Chapter 4: The Marriage Certificate
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Corisande stood in the doorway holding the court order like a winning lottery ticket. Her red dress was wrinkled, one of her diamond earrings was missing, and a faint bruise had begun to darken along her cheekbone from the fall.
Yet she looked more confident than she had when she slapped me in front of two hundred wedding guests.
That frightened me more than her anger.
“Put the document down,” I said.
Corisande tilted her head.
“Still giving orders? You haven't learned anything tonight.””
“I'm not going to ask you twice.””
She laughed and stepped into the room.
Vivian immediately moved between us.
“You need to leave. The hotel security team is looking for you.””
“Let them look.”” Corisande held up the paper.
“I have something far more important to discuss with the bride.””
I looked at Nathaniel.
He had followed us upstairs and now stood just behind Corisande, his face pale beneath the corridor lights.
“Is that certificate real?”” I asked him.
He didn't answer.
I felt the floor shift beneath my feet.
“Nathaniel.””
He rubbed his forehead.
“It's complicated.””
I almost laughed.
That was his favorite phrase. Every time the truth threatened to emerge, he wrapped it in those two words and hoped I would mistake confusion for innocence.
“Then make it simple,” I said.
“Were you married to her?””
Nathaniel looked at Corisande.
She smiled.
“Tell her, darling.””
“Don't call me that.””
“Why not? You used to love it.””
“Corisande!””
His shout made Vivian flinch.
I didn't.
I had already seen the way he looked at Corisande when she first entered the ballroom. I had seen the fear in his eyes when she mentioned their promise.
Now I understood that fear had a history.
I held up the certificate.
“Were you married to her?””
Nathaniel's shoulders dropped.
“Yes.””
The word landed like a stone in my chest.
“When?””
“Five years ago.””
“Were you divorced before today?””
He opened his mouth.
Corisande answered first.
“No.””
I turned toward her.
She placed the court order on the table beside the marriage certificate.
“His lawyers filed for an annulment after our separation. But filing paperwork and obtaining a final judgment are two different things.””
Nathaniel stepped forward.
“You know that's not the whole story.””
“Then tell it,” I said.
He looked at me, and I saw the man I had married fighting desperately to hold on to the version of himself he had sold me.
“Our marriage lasted less than a year,” he said.
“We were young. We made a terrible decision. We separated, and I believed my lawyers had completed the annulment.””
“You believed?””
“My father handled the legal work.””
Corisande let out a bitter laugh.
“Your father handled everything, didn't he? Your debts, your mistakes, your little promises to me. And now your new wife gets to discover the mess you've left behind.””
Nathaniel's face hardened.
“You have no right to speak about my family.””
“And you had no right to marry her while our marriage was still legally recognized.””
I looked down at the court order.
The first page carried the name of a New York court. The filing date was four years earlier. Several paragraphs described the petition, but the final page was missing.
“Where is the final decree?”” I asked.
Corisande raised her eyebrows.
“That's the question, isn't it?””
“Do you have it?””
“No.””
“Then how do you know the annulment was never finalized?””
She tapped the document with one manicured fingernail.
“Because I requested the court records last month. There was a hearing scheduled. Your husband's attorneys failed to submit the required paperwork, and the petition was dismissed.””
I looked at Nathaniel.
“Is that true?””
He nodded slowly.
“The petition was dismissed. My lawyers said they could reopen the case.””
“When?””
“Recently.””
“Before or after you proposed to me?””
He said nothing.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
When I opened them, Corisande was watching me with a strange expression. Her anger remained, but beneath it was something that looked almost like pity.
“You really didn't know,” she murmured.
“No,” I replied.
“I didn't.””
She seemed disappointed by the answer.
Perhaps she had expected me to be another woman who would scream, throw things, and turn the entire evening into a spectacle.
Instead, I was beginning to understand that my marriage had been built on decisions I had never been allowed to make.
I turned to Nathaniel.
“Did you know the annulment had been dismissed before you married me?””
His silence lasted only a second.
It was enough.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Nathaniel stepped toward me.
“Isolde, I found out recently. My attorneys were supposed to resolve it before the wedding.””
“How recently?””
“Three weeks ago.””
Three weeks.
The same time Vivian had received the anonymous message.
The same time I had finalized the guest list, confirmed the flowers, and chosen the music for our first dance.
Three weeks of dress fittings.
Three weeks of tasting cakes.
Three weeks of listening to Nathaniel tell me that our future was finally beginning.
And all that time, he had known there might be a legal obstacle to our marriage.
“Why didn't you tell me?”” I asked.
“Because I thought it would be resolved.””
“You thought?””
“My lawyers assured me it was a procedural issue.””
“Did you tell them you were about to marry another woman?””
“Yes.””
“Did they advise you to postpone the wedding?””
Nathaniel looked away.
Corisande answered for him.
“They told him not to proceed until the matter was settled.””
I felt a cold wave pass through me.
“Is that true?””
Nathaniel's voice dropped.
“Yes.””
Vivian swore under her breath.
I looked at my wedding ring.
The diamond was suddenly heavy, an expensive little stone that seemed to mock me.
“You knew there was a possibility our marriage wouldn't be valid.””
“I knew there was a possibility of a delay.””
“And you decided that I didn't deserve to know?””
“I didn't want to lose you.””
I stared at him.
“So you risked making me your wife without telling me you might still have another one?””
“That's not how I thought of it.””
“How did you think of it?””
He had no answer.
Corisande crossed her arms.
“Ask him about the trust.””
I turned slowly.
“What trust?””
She smiled at Nathaniel.
“Go on. Tell her why you couldn't wait until November.””
“Enough,” he snapped.
“No, Nathaniel. Not this time.””
She took another sheet from her handbag and slid it across the table.
It was a copy of a document from my grandmother's estate.
My name appeared at the top.
Beneath it were the details of the Bennett family investment company.
I read the first paragraph twice before the words made sense.
A substantial loan had been secured against assets belonging to Nathaniel's company. Repayment was due at the end of October. If the company defaulted, several properties would be subject to foreclosure.
One of the properties listed as potential collateral was a building I recognized.
The Ashbourne Grand.
I looked up sharply.
“What does my grandmother's trust have to do with your company's debt?””
Nathaniel rubbed his face.
“The trust wasn't supposed to be directly involved.””
“That's not what I asked.””
He looked at the paper.
“My father believed that once we were married, the trust could provide financial stability for our family. There were discussions about a future investment.””
“Discussions with whom?””
“My father. The trustees. Our financial advisers.””
“Did you ask them to use my inheritance to repay your company's debt?””
“No. Not directly.””
The answer was so carefully chosen that I felt sick.
Corisande gave a short, humorless laugh.
“That's how he talks when the truth is inconvenient.””
Nathaniel turned on her.
“You don't know anything about those negotiations.””
“I know you were desperate. I know your father was desperate. And I know you told me that marrying Isolde would solve everything.””
The room went silent.
I looked at my husband.
“Did you say that?””
He swallowed.
“I said the marriage would improve our financial position.””
“Because of my inheritance?””
“Because of the trust's terms.””
“Did you love me?””
His eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.””
I wanted to believe him.
That was the cruelest part.
I wanted the man who had driven through a storm for me, who had held me after my mother's funeral, who had kissed my hand beneath the ballroom lights, to be telling the truth.
But love could not explain why he had hidden a marriage, ignored his lawyers, concealed his debts, and gambled with my future.
“I'm going home,” I said.
“Isolde, please.””
“I don't want to hear another explanation tonight.””
He reached for me, then stopped when he saw my expression.
I took the silver key from the table and slipped it into my clutch. Vivian gathered the documents and followed me toward the door.
Corisande stepped aside.
As I passed her, she spoke quietly.
“I'm sorry about the slap.””
I stopped.
For the first time all evening, she sounded sincere.
I turned to face her.
“An apology doesn't undo what you did.””
“I know.””
“And whatever Nathaniel did to you doesn't give you the right to hurt me.””
Her eyes lowered.
“I know that, too.””
I studied her face.
“Then why did you come here?””
She glanced toward Nathaniel.
“Because I wanted him to lose the one thing he cared about more than himself.””
“Me?””
“No.”” She swallowed.
“His future.””
Before I could ask what she meant, Nathaniel seized the court order from the table.
“Get out, Corisande.””
She didn't move.
“Make me.””
He stepped toward her.
For a moment, I thought they might start fighting.
Then Corisande reached into her handbag and produced a small black flash drive.
She held it up between two fingers.
“Before you throw me out, perhaps your wife should see what happened to the money you paid me.””
Nathaniel went completely still.
I looked from the flash drive to his face.
“What money?””
He whispered something I could barely hear.
“Don't.””
Corisande smiled without warmth.
“Your husband didn't just pay my debts, Isolde.””
May you like
She placed the flash drive in my palm.
“He paid me to disappear.””
