Distantly, I can hear the doorbell ringing on the first floor.
“But then it all changed.” He lowers his voice. “I don’t know if it was too much of the medication accumulating in your bloodstream or maybe just the progression of the tumor. Your psychiatrist wasn’t sure. But the gaps in your memory became worse. You would wake up, unable to remember most of the last decade. You couldn’t even remember me anymore.” He takes a shaky breath. “Do you know what that’s like? To wake up every morning next to a woman who has no idea who you are and accuses you of being an intruder in your own bed?”
“I don’t know,” I shoot back. “Is it worse than finding out you’re dying of terminal cancer?”
The doorbell rings again downstairs. Someone is pounding on the door.
Graham hangs his head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Tess. This is why I didn’t want you to know. I kept hoping to make it work…”
There are footsteps on the stairs. The footsteps grow louder, and a second later, an elderly man bursts into the study. I stare at the slightly hunched figure with the white hair and deep grooves in his cheeks. It takes me a second to place him.
“Dad,” I whisper.
“Princess,” he says.
He looks so old. I hadn’t seen him in a long time, even before my engagement to Harry, and it shocks me now that my father has become an old man. I wonder how many of the creases in his face are my fault. He aged ten years in the months leading to my mother’s death. And I bet in the last year, he’s aged another ten years.
“Are you okay?” The wrinkles on my father’s forehead deepen. “Did Graham tell you…？”
“Yes,” I manage. “He told me everything.”
“I thought you deserved to know the truth,” he says softly. “Your mom… as much as it hurt her to leave you, she always said how grateful she was for those last few months the three of us had together. I didn’t want you to miss out on that.” He shoots Graham a hard look. “He disagreed.”
“You don’t know what she was like,” Graham says through his teeth. “You didn’t see how miserable it was making her.”
A tear escapes my right eye and I swipe at it. I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe I’m dying, just like my mother was. My father sees the look on my face, and his Adam’s apple bobs. “I’m so sorry, Princess.”
It hits me that my father hasn’t called me “princess” since my mother passed. This is the first time I’ve heard him say that word. A lump forms in my throat, and then a second later, the tears are flowing freely. I fall into my father’s arms and sob on his shoulder.
“Maybe Graham was right,” my father murmurs as he strokes my short hair. “You’re not the same as your mother. I think maybe you’re happier not knowing.”
“No.” I pull away from his chest and wipe my eyes. “I wanted to know. I’m glad I know.”
At that moment, a man with dark hair and a beard bursts into the study. His brown eyes widen at my swollen eyes and puffy red face. It takes me a second to realize who I’m looking at.
It’s Harry.
And by the look on his face, I can tell he knows everything.
“Camila let me in,” he says. Our eyes meet across the room. “You know…”
Graham whirls around. He shoots Harry a dirty look. “What the hell are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in jail?”
Harry returns the dirty look. “They released me this morning.” He looks back at me. “Are you okay?”
I squeeze my hands into fists. “Did you know about any of this… before?”
“No.” He looks as sick as I feel. “I thought you had been in a car accident, same as you did.” He glances at my father. “But then I talked to your dad, and he told me…”
It all makes sense now. I don’t remember doing it, but according to Harry, I called my father every day. And he never returned my calls. Because apparently, I was never calling him in the first place. Graham was keeping me from reaching him so he wouldn’t tell me I was dying.
I look over at Graham. The man who engineered this daily deception for my own good. I still feel like I don’t know who he is. I don’t remember him. I don’t remember falling in love with him. I don’t remember marrying him. The drug he gave me took all of that from me.
And I’m glad.
I turn to my husband. “How much time do I have left?”