“Who are you?” I whispered.
He shifted.
“Sweetheart?”
“Nothing. Go back to sleep.”
I slipped quietly out of bed and drove to Helen’s house.
She opened the door wearing her robe.
“I knew you’d come.”
“Tell me everything.”
Helen sat down.
Then she destroyed Danny’s entire story.
“He didn’t spend fifty-five years searching for you.”
“What happened?”
“Margaret happened.”
“The nurse?”
“Danny met her while he was recovering. They started a relationship.”
“And?”
“She got pregnant.”
Something inside me went cold.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“He was married to me.”
“I know.”
“Did she know?”
Helen hesitated.
“Eventually. They never legally married, but they spent almost fifty years together. They had children. A home. Everyone in their life knew Margaret as his wife.”
“Except me.”
Helen looked down.
“Except you.”
I stared at her.
“Then why did his friend tell me Danny was dead?”
“Because Danny asked him to.”
I couldn’t speak.
Helen’s voice cracked.
“He didn’t lose you. He left you.”
I stood.
“You knew?”
“Not immediately. My husband told me later.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I thought you’d survive a dead hero better than a husband who chose someone else.”
“That wasn’t your decision!”
“I know.”
“You let me wait!”
“I thought I’d tell you eventually.”
“Eventually? Helen, it’s been fifty-five years.”
Her eyes filled.
“Every year I waited made it harder. After five years, I had to admit I’d lied to you for five years. After twenty, I had to admit I’d watched you build your whole life around that lie.”
“And after fifty-five?”
She lowered her eyes.
“I was a coward.”
For once, Helen didn’t try to defend herself.
I hated what she’d done.
But at least now I understood what she’d done and why she’d allowed the lie to keep growing.
Then another question struck me.
“If Danny chose Margaret, why is he in my house now?”
Helen hesitated.
“I don’t know everything.”
She wrote a number on a piece of paper and slid it toward me.
“But he does.”
I looked down at the number.
“Who is he?”
“Call him.”
My mind immediately returned to Danny turning his phone facedown.
“Someone from my old life.”
Suddenly, I wondered how much of that old life he had been desperately trying to keep away from me.
The phone conversation lasted twelve minutes.
