Chapter 5
Vanessa watched him.
And for the first time since the doors had opened, something shifted behind her eyes — not softness, but a sharp and sudden focus, the way a person looks when they realize the ground beneath them is not what they thought.
"Why," she said slowly, "did you tell me she was de@d?"
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## CHAPTER 4: The Lie That Started Before the Wedding
Nobody in the ballroom spoke.
Uncle Raymond, still standing near the aisle, had both hands folded in front of him.
He was watching Derrick the way older men watch younger ones when they recognize a reckoning arriving.
Derrick turned away from Vanessa.
He walked to the nearest window — floor to ceiling, overlooking the manicured grounds — and stood with his back to the room for a moment.
Then he turned around.
"Because," he said, "I was ashamed."
Vanessa stared at him.
"Not of her," he said quickly, his eyes going to Celestine.
"Never of her.
Of myself.
Of what I'd done."
"What you'd done," Vanessa repeated.
"When I got the fellowship.
When the money came.
When everything started changing." He stopped.
Started again.
"I left.
I told myself it was temporary.
That I'd send for her once I was settled.
Once I had enough.
Once the time was right." His voice had gone flat.
"The time was never right.
And then I'd waited so long that I didn't know how to explain it.
So I said she was gone."
Vanessa looked at him for a long moment.
"You lied to me," she said.
"For three years."
"Yes."
"About your own mother being alive."
"Yes."
She laughed.
It was not a warm sound.
"And I'm supposed to stand at that altar and—"
"I'm not asking you to do anything right now," Derrick said.
"I'm telling you the truth.
For the first time.
I should have told you years ago.
I'm sorry."
Gerald stepped forward.
"This is a conversation for another time and place.
Right now we have three hundred guests—"
"Gerald." Derrick's voice was quiet and final.
"I need you to stop talking."
May you like
Gerald's face darkened.
"Excuse me?"
