NICK

Tori was just coming up the steps from the garage when Shane called me. I picked up. "Hey, Shane," I said. "I got the text that your flight landed. You need me to pick you up?"

"No, I rented a car," he answered. "I'm already on the road. Be there in five."

"Perfect."

I hung up the call and turned to my wife, who had paused to hang up her keys beside mine under the wooden placard that read "Home." Whatever relief I had felt hearing my brother on the other side of the line immediately disappeared when I caught her gaze. I quickly spun away to the coffeemaker.

"I didn't see you today," she started, the chain of her purse clinking as she dropped it on the counter. "Everything go okay?"

I busied myself with filling the carafe with water. "Fine."

"Did... did you happen to see Katherine at all?"

Her voice was hesitant, if guarded, and my hand tightened around the handle of the coffee pot as if I might chuck it across the room. I forced myself to take a breath, and poured the water into the coffeemaker. In the stillness, crickets chirped outside, the sun drawing closer to the horizon, and I could almost hear my wife's worry, her jealousy, and when I turned, I could see the ire blazing in her sea-glass eyes.

"Well, did you?" She asked, this time lifting her chin slightly.

I laughed derisively. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Hurt flashed across her features, instantly overtaken by a burst of anger. "She shouldn't be here."

"By all appearances, it looks like you shouldn't be here either," I said, stepping forward until there was only the island between us. "Why don't you take the next flight to Pennsylvania and send me the divorce papers while you're at it?"

Tori gasped, eyes widening in shock.

Her expression, so full of surprise, was so sincere I almost believed it. But I knew better than to trust the snake I had made my bed with. Isn't this, after all, what I deserved for what I did before?

"Give up the act, Tori," I snapped. "I know you're with Chase. I know you've been seeing him, that your relationship with him is more than business. Should I have expected anything better from us given how we started?"

Tori's face had shifted from pink to red, and now to white. Her lips parted and she took in a shuddering breath. "Is this really what you think of me?"

"What I think?" I raked a hand through my hair, tugging at the ends. "No, this is what I know. And before you leave, you're going to tell me everything."

The doorbell interrupted any reply.

"Not a word to Shane," I warned her, then went to answer the door.

I paused a moment in the foyer, taking a deep breath to still my heartbeat drumming in my ears, and turned the doorknob.

"Hey, Nick!"

"Hey, Shane," I said, smiling, "Come on in."

He stepped into the foyer, followed by a three-year-old girl with a Hello Kitty backpack.

"This is my daughter, Jessie," he said, hoisting her up into his arms, where she immediately nestled onto his shoulder. He laughed, patting her dark-brown hair. "She'll be out any minute now."

Guilt struck me like a baseball bat when I saw his little girl. How had I forgotten about her and made him come so far? California to Alabama was no easy ride, especially as a widower with a toddler.

"She looks a lot like her mom," I said, "but she's got our eyes."

Shane looked surprised. "Really?" He said. "I guess I've seen so much of her mother that I didn't think anything of me would be in her."

Truth be told, little Jessie did look like her mother that passed. Mary had been a lovely dark-haired, light-eyed woman with a smile that warmed your heart like dawn on Christmas Day. She was artistic and imaginative, the perfect counterpart to Shane's logical, practical mind that often missed the emotion in the moment. That emotionless had come out in full display when he had to bury his wife after a two-year battle with breast cancer.

At least now, somehow, he seemed different. Lighter, with a smile that seemed to reflect his wife's.

"Good evening, Shane." Tori stepped in from the kitchen and embraced him briefly. "It's nice to see you again."

"You as well," he said.

"Are you hungry?"

"I ate on the plane, thank you," answered Shane, "but I could go for a cup of coffee."

We moved to the kitchen, where Shane lay Jessie down on the couch and moved to the kitchen to see how to help Tori serve the coffee. I stood in the doorway, staring out the window as the sun dipped further and further down to the horizon, until Shane thrust a cup of coffee in my hands.

"Man, you're tired," he said, laughing. "You didn't hear a word I said."

I flushed red and forced a laugh. "Sorry," he said. "It's been a long day at work."

We move to the living room, Shane settling in beside his daughter, while Tori and I sat on the couch across from him. Tori sat close to me, but I was grateful that she had cleared any of her previous emotions off her face. To the outside world, she appeared all like the perfect house-wife.

"How're things at Wayward?" He said, sipping from his coffee.

"Fine," I answered quickly, hoping Shane would read my tone and know to change the topic.

Shane leaned against the back of the couch, eyes darting to Tori before coming back to me. "It's nice that you called me," he said. "We could've done for a trip across the country right about now."

"How are things at your company?" I asked, shifting the topic before Tori could interject about Shane sudden trip—or the reason for his coming.

Shane shrugged. "It's good. God is helping a lot. We just opened another building in Sacramento to make up for the business there. The church is helping a lot with balancing my work and taking care of Jessie—oh, lookie here, have you decided to wake up?"

He'd directed the last part of his speech to Jessie, who sat up on the couch and blearily rubbed her eyes.

She said something to her father, who responded with a shake of his head. He looked to me with an apologetic expression. "She forgot her favorite toy at home. Do you know if a store is open around here?"

"There's one around the corner—"

"You don't need to go anywhere," Tori interjected. "We may have something downstairs. Give me a minute." She stood and disappeared upstairs.

A moment later, she reappeared with an old box. I'd seen it a few times around the house, had even forgotten what was in it, but when Tori set it down and opened the top flaps, it came back to me like a roaring train. Baby toys. Ribbons, games, blocks, and more.

"They're a little dusty," she said, flashing Shane an apologetic smile, "but they should do fine."

To her credit, Jessie had immediately stood and toddled over to see the rainbow assortment of new playthings. Now, she picked up a stuffed Dalmatian and pretended that it was barking.

"Thank you," said Shane.

"Come on, Jessie," said Tori, "Let's go play over here." She led Jessie to the end of the room, where a plush carpet was laid out over the wooden floor.

Whether she meant to or not, now she was far enough away that I could speak to Shane with more privacy.

"I didn't tell you why I really called for you," I said, placing my elbows on my knees and leaning forward. "And I can't tell you the full story now, but it's about Wayward."

Shane mirrored my position and lowered his voice. "About Katherine, right?"

I nodded. "You know that we had to add the agreement. The time is almost up now and it turns out Katherine didn't know."

Shane's eyes widened. "But didn't she sign it?"

"Her mother must have done something for her," I answered. "I had my suspicions before, even when she got her a few weeks ago, so I told her."

"What is she going to do about it? Isn't the time almost up?"

"Yes," I said. "She's got three months to win over the Committee."

Shane's eyes widened. "How will she do that?"

I shrugged. "I'm going to help her."

"I doubt she wants your help."

"Maybe not mine," I said, "but you two are still on good terms, right?"

Shane frowned, his brow furrowing. "Is that really why you called me here, Nick? To play telephone with the girl whose life you ruined and want to make up for?"

The words stung as he spoke, but I held my composure. I glanced at Tori over my shoulder, who was playing with Jessie. "No, that's not the only thing—"

I was interrupted by Tori's voice calling to us. "Excuse me," she said, "but I have to go for the evening. I have a business trip and need to pack."

Shane gave me a worried look when she had disappeared up the steps. "Is she okay?" He asked.

He was referencing how her voice had cracked when she'd spoken about a business trip. Or maybe, he had caught the expression on my face when she announced her departure.

"Yeah." I stood. "Let me show you to your room and then I'll help her pack."

Shane scooped Jessie into his arms as I led them to the back of the house, beyond the kitchen, to a tidy guest room and bathroom. After bidding my brother goodnight, telling him that he had free reign to anything in the house, I turned off the lights and disappeared upstairs.

On my way up, I caught sight of Tori's purse hooked on the top railing of the stairs. She must've moved it since placing it in the kitchen. Now, I played with a horrible thought, fingers itching to dig inside.

What had I said to her earlier? That I know that she's cheating. It was the only thing that made sense, the long trips to Pennsylvania, the bitterness every time I expressed our future, her vehemence that I should not have stepped down as CEO to "waste my life." She had to be cheating. But what if... what if I was wrong?

If there was any evidence, it would be in her purse. I glanced over my shoulder to see the lights off downstairs, then I peered around the corner to see our bedroom door closed with the rustle of clothes and items being moved around. Then, I opened her purse.

Nothing of note greeted me. A wallet, her phone, spearmint gum, sunglasses, makeup. I opened zippers, carefully feeling around coins and feminine products, and I was just about feeling properly ashamed of myself for having doubted when my fingers brushed a little white paper.

I unfolded it, heart threatening to burst out of my chest, and read the header on top: Dr. Almont, M.D. Reproductive Healthcare.

Below that, a breakdown of a bill made out for more than a thousand dollars. The invoice of the exact procedure wasn't there, but I could guess very well what it was about.

Three weeks ago, when I'd left PA for Alabama, I had jokingly poked Tori's belly. You're pregnant, I'd said. You're never late. Just this morning, hadn't I caught sight of some of her feminine products in the bathroom? She must've only just started.

What if... The thought was too bitter, too awful to swallow, but I couldn't avoid it now. What had plagued me like a mosquito was now a swarm of wasps buzzing around my skull, driving me mad.

What if... she really was pregnant?

If that were the case, it couldn't have been mine before this. She had been too careful, too sure to have an "accident." Only last night had she forgotten to insist—but what if that was her design? Could she have manipulated me to get her way with Katherine and the Committee? My stomach churned in knots.

A moment later, a more sickening thought occurred to me. If she had been pregnant, she wasn't anymore. What if, when she stayed up in PA, she had gotten rid of it?

I couldn't take this anymore.

I flung open the door of our bedroom, and Tori stopped her packing, looking up at me with wide eyes. "Nick? What's the matter?"

My whole body was shaking, but I forced my voice to stay low. "What's this?" I thrust the paper at her.

She took it from me, eyes widening even further as she read it. "It's an appointment with a fertility doctor," she said. "I was going to see her—"

"Don't lie to me," I spat. I stalked over to her suitcase, peeled my wedding ring off my finger, and dropped it in her mess of clothes. "I know what you did. How you hid what you were really doing with Richard Chase, and it had nothing to do with business." I looked at her, but she wasn't looking at me, her face frozen in shock, eyes fixed on the golden band glinting in her suitcase.

Her lips moved, and she mumbled something.

"Speak up," I barked.

She repeated it, tears coming to her eyes now. "I'm infertile, Nick," she whispered, voice hoarse with emotion. "I was never pregnant—and I never will be."

I laughed. "Good excuse, Tori, but you can't lie your way out of this." I dropped the doctor's invoice into her suitcase and stormed back up to her. I brought my face down to hers, and when she wouldn't meet my gaze, I forced her chin upward.

"I never cheated," she gasped out. "I—I thought about it—" she hiccuped, face red and wet with tears "—but why would I do to us what we did to Katherine?"

She tried to pull away but I only held her closer. One final embrace, though both of us trembling with rage or fear, to face the end. I brought lips down to her ear, stomach turning at the scent of her lilac perfume. "Listen to me, Victoria Pitchner, and listen well," I said. "When you leave tomorrow morning, take everything you'll ever need, because if I know one thing for sure, it's that you'll never be come back here."