There was something in his expression that told me it wasn't a minor misunderstanding or an embarrassing confession.
Whatever she was hiding had been tormenting her for years.
Then a terrible possibility crossed my mind.
Susan had been extraordinarily close to Robert.
He trusted her.
He knew her routines, her customs, and many details about our marriage.
And he had stayed by my side during the months after his death.
I turned slowly towards her.
—Susan, I need you to answer a question.
He looked at me.
-Please.
I hesitated.
Then I asked the question that I was suddenly terrified to say out loud.
—Does this have anything to do with Robert?
Susan closed her eyes.
His shoulders slumped.
And a tear rolled down her cheek.
He didn't say yes.
He didn't say no either.
But after forty-two years of friendship, I knew his expressions better than anyone.
And the expression on her face revealed to me that my husband's name was at the center of the secret she had been hiding from me for so long.
