“They know you from the photographs.”
He almost smiled.
“And from the notes.”
“You read my notes to your employees?”
“Sometimes.”
I shook my head.
“They’ve all been waiting nine years for this secret to explode?”
“Pretty much.”
Then Edward admitted something else.
“I really was going to tell you tonight.”
“Why tonight?”
“Margaret gave me an ultimatum.”
From the doorway, Margaret said,
“If he didn’t tell you by Friday, I was going to.”
I looked at her.
“You seem sensible.”
Edward sighed.
“She usually is.”
Then he looked back at me.
“I’m sorry, Rachel.”
“For what part?”
“All of it.”
He swallowed.
“The lie. The years. Being afraid and dealing with that fear by creating something worse. Most of all, I’m sorry I didn’t trust you enough to let you know the person I actually became.”
“We’ll talk tonight.”
He nodded.
Then he left for his presentation.
