CHAPTER 17: 17. The Other Mother
Celeste asked to speak with me separately. I was wary, but agreed to a short conversation in Priya’s office. She arrived without jewelry and with a folder of family photographs. She did not ask me to absolve her. Instead, she explained how Grant had constructed the story of a lost pregnancy before they married, and how he repeated it whenever she asked about his first marriage. “I believed him,” she said. “I should have asked more questions.” I told her that whatever she decided about her marriage was hers to decide. “My concern is that Parker not become collateral damage,” I added. Celeste nodded. “Mine too.” She asked whether the boys might meet Parker in person. I said we would discuss it with them. Before she left, she paused at the door. “You raised them well.” I almost dismissed the compliment out of habit. Instead, I accepted it. “Thank you.” Later, I wondered whether the world would be gentler if people were quicker to admit what they did not know. Celeste and I were not friends. We might never be. But we had managed one conversation without asking the children to pay for an adult’s deception.
