{"id":9738,"date":"2026-09-28T13:52:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=9738"},"modified":"2026-09-28T13:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:52:00","slug":"part-26-marks-letter-revealed-he-had-known-the-paternity-truth-before-our-wedding-and-why-he-chose-to-let-jeremy-carry-the-blame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=9738","title":{"rendered":"PART 26 \u2013 Mark\u2019s Letter Revealed He Had Known the Paternity Truth Before Our Wedding\u2014and Why He Chose to Let Jeremy Carry the Blame"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I drove to Karen\u2019s alone.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy asked whether he should come.<\/p>\n<p>I said no.<\/p>\n<p>Not because I wanted another separate version.<\/p>\n<p>Because this was Karen\u2019s marriage before it was Jeremy\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>She deserved to choose who entered the room.<\/p>\n<p>Mark\u2019s wedding ring sat on the kitchen table beside a folded sheet of paper.<\/p>\n<p>Karen had not moved either.<\/p>\n<p>She handed me the letter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRead it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I did.<\/p>\n<p>Mark had written without excuses at first.<\/p>\n<p>Karen, I remembered something tonight that I have spent years teaching myself not to remember.<\/p>\n<p>That sentence alone made my stomach turn.<\/p>\n<p>He described a phone call from Lacey shortly before Jeremy and I married.<\/p>\n<p>She had been in Nashville.<\/p>\n<p>Still recovering from the miscarriage.<\/p>\n<p>Still angry.<\/p>\n<p>She told Mark a doctor had clarified the conception timeline.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy could not have been the father.<\/p>\n<p>Mark probably was.<\/p>\n<p>Not certainty.<\/p>\n<p>But close enough that Lacey believed it.<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Karen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore my wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Mark tell Jeremy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKeep reading.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I did.<\/p>\n<p>Mark wrote that Jeremy was already engaged to me.<\/p>\n<p>Already tormented by guilt over Lacey.<\/p>\n<p>Already convinced he had abandoned a pregnant woman.<\/p>\n<p>Mark had considered confessing.<\/p>\n<p>Then Lacey told him not to.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told him to keep quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen pointed toward the next paragraph.<\/p>\n<p>Lacey had said Jeremy\u2019s guilt was the only proof she had that she had mattered to him.<\/p>\n<p>I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>That sounded like the younger Lacey.<\/p>\n<p>Wounded.<\/p>\n<p>Angry.<\/p>\n<p>Wanting someone else to carry evidence of her pain.<\/p>\n<p>Mark wrote that he accepted her request partly because he feared Karen discovering their affair.<\/p>\n<p>Partly because he did not want Jeremy to know Mark might have fathered the baby.<\/p>\n<p>And partly because he resented Jeremy.<\/p>\n<p>There it was.<\/p>\n<p>Resentment.<\/p>\n<p>Mark admitted he had watched Jeremy move forward with me while Lacey suffered.<\/p>\n<p>He believed Jeremy deserved guilt.<\/p>\n<p>Even guilt for something that was not his.<\/p>\n<p>I lowered the page.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe punished him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor twenty-two years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen looked exhausted rather than angry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI married a man who thought silence was a form of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I sat beside her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe also thought it protected him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She stared at his ring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe told Amanda the same lie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe watched our daughter confront Lacey over a truth he already knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd he still didn&#39;t tell her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen covered her face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know who that is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I understood.<\/p>\n<p>Not literally.<\/p>\n<p>She knew Mark\u2019s habits.<\/p>\n<p>His coffee.<\/p>\n<p>His snoring.<\/p>\n<p>The way he folded towels badly.<\/p>\n<p>The songs he played in the car.<\/p>\n<p>But moral identity can become unfamiliar faster than a face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat are you going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsn&#39;t that funny?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor days, everybody has been asking you that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow I understand why you hate it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite everything, I smiled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA little.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen looked toward the ring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t want him home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen don&#39;t have him home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know whether that means a week or forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn&#39;t have to mean either yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWill you tell Jeremy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you want me to?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt concerns him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn&#39;t answer my question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen thought.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon&#39;t soften it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI won&#39;t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I returned home before noon.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy was repairing the loose hinge on the pantry door.<\/p>\n<p>Of course he was.<\/p>\n<p>I stood in the kitchen watching him tighten a screw.<\/p>\n<p>He looked up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMark knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His hand stopped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKnew what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe baby wasn&#39;t yours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore we married.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The screwdriver slipped from his fingers.<\/p>\n<p>It struck the floor.<\/p>\n<p>He did not pick it up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLacey called him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy leaned against the counter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd he didn&#39;t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His face changed slowly.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-two years of guilt were being removed from one place without disappearing.<\/p>\n<p>Pain does not vanish when responsibility moves.<\/p>\n<p>It relocates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause he was afraid Karen would learn they had slept together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy nodded as if that part made sense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Lacey asked him not to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His eyes closed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe wanted you to keep feeling guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy sat.<\/p>\n<p>I gave him the rest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMark also resented you. He thought you deserved it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy laughed once.<\/p>\n<p>Then again.<\/p>\n<p>Not amusement.<\/p>\n<p>Disbelief.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI spent twenty-two years thinking I left my pregnant girlfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI married you believing that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI looked at our wedding pictures and thought about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I did not know that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was ashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There it was.<\/p>\n<p>Always.<\/p>\n<p>Shame making a locked room.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy pressed both palms against his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought every good thing with you was partly built on what I did to her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My chest tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid that affect our marriage?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought I owed you less of my sadness because I had chosen you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn&#39;t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He breathed slowly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we fought, especially early on, I would think I had no right to complain because I had already hurt someone to be with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou turned our marriage into punishment too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout telling me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you resent me for that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He paused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I sat opposite him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid guilt make you go back to Lacey when she got sick?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo if you had known the pregnancy wasn&#39;t yours\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon&#39;t guess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That mattered.<\/p>\n<p>We could not rebuild history by changing one fact.<\/p>\n<p>He might still have helped Lacey.<\/p>\n<p>Still loved her.<\/p>\n<p>Still lied.<\/p>\n<p>Or not.<\/p>\n<p>Counterfactuals were another form of fantasy.<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked at the floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Lacey ever intend to tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApparently several times.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut she didn&#39;t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot until the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m angry at her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s dead.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re still allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI loved her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn&#39;t cancel anger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked toward me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou sound like her letter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe she finally learned something useful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He almost smiled.<\/p>\n<p>Then cried.<\/p>\n<p>I let him.<\/p>\n<p>I did not touch him.<\/p>\n<p>That was not punishment.<\/p>\n<p>I simply did not know whether touch would be comfort, promise, or habit.<\/p>\n<p>When he finished, he picked up the screwdriver.<\/p>\n<p>Then put it on the counter instead of returning to the hinge.<\/p>\n<p>Progress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere\u2019s Sophie?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKaren wants her after.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked toward the clock.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do we do now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing for ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy blinked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe sit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So we did.<\/p>\n<p>No documents.<\/p>\n<p>No phone calls.<\/p>\n<p>No revelations.<\/p>\n<p>Just two people in a kitchen that had held twenty-two years of breakfasts.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually Jeremy said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what part?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is too big.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen today, I\u2019m sorry I made my guilt into a reason not to trust you with my past.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was specific.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hear you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He did not ask whether I accepted it.<\/p>\n<p>That afternoon we took Sophie home.<\/p>\n<p>Karen hugged her so tightly Sophie complained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrandma, I can&#39;t breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen laughed through tears.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sophie looked around.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere\u2019s Grandpa?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStaying somewhere else for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause you&#39;re fighting?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen crouched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I need space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs he coming back?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen paused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sophie frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody says that now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost laughed.<\/p>\n<p>Karen did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s because sometimes grown-ups really don&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sophie accepted this more easily than adults did.<\/p>\n<p>On our way out, Karen stopped Jeremy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMark knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou didn&#39;t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still feel like\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His voice was gentle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon&#39;t inherit his guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karen\u2019s eyes filled.<\/p>\n<p>That was perhaps the healthiest sentence Jeremy had spoken all week.<\/p>\n<p>We drove home.<\/p>\n<p>Halfway there, Thomas called.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have the full Bonnie email set.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnything new?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy put the phone on speaker.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a message from Melissa to Bonnie written the morning after the marriage filing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMelissa was worried the filing was invalid and wanted to withdraw her notarization.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould she?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot easily after filing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did Bonnie say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe told Melissa to contact an attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMelissa responded that David told her not to panic because Jeremy would straighten out his first marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt cold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnknown.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never told David I was divorcing Jill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBonnie asked the same question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did David say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe isn&#39;t on that email.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMelissa\u2019s answer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas read:<\/p>\n<p>David says Jeremy and Jill have been functionally separated for years and only stay legally married because of family finances.<\/p>\n<p>I stared through the windshield.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was false.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe weren&#39;t separated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho told David that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the next issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMelissa says Lacey told him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, but Lacey knew we weren&#39;t separated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen why say it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly because it made the paperwork easier to rationalize.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I thought of Lacey\u2019s notebook.<\/p>\n<p>The medical urgency.<\/p>\n<p>The desire to be chosen.<\/p>\n<p>The lies growing around both.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs there proof Lacey said it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo direct email yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen don&#39;t treat it as fact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI won&#39;t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot automatically believing the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m trying to believe evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was different from defending him.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s another issue. Bonnie says she personally spoke with Jeremy before the filing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe documented a phone call.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThree days before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t remember talking to her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe says you did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did I supposedly say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas paused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat you and Jill were no longer living as husband and wife.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy went pale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never said that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThink.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould you have said we were having problems?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould someone have impersonated you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is possible but currently unsupported.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy rubbed his forehead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat number did Bonnie call?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas checked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEnds in 4418.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat isn&#39;t my number.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His expression changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDavid\u2019s old work phone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The air seemed to leave the car.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas said, \u201cAre you certain?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had a separate contractor line. 4418.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I remembered it vaguely.<\/p>\n<p>David had changed numbers later.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo Bonnie called David believing he was Jeremy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas\u2019s voice sharpened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need confirmation before we say more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy stared ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDavid pretended to be me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I repeated the word deliberately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But my stomach already knew where the next conversation was going.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas called again forty minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI confirmed the number.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy gripped the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was registered to David\u2019s company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Bonnie know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe says no.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid she identify who she was speaking with?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe says she asked, \u2018Jeremy?\u2019 and the man answered yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jeremy closed his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>I felt something colder than anger.<\/p>\n<p>Impersonation was different.<\/p>\n<p>Not persuasion.<\/p>\n<p>Not omission.<\/p>\n<p>Someone had stepped directly into my husband\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is David?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#39;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My phone buzzed.<\/p>\n<p>A message.<\/p>\n<p>From David.<\/p>\n<p>I saw Thomas found the call record. I need to explain before you hear the wrong version.<\/p>\n<p>I showed Jeremy.<\/p>\n<p>He stared at it.<\/p>\n<p>Then said something I had not expected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon&#39;t call him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMake him come to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/?p=9739\">Click here to continue reading: PART 27: David Finally Admitted He Had Pretended to Be Jeremy, but His Explanation Revealed Lacey Had Tried to Stop the Scheme Before It Went Further<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I drove to Karen\u2019s alone. Jeremy asked whether he should come. I said no. Not because I wanted another separate version. Because this was Karen\u2019s marriage before it was Jeremy\u2019s &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-one-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9781,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9738\/revisions\/9781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}