Chapter 5 - The wedding ended without vows
We did not get married that day.
Not because of blood relation.
There was none.
Not because Ethan changed his mind.
He did not.
Because I had no idea who I was anymore.
Guests were told there had been a family emergency.
That was technically the understatement of the century.
My dress remained torn.
I changed into sweatpants and one of Ethan’s shirts.
The caterer boxed food.
The venue refunded almost nothing.
Fair.
They had prepared everything.
My friend Naomi drove me to her apartment.
Ethan wanted to come.
I said:
“Not tonight.”
He nodded.
Victoria tried to speak to me outside.
I raised one hand.
She stopped.
Another point.
She held out the bracelet.
I did not take it.
“Keep it.”
“It may be yours.”
“No. Right now it is yours.”
She closed her hand around it.
Good.
Identity should not transfer through jewelry in a parking lot.
That night I searched my own name online.
Claire Monroe.
Nothing extraordinary.
Then:
Baby Girl Ashford missing Providence 22 years ago.
Results appeared.
Old newspaper archives.
A local television anniversary piece.
Infant disappearance remains unsolved two decades later.
There was Victoria.
Younger.
Blonde.
Broken.
Standing beside Jonathan Ashford.
A photograph of a newborn.
I stared at the baby.
Ridiculous thing to do.
Newborns look like newborns.
I searched my own baby pictures.
Marian had only three from before I was six months old.
That had always seemed normal.
Now it didn’t.
At 2:13 a.m., Ethan texted:
I love you. I am not asking you to decide anything tonight.
I answered:
Thank you.
Then searched:
Delayed birth certificate Massachusetts.
Adoption records Rhode Island.
May you like
Infant abduction hospital.
Until dawn.
