After the reception, Daniel confronted her again.
“He said he’d tell everyone I abandoned him for no reason. That nobody would believe me.”
When Daniel fell asleep, Sophie packed her belongings. Her friend picked her up.
I remembered Daniel sitting at my kitchen table three days after the wedding.
“She threw away six years, Mom,” he’d said.
I’d held his hand and promised everything would eventually improve.
Now I wondered whether anything he’d told me was true.
“Where were you during the police search?” I asked.
“Staying with my friend. I switched off my phone because Daniel kept calling. Eventually, I confirmed to the police that I was safe and had left voluntarily. I asked them not to share my location.”
“We never knew that.”
“I thought Daniel would eventually explain.”
“He told us nothing.”
Sophie lowered her eyes.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I asked the question that had haunted me for two years.
