I stepped closer. “Debt collectors called me for months, Ron. They came to the house. They froze accounts I didn’t even know existed. I had to explain to strangers why my husband was dead and still owing money. I lost the house trying to pay it all back.”
“To do what?”
His shoulders sagged. “I thought you’d be safer without me.”
“I went into labor alone,” I said, and my voice wavered despite myself. “Your mother stood in the hallway and wouldn’t even look at me. I signed hospital forms with shaking hands because you were ‘dead.’ I buried our daughter without you.”
He closed his eyes. “I know.”
“And you didn’t think that it was worth coming back to make sure I was okay?”
“I went into labor alone.”
He inhaled sharply.
“My aunt handled the paperwork,” he said after a moment. “She arranged the closed casket. She said it would protect everyone.”
He didn’t argue.
“And Carla?” I asked. “What did you tell her?”
He hesitated.
A knock came before he could answer.
He didn’t argue.
Carla stepped in without warning. “I want the truth.”
Ron looked at the floor.
Carla turned to me. “
We met at a bar,” she said. “He told me that his wife left him years ago, and that she took his daughter away in the middle of the night. We got together quickly, and not long after, I found out I was pregnant.”
“I was eight months pregnant, Carla,” I said, using her name to remind myself that she wasn’t the demon in this story. “I didn’t leave. I buried him, and I lost everything. I lost my baby because my body went into shock over losing Ron.”
Carla stared at him.
“I want the truth.”