Chapter 38 - The Honeymoon PhotographOne year later, Clara received an invitation.
Not a wedding invitation.
A clinic opening.
Ethan Rowe and Samuel Price had created the Rowe-Price Identity Restoration Center.
Clara attended anonymously.
Sienna did not.
Her excuse was that somebody needed to prevent Aurora from becoming respectable.
At the reception, Clara saw Ethan speaking with a young mother whose birth records had been restored.
He looked ordinary.
That pleased her.
He noticed Clara.
Walked over.
"Thank you for coming."
"I almost didn't."
"I know."
They stood together awkwardly.
Then Ethan handed her a photograph.
JFK.
Six years earlier.
Clara in her white dress.
Ethan walking toward the gate with Sienna.
Clara stared at it.
"Where did you get this?"
"Evidence archive."
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"Because it isn't mine."
Clara almost returned it.
Then she noticed something.
In the photograph, her younger self was not crying.
She was standing completely still.
Watching.
Waiting.
She remembered exactly what she had believed in that moment.
That her marriage was ending.
That her humiliation would define her.
That everyone was watching her lose.
She had been wrong.
Ethan said quietly:
"I used to think that picture showed the worst thing I ever did."
"It does."
He accepted that.
Clara continued.
"But it also shows the best decision I ever made."
He looked confused.
"I didn't get on the plane."
Ethan smiled sadly.
"No."
Clara slipped the photograph into her bag.
Before leaving, Ethan stopped her.
"Clara."
She turned.
"I loved you."
She waited.
He added:
"Badly."
That was the first honest description of their marriage either of them had ever given.
Clara nodded.
"I know."
"Did you love me?"
"Yes."
Ethan swallowed.
"Does that make any of it better?"
"No."
He laughed softly.
"Good."
Clara smiled.
May you like
"Goodbye, Ethan."
This time, goodbye meant exactly what it said.
