”
“No, it’s not,” she said in a voice filled with resignation, not her typical drama.
A tornado of clothes flew at them.
Lauren, back on the deck, scattered Stephanie’s belongings all over the ground.
“Lauren, stop that this minute! What’s gotten into you?” Beth said.
“Tell her!” Lauren said to Stephanie. “Tell her, you coward.”
Stephanie picked up a pair of her jeans and a pair of shoes but said nothing. Beth ran over to Lauren and grabbed her by the arms.
“Stop this, right this minute. Ethan is going to come down here and be scared to death!”
“Funny you should mention Ethan,” Lauren said, looking at Stephanie. Beth turned to her older daughter, who looked…well, she looked terrified.
“I don’t want to upset Mom,” Stephanie said.
“Yeah, right. As always, you want to cover your own ass. You don’t want Mom to know what a horrible person you are.”
“Lauren, what is it?” Beth tugged on her arm, forcing her daughter to face her. Lauren gulped.
“I can’t say it,” she whispered.
“Hon, I need you to talk to me.”
“It’s about Ethan.”
Beth glanced at the house, her mind racing. “I want to help.”
“You can’t. No one can. It’s done,” Lauren said, sobbing. “Ethan is Rory’s son.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Lauren knew where Nora kept her extra house key, under a loose board on the back deck. But she had one stop to make first.
Her phone had pinged all morning with texts and voice mails from Matt. She’d finally checked them just to see if he’d figured out that she’d taken some of his interviews. Apparently, he had not.
Whatever happiness she’d felt after her intimacy with him was destroyed. All she could think about was the fact that he’d known about her sister’s betrayal and kept it from her. She wanted to give him just the tiniest benefit of the doubt that he hadn’t figured out the truth about Ethan, but why else would he have filmed him?
She knocked on the door, and he opened it wearing headphones.
“Hey! Where did you run off to? I’ve been calling you all day.” He hugged her and she recoiled. Had it really only been a few hours since she’d left that room? She looked to the corner where Stephanie had sat for her interview and wondered if her sister had hesitated, even for a moment, before making her confession.
Lauren just didn’t understand it. Stephanie had seemed so upset, so shocked, when Lauren confronted her. What did she think was going to happen? Maybe she hadn’t meant to spill it. Stephanie had always been bad with impulse control.
Lauren glanced at the wall. The index cards were gone.
“What happened to all your work up there?”
