THE NIGHTSTAND SECRET

I bent down and picked up the key. The silver was cold against my skin.

“Where did you get this?” I asked, staring at Mark. My voice sounded detached, like it belonged to someone else.

Mark took a step backward. “Nora, please. It’s not what it looks like.”

“It’s exactly what it looks like,” Elise said, lifting her chin. “He gave me the earrings for our first anniversary. The key is to the summer house in Cape May. The one he bought for us.”

A summer house. While I was clipping grocery coupons and working double shifts at the pharmacy to help pay for Emma’s college tuition, my husband was buying a summer house in Cape May.

Emma let out a ragged sob. Luke rushed to her side, wrapping his arms around her, but she pushed him away.

“Don’t,” Emma choked out. “She’s your aunt, Luke. Did you know?”

Luke looked absolutely stricken. “Emma, I swear to God. I had no idea. I only see her at Thanksgiving. My mom hasn’t spoken to her in years.”

Luke’s mother, Sarah, who had been sitting in stunned silence, stood up. Her hands were shaking as she gripped her clutch. “It’s true. Elise has always been a poison in our family. I only invited her because my father begged me to. Elise, get out. You are not welcome at the wedding. You are not welcome in our lives.”

Elise’s smug expression faltered for a fraction of a second, but she recovered quickly. She looked at Mark, expecting him to defend her, to leave with her.

But Mark was a coward. He always had been. When my father used to show up at our apartment, drunk and screaming, Mark would lock himself in the bedroom while I stood in the doorway. I had blinded myself to his weakness for years, calling it a “gentle nature.”

Mark didn’t look at Elise. He looked at the floor.

“Fine,” Elise spat. “Stay with the convict, Mark. See how much good it does you when the bank takes the house on Tuesday.”

She turned on her heel and marched out of the restaurant.

The silence that followed was suffocating. I held the silver key so tightly the teeth bit into my palm. The blue ribbon—my mother’s ribbon—felt like a mockery.

“Tuesday?” I asked, looking at Mark. “What happens on Tuesday?”

He rubbed his face, aging ten years in ten seconds. “I took out a second mortgage. I thought I could pay it back with the commission from the Miller account, but the deal fell through. The bank is foreclosing.”

My legs gave out. Tom caught me, lowering me gently into my chair.

Thirty years of marriage. Thirty years of building a life, a home, a family. Gone. Traded for a mistress and a house in Cape May.

Emma knelt in front of me, her tears staining the silk of her rehearsal dress. “Mom. What are we going to do? The wedding is tomorrow.”

Answer one: The wedding was unpaid for, and we were losing our home. Open two: If the caterers knew about the declined cards, who else knew? And why did Elise wait until tonight to blow it all up?

“We’re going to have a wedding,” I said, stroking my daughter’s hair. “I promise you, Emma. You are going to marry the man you love tomorrow.”

I looked at Luke. “Do you love her?”

“More than anything,” Luke said, his voice breaking. “I’ll work three jobs. I’ll pay for the catering myself. I don’t care about the money. I just want Emma.”

I nodded. Then I looked at Mark.

“Leave,” I said.

“Nora—”

“If you are still in this room in five seconds,” Tom said, his voice a low rumble, “I’m going to break your jaw.”

Mark looked at Tom, then at me. He turned and walked out the door, leaving his coat on the back of the chair.

As Tom went to move the coat, a thick, manila envelope slipped from the inner pocket and hit the floor. The clasp popped open.

Tom reached down and pulled out a stack of documents. He glanced at the first page, and the color drained from his face.

“Nora,” my brother whispered, holding out a piece of paper. “Look at the signature.”

I took the document. It was the deed to the Cape May house.