Part 1
The emerald dress from Versace had been missing for a month, and until my father’s memorial service, I assumed that was the most frustrating puzzle in my life. It was a deep forest green, the sort of shade that shifted to shimmering gold under the right chandelier light along the neckline.
My father had gifted it to me for my thirty-eighth birthday last spring with a handwritten note that read, “For the moments when you need to remember that poise is a shield.” He had a way with words—part high-stakes litigator, part romantic dreamer, and entirely dramatic in his delivery.
I ransacked my walk-in closet searching for it the week before we buried him, checking every garment bag and the vintage trunk in the attic. I even interrogated the staff at the local dry cleaners, convinced they had misplaced the only piece of clothing that made me feel like myself.
By the morning of the service, I had far heavier burdens to carry than a missing piece of silk. My father was gone, and the house was overflowing with sympathy cards, hushed whispers, and the burnt scent of coffee that had been sitting in the pot since dawn.
White calla lilies crowded the kitchen island, their heavy fragrance filling the air like a thick blanket of sorrow that refused to lift. I chose a simple black suit because black was safe, and I didn’t trust my shaky hands with anything delicate or bright.
St. Jude’s Basilica was cold and silent when I stepped inside, a cavernous space filled with the smell of beeswax and ancient stone. The pipe organ was already humming a low melody beneath the muffled sounds of shifting pews and quiet coughing.
Polished oxfords clicked against the marble floors as people found their seats, most of them men with loosened collars and women dabbing at red-rimmed eyes. My father had built a reputation across the state, and it seemed every person he had ever helped or defeated had come to pay their respects.
I paused in the back of the sanctuary just to catch my breath and steady my racing heart. At the front of the room, his mahogany casket sat beneath a massive arrangement of white orchids and blue irises.
Bishop Montgomery was speaking quietly to Mr. Sterling, my father’s law partner and closest confidant for over forty years. My aunt Bridget was busy directing the flow of guests with the intensity of a woman who viewed chaos as a personal insult.
It all felt disconnected and strange, as if I were watching a film about someone else’s tragedy while I stood on the sidelines. Then I spotted my husband, Miles, sitting in the front row where the family belonged, but he wasn’t sitting alone.
The woman tucked closely at his side was wearing my emerald dress, the crystals catching the light from the stained glass above. For a long, confused moment, my brain simply failed to process what I was seeing as she turned her head toward the aisle.
Small flashes of green and gold danced across the back of the pew in front of her like mocking sunlight. My father used to tease me that the dress was so vibrant it could light up a room on its own, and there it was, glowing on another woman while he lay still just yards away.
My legs moved before I could talk myself out of a scene, my heels striking the stone floor with rhythmic fury. “Audrey,” I said, the name feeling like gravel in my throat as I reached their row and stared down at her. “What on earth are you doing here?”
Audrey Vance turned toward me with a calm, practiced smile that made my blood run cold instantly. She was in her late twenties and worked as a junior associate at the firm where Miles was a senior partner.
I had encountered her a handful of times at holiday parties, and she always called me ‘Diane’ with that overly sugary tone people use when they want to appear polite without actually caring. She had perfectly styled blonde hair, expensive skincare, and a habit of lingering in Miles’s office far longer than business required.
“Diane,” she whispered softly, as if we were bumping into each other at a gallery opening instead of a funeral. “I am so deeply sorry for the loss of such a great man.”
She had her hand resting firmly on Miles’s arm, not just a casual touch but a possessive grip that told a story of its own. My husband finally looked up at me, and the sheer terror behind his eyes hit me with the force of a physical blow.
It wasn’t a look of confusion or surprise at my arrival, but the raw, naked guilt of a man who had finally been caught in a corner. The walls of the basilica seemed to press in on me, and the air suddenly tasted like copper and old dust.
Every late night he spent at the office and every weekend golf trip he took started to click into place in my mind like a series of falling dominos. “Why are you wearing my dress, Audrey?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper but sharp enough to draw the attention of the surrounding pews.
Nobody offered an answer immediately, which provided more clarity than any excuse they could have possibly invented in that moment. Audrey crossed her legs and gave a tiny, nonchalant shrug that sent the silk rippling against her knee.
I knew that garment so well I could see where the seams had been adjusted at the waist to fit her slightly smaller frame. “Oh, this old thing?” she said with a tilt of her head. “Miles gave it to me because he told me you hadn’t touched it in a year.”
I turned my gaze toward Miles, whose eyes flicked toward the floor as he tried to disappear into his expensive wool coat. After twelve years of marriage, he still believed that avoiding eye contact was a valid way to escape a confrontation.
“Tell me she is lying to me, Miles,” I demanded, standing my ground as the organ music swelled into a more somber tone. “Diane, please,” he muttered, leaning toward me as if he were trying to settle a frantic animal in a public place. “Not here, not right now.”
Those words stung more than a shout would have, as if the only issue was my lack of decorum rather than his betrayal. “Family should be here to support one another during these times,” Audrey said, loud enough for the people behind us to hear clearly.
I turned back to her slowly, my hands balled into tight fists at my sides. “Family?” I repeated, the word sounding hollow and ridiculous.
Audrey lifted her chin and allowed her smile to sharpen just a fraction. “I am essentially family at this point, given how long Miles and I have been together.”
The statement landed like a heavy weight, causing several people in the nearby rows to gasp and lean in closer. Miles’s shoulders went rigid, and I felt a dark sense of satisfaction seeing him finally squirm under the public gaze.
“Essentially family?” I whispered, my heart hammering against my ribs. Audrey didn’t blink as she leaned back into the pew. “Miles and I have been a couple for over fourteen months, so it only felt right that I be here for him today.”
Fourteen months. That number echoed through my head, providing a timeline for every missed dinner and every cold shoulder I had endured.
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