Chapter 3 - The Other Bride
Vanessa had known Michael for eleven months.
He introduced himself as divorced.
He said his marriage had ended years earlier but remained emotionally painful.
He never showed her divorce papers.
Whenever she asked, he said his attorney was handling the final filing.
Vanessa believed him because Michael behaved like a man starting over.
He rented an apartment across town.
He introduced her to coworkers.
He bought her a ring.
He spoke about children.
He even told her he had been unable to have them in his first marriage.
That lie cut Claire deeply.
She had suffered two miscarriages before becoming pregnant with the child she now carried.
Michael had cried beside her after both losses.
He had held her hand during every appointment.
Then, while she carried their son, he told another woman he had never been able to become a father.
Vanessa did not yet know any of that.
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Standing beneath the floral arch, she only knew that a pregnant woman had called herself Michael’s wife.
And Michael was too terrified to deny it.
