Chapter 2: The Woman on the Mantelpiece
Part 2 π
Ethan's voice carried across the entire church.
"This woman," he said, gesturing toward me, "saved my brother's life."
The silence broke into whispers.
I couldn't breathe.
I had no idea what he was talking about.
Ethan turned to face Lauren directly.
"Three years ago, my brother Marcus was in that accident on Route 9.
You remember.
I told you everything about it."
Lauren's lips pressed together.
"Ethanβ"
"A woman stayed with him on the side of that road for over an hour until the ambulance came.
She held his hand.
She talked to him.
The paramedics said if she hadn't kept him calm, he wouldn't have made it."
He looked back at me.
"My mother kept that woman's photo on the mantelpiece for two years.
She called her our family's guardian angel."
A woman in the third row β elegant, silver-haired β rose slowly from her seat.
Her eyes were fixed on me.
Her hand came up to cover her mouth.
That was when Lauren finally broke.
"I didn't know," she whispered.
"I swear I didn't know it was her."
But Ethan's expression said he wasn't sure he believed that.
And neither was I.
May you like
Because there was one thing Lauren had never told either of us.
Something that changed everything about why she had tried so hard to keep me away.
