Chapter 6: Family Ties, Family Lies

By the time news of the divorce reached my parents, we’d already signed the agreement.

Dad’s voice was cold on the phone, Mom’s sharp as ever, both more worried about the town’s reaction than my happiness. I pictured them in their matching recliners, bourbon glasses in hand, trading blame for who’d let their daughter screw up this badly.

Derek didn’t treat me unfairly—he gave me half of his family property.

The lawyers were stunned—Mitchells never give anything away for free. Derek just nodded, slid the papers across the table, and left the room. The money felt heavy in my account, like hush money for all the secrets we’d kept.

My parents called me home overnight.

I drove the six hours in silence, radio off, replaying every argument we’d ever had. When I pulled up, Mom was already waiting on the porch, arms crossed, face set in stone.

They interrogated me like a criminal, demanding to know why I was so heartless as to take half of Derek’s assets.

They sat me in the formal living room—plastic still on the couch—grilling me under the chandelier. Dad boomed, “Tessa, how did I raise you? Did you marry just for Derek’s money?”

Lillian stood to the side on crutches, tears streaming down her face.

She looked like something out of a hospital drama, one leg wrapped in gauze, mascara streaking her cheeks. Even injured, she stole the show. “Tessa, are you blaming me? Blaming me for taking Derek away as soon as I came back…”

Before she could finish, my parents interrupted her.

Dad threw up his hands, Mom cut her off—“Derek should have been your husband! If you hadn’t been so willful and run away from the wedding, you and Derek’s child would already be running around!”

Lillian loved Derek, but she loved dance even more.

It was true. She’d always been ambitious, chasing the next audition, the next big city. Her dreams were too bright for a backyard wedding.

Not long after accepting Derek’s proposal, she got an invitation from a famous dance company in New York.

It was the kind of call you pack your whole life for, two suitcases and a ticket out. Lillian didn’t hesitate.

She left Derek without hesitation and went to the city.

Her goodbye was a quick hug, a promise to visit, a wink that said she’d be back before anyone noticed. But weeks turned to months, her calls got fewer, her texts shorter, until she disappeared into the city lights.

For three years, she and Derek were almost completely out of contact.

They drifted in different orbits, connected only by the faint static of what-ifs and almosts. Our family tiptoed around it, pretending everything was fine.