“She manipulated him!”
I flinched.
“He was old, sick, and lonely, and she crawled into his life because she knew what he had!”
For the first time since meeting Marlene, I looked directly into her eyes and didn’t look away.
“Maybe I did marry him because I was tired of struggling.”
The room fell silent.
I swallowed.
“I’m not going to lie about that.”
Marlene gave a bitter laugh.
“Finally.”
“But I would have stayed if he lost all of it.”
She stared at me.
I held up the wooden box.
“This was the gift.”
“The photograph?”
“The letter.”
My voice broke.
“Knowing what I meant to him.”
Marlene shook her head.
“You expect anyone to believe that?”
I looked down at Russell’s letter.
Then I read one line aloud.
“I watched you refuse my check the night before the doctor called. You told me you needed only me.”
