{"id":9731,"date":"2026-09-28T13:51:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:51:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=9731"},"modified":"2026-09-28T13:51:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:51:43","slug":"part-19-david-returned-the-missing-page-from-jeremys-confession-but-what-he-had-written-on-the-back-revealed-his-real-reason-for-taking-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=9731","title":{"rendered":"PART 19 \u2013 David Returned the Missing Page From Jeremy\u2019s Confession, but What He Had Written on the Back Revealed His Real Reason for Taking It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas placed the page on his desk before we arrived.<\/p>\n<p>Inside a clear sleeve.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy recognized it immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Page number four appeared at the bottom.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at David.<\/p>\n<p>He sat against the wall opposite us.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time since I had known him, he looked old.<\/p>\n<p>Not physically old.<\/p>\n<p>Spent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy did you take it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He met my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I panicked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoin the club.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI read the letter six months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPage four said more than I expected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbout Karen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Lacey\u2019s pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked toward Jeremy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wrote about me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t remember.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked toward the page.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan I read it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was written to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I opened the sleeve carefully.<\/p>\n<p>The page began mid-sentence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and David thinks I am confusing guilt with love, but I think he is afraid of something else.<\/p>\n<p>I looked up.<\/p>\n<p>David\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n<p>I continued.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy had written that David reacted strangely whenever Lacey\u2019s name came up.<\/p>\n<p>That he became protective.<\/p>\n<p>That once, after drinking together, David admitted he had loved Lacey in high school.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy wrote that he had dismissed it as nostalgia.<\/p>\n<p>Then came another paragraph.<\/p>\n<p>David told me tonight that maybe I was not the person who should be rescuing her. I asked what that meant. He said nothing. Sometimes I think he hates me for being the one she chose, both then and now.<\/p>\n<p>I stopped.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI forgot that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David gave a sad laugh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou forgot most things that made you uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I kept reading.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy had written that if he refused Lacey\u2019s marriage request, David might step in to help her financially.<\/p>\n<p>Then came the line that explained why page four mattered.<\/p>\n<p>If I disappear from this mess, David will take care of her. He always has. Maybe that is what should happen.<\/p>\n<p>My chest tightened.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at David.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou didn&#39;t want anyone seeing this because it showed Jeremy believed you could replace him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen why?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRead the back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I turned the page over.<\/p>\n<p>A handwritten note appeared in darker ink.<\/p>\n<p>Not Jeremy\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>David\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>I read it silently once.<\/p>\n<p>Then aloud.<\/p>\n<p>I would have married her myself if it would have helped, but she never wanted me. She wanted Jeremy because Jeremy was the wound she could still feel.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy went still.<\/p>\n<p>David stared at the floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen did you write that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSix months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter you read the letter?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy write on the original?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy remove it later?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause when Lacey asked Karen to plant the old pregnancy note in the box, I realized Jill might eventually go through everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you took the page.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo hide your feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPartly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked at Jeremy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo hide the fact that I had been more involved in the filing than you remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy did you do it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause you were falling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat isn&#39;t enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked toward me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd because I believed Lacey deserved something before she died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomething meaning Jeremy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou treated him like property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd me like an obstacle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The blunt answers left less room for anger to expand.<\/p>\n<p>It remained.<\/p>\n<p>Just without the satisfaction of denial.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you love her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor how long?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told you enough times for you not to hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI warned you away from her when we were seventeen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou said she had problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou never said you wanted her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew she didn&#39;t want me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you watched me date her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen watched me leave her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd blamed me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen helped me secretly marry her twenty years later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy stood.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas lifted a hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStay seated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked toward him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not going to hit him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn&#39;t say you were.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy sat.<\/p>\n<p>David continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Lacey got sick, she called me before she called anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe didn&#39;t call you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou said I ran into her by accident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen what are you saying?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe had already told me she was sick.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew she was at Vanderbilt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew I might see her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you arrange it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you tell her I would be there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told her you had a contractor meeting nearby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou engineered the accident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI gave her information. She chose to sit in that coffee shop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt cold.<\/p>\n<p>Another moment I had been told was coincidence had hands behind it.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy stood again, then paced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou restarted us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David flinched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou put us in the same place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was scared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is not an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe wanted to see you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe could have called.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe couldn&#39;t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause twenty years had passed and she did not know whether you hated her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked toward me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you decided I should get no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought seeing her once would close something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInstead it opened everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I asked, \u201cDid Lacey know you arranged the meeting?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid she ask?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe asked whether I knew where Jeremy would be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you hope they would reconnect romantically?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David\u2019s eyes moved toward the floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, you do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPart of me did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David gave a broken laugh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause if she couldn&#39;t love me, I wanted her to at least stop believing she had been thrown away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat does not explain why you wanted me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were the only person she had ever wanted enough to hate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sentence silenced the room.<\/p>\n<p>I thought of Lacey\u2019s ring.<\/p>\n<p>Her confession.<\/p>\n<p>Her need to feel chosen.<\/p>\n<p>It fit.<\/p>\n<p>Not nobly.<\/p>\n<p>But honestly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened after the coffee meeting?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>David answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJeremy started visiting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first I was glad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou encouraged it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou told me Jill would understand if I eventually explained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you believe that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That answer surprised all of us.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy\u2019s mouth tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you lied.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause you would have stopped going otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The manipulation was almost clinical.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou wanted him emotionally attached to Lacey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted Lacey less alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt my expense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd Jeremy\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd eventually hers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I asked, \u201cWhen did you realize it had gone too far?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen they kissed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew immediately?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLacey told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked toward me.<\/p>\n<p>I noticed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told David before you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told her to end it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid she?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe tried.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe stopped answering for four days.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you kept showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou brought flowers once.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to throw them away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn&#39;t my relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost laughed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat principle appeared selectively.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David accepted it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the page.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy help with the marriage if you thought the kiss crossed a line?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause by then treatment had become more urgent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd because Lacey asked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd because you thought Jeremy owed her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd because you believed I would survive being lied to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believed you were stronger than everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sentence angered me in a new way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is not a compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou decided the strongest person could absorb the most harm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then called that protection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas spoke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you knowingly assist in filing the altered statement?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David inhaled slowly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you know it falsely represented Jeremy as claiming his prior marriage was dissolved?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Jeremy know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Lacey know the exact language?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Mark?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMelissa?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBonnie?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The answers landed like stones.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy bring page four now?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>David looked toward the window.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Lacey is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn&#39;t explain anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI promised her I would eventually stop protecting her version.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe knew what I had done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTaking the page?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe approved?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause she didn&#39;t want you seeing how long I had been involved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy would she care?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause she was ashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf using you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked at Jeremy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe knew I would do almost anything for her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy\u2019s expression hardened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd she used that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you resent her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you ever tell her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe cried.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s all?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe said she had built her life around men proving whether she mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The line sounded like Lacey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told me I was the only one who had stayed without being asked to choose her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David smiled sadly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat should have felt good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt didn&#39;t?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I finally understood staying can be its own form of cowardice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>That sentence reached both men.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe me too.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas collected the page.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt stays with the file.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI expected that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I asked, \u201cAnything else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His eyes met mine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Nashville house.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy stiffened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI prepared the partnership draft.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don&#39;t know why.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen tell us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David swallowed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe house was never only for Lacey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOriginally, it was supposed to become a hospice property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou told me single-family use.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy hospice?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLacey wanted to create a place for people who had nobody during treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked stunned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was embarrassed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause she thought it sounded grandiose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt a shift.<\/p>\n<p>For all the deception, that sounded like something Lacey might have wanted after years of loneliness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to the idea?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMoney.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRenovations cost more. Licensing would have been complicated. Then her prognosis worsened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo Jeremy converted it for her personal use.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd later put it into a trust with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Lacey want the hospice idea revived after death?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told me to sell it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told you that because she knew you would keep working on it forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat does not answer Jill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe left a separate letter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo whom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnother letter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot with Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen where?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David reached inside his jacket.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy immediately stood.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas lifted both hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSlowly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>David removed a sealed envelope.<\/p>\n<p>My name was written across the front.<\/p>\n<p>Not Lacey\u2019s writing.<\/p>\n<p>His.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe dictated it three weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I did not take it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know everything. I wrote what she told me, then sealed it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou expect me to trust that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He placed it on Thomas\u2019s desk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI expect you to decide whether to open it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at the envelope.<\/p>\n<p>Lacey was dead.<\/p>\n<p>Yet somehow she still had one more voice in the room.<\/p>\n<p>I finally picked it up.<\/p>\n<p>Inside was a short letter.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing legal.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing about Jeremy\u2019s love.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing asking forgiveness.<\/p>\n<p>Only instructions.<\/p>\n<p>Jill, if you ever decide the Nashville house should not exist as a monument to our mistakes, use it for people who need somewhere to recover. If you decide to sell it, sell it. If you burn the paperwork and never think of me again, I will understand.<\/p>\n<p>Then one final paragraph.<\/p>\n<p>Do not let Jeremy decide. Do not let David decide. Do not let guilt decide. I spent too many years confusing being chosen with having choices. The house is partly yours now. Choose.<\/p>\n<p>I lowered the letter.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy said nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Neither did David.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you want to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the first time since I walked into the courthouse, I had an answer no one else had prepared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to see the house.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=9732\">Click here to continue reading: PART 20: Walking Through the House Jeremy Built for Lacey Showed Me Which Parts of Their Secret Life Were Real\u2014and Which Had Never Existed<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas placed the page on his desk before we arrived. Inside a clear sleeve. Jeremy recognized it immediately. \u201cThat\u2019s mine.\u201d Page number four appeared at the bottom. 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