Page 49 of My Twin Sister

“I wasn’t. Not really. Not technically. I was eighteen and old enough to know right from wrong, to know that I was betraying you in the worst way.”

He crosses the room in a flash and before I can stop it, I’m enveloped in his arms. It feels so natural and right even though I haven’t seen him in almost two decades. I let him comfort me. Let myself forget for just a second that our lives are so messed up, and it’s all my fault.

He lets me go and it’s too soon.

“Geny and I were seeing each other behind your back for four months. I ended things with her that night. After you told me about you and Frank.”

The words are swords being pushed through me. Not only him and Geny, but me and Frank. The regret and shame burn hot. All of this is my fault.

“Why’d you end things with her after I told you what I did?” I ask.

He smiles sadly. “I was so mad at you. More than that. I called the house. We had a code. I’d call and let it ring once before hanging up. She’d call me back. I asked her to meet me.”

I can hardly breathe. I hate that it hurts. That they had a whole secret way to talk behind my back. And I hate that my anger and hurt have no solid ground to stand on.

“She was walking up to my truck, and I don’t know what it was. The heightened emotions. The very real possibility that me and you might be over. I don’t know. But I watched her get into the truck and I just knew. I knew that it couldn’t be anyone else but you.”

A sob escapes my throat without permission. What a tragedy we are. What a long night that was. From betrayal and breaking up, to love epiphanies, to pretending to drown in Lake Superior, to the love of my life marrying my sister and starting a family.

He seems to read my mind. He’s almost always been able to. “She was pregnant,” he says. “From before that night. She found out a few weeks after you were gone. It was the right thing to do.”

I nod. It was. Of course it was. Geny was pregnant and I was gone. We both knew I couldn’t come back. But only I really understood why.

“You let him around your kids,” I say.

I watch Wyatt’s jaw clench and unclench. “Yeah.”

I stay quiet and wait for him to continue. Eventually he does.

“I didn’t at first. I couldn’t just cut him off, as bad as I wanted to. He thought we were on the same team. Still does. So I had to be mindful of that. But I told him, Grace. I threatened him. If I saw him acting out of line again, in any way, I’d tell my mom everything.”

“So ole Frank is on the straight and narrow these days then.”

“As far as I know,” he says with a sigh.

“So then who is in my casket?” I know Frank had to confirm me dead somehow to cover his ass, but how did he get a body to replace me?

“No one,” Wyatt says.

“What do you mean? They said they found my body at the lake. The coroner had a report.”

“The coroner is as crooked as the rest of them,” Wyatt says. “They had to pretend to find your body so no one would keep looking. I swore to him that you were dead. That I made sure.”

I nod slowly, taking in the information. It makes sense. If they never found my body, the search would continue. Frank was assured I was dead, but he wanted this whole thing tied up as quickly as possible.

“So my family buried an empty casket?”

“Yes. Well, no. There’s a little over a hundred pounds of sandbags.”

“Sandbags?”

“Well, it had to feel like you were in it.”

He smirks at my expression and I laugh, though it shouldn’t be funny. It isn’t. Not really. But you don’t survive what we’ve been through without developing a dark sense of humor.

“I guess that ruins the surprise when I have the grave exhumed.”

“You’re having it exhumed?” He looks surprised, which surprises me.