Page 52 of The One Before

Across the room, Helena is watching me intently. She must be wondering why he’s calling. She must be afraid I’ll tell him the person he wanted to protect me against is inside my house.

“No need for that,” I say, turning away from Helena so she can no longer see my face. “I’m almost asleep as it is. She can stop by in the morning.”

“Everything else okay with you?” There’s a protective edge in his words.

I smile, hoping that will make the words flow easier. “Nothing going on here. Thanks for stopping by tonight.”

“No problem. I’ll leave you alone.” He hangs up.

Slowly, I lower the phone from my ear. I’m not sure if I made the best decision in telling Roman to stay put, but I want to continue my conversation. A week ago, this woman frightened me, but that’s back when I thought she was Anne, then Celia’s mother. Now I know she’s someone else entirely, and she’s reaching out on behalf of her daughter who I never knew existed. The person she’s convinced Coop killed.

I place the phone back on the table. I look at Helena. She’s at ease again, knowing I ended the conversation with Roman. I’m not sure where to resume ours.

“When do you expect Cooper to return?” she asks.

“In the morning.”

“That should give you enough time to pack some things.”

“Pack things?”

She scoots to the edge of her seat. “Madison, you don’t need to be here. It’s not safe.”

The world as I knew it is unsafe now; if what Helena says is true, my whole life is nothing more than a fabrication. The person I was an hour ago seems so different from the person I am in this moment. I don’t know how to digest everything Helena’s told me. It doesn’t line up with the person Coop is. The person I love.

“I’m not leaving Coop,” I say, firmly. “Not until I’ve had a chance to speak with him.”

Helena stands, leaving her bag on the chair. She walks closer, but not in a threatening way. More like a mother who is afraid for her child. “You can’t confront him about this, Madison. I’ll never know for sure, but I believe that’s what got Laura killed. She asked him about Celia, and he lashed out.”

I close my eyes. Looking at Helena is painful. Her grief is obvious, and I pity her. Still, in the back of my mind, I wonder if this woman is delusional. She might not be Celia’s mother, the woman the Douglas family has warned me about, but the same threat exists. Her allegations come from a place of hurt.

“I don’t understand. I’ve known about Celia Gray for a long time. Since before he proposed. He told me because he wanted me to know.” Although, an inner voice whispers, he was less forthcoming about the rumors connecting him to her death. I shake those thoughts away. “Why would he hurt Laura over information he so readily provided?”

“I don’t know.” Helena returns to her seat and crosses her legs. She suddenly seems angry, as though she senses she’s losing this battle. “I never had the opportunity to ask.”

“I’m sorry about what happened to your daughter. I can’t even imagine…” The appropriate words don’t exist. I can’t relate to this woman’s pain; perhaps it’s the endurance of that pain that has led her to target Coop in the first place. “You have to understand. The man I know… I can’t see him harming anyone. He’s kind and loving. I wouldn’t be marrying him otherwise.”

“Laura said those same things. Then she was gone.”

“But you have no proof Coop did anything.” I stand and pace the narrow tract of space in front of the fireplace. “All you’re able to tell me is that they dated, and that he didn’t act appropriately in the weeks following her disappearance. As if there is a proper way to act. He was twenty. Practically a child!” I’m rambling now. Helena has an advantage in that she’s had years to prepare for this conversation; I’m laboring to process everything I’ve been told.

“The odds of anyone having two significant others die or disappear under suspicious circumstances is tremendous. You must see that.”

“I see it. It’s concerning, but it doesn’t make me think the man I love is capable of murder. He told me everything about Celia. What guilty man would do that?”

“He didn’t tell you about Laura.”

That’s the detail that bothers me more than anything. Coop framed the incident with Celia as a tragedy he was wrapped into because of circumstance. More than that, he’d recounted all his previous relationships to me at one point or another. I recall him mentioning an ex-girlfriend named Laura, and yet he never told me she’d gone missing. The fact he didn’t tell me is unsettling.

Still, what Helena is asking me to do is unthinkable. I can’t believe a stranger’s story over my fiancé’s—a stranger who has already spent weeks lying to me. As disturbing as this conversation has been, it’s not enough to make me abandon my faith in Coop. He deserves a chance to tell me what happened. And I’m craving the opportunity to ask.

“Do you have a picture of her?”

Helena rummages through her bag. She stands and joins me by the fireplace. She’s beaming now, with the pride of a grandmother sharing photos of her grandchildren. Of course, Helena will never have that opportunity. Her only daughter is gone.

“She was so beautiful,” she says, handing over the picture. “You know, I really was an event consultant years ago. That’s why I thought it was a natural way to grow close to you. Laura was like an honorary flower girl at every event I hosted. The sweetest little thing.”

My eyes fill with tears when I realize I’ve seen this girl before. I’ve seen this exact picture. That photo I’d found stuffed in the box of old newspapers was Laura. I’ve often wondered who she was, this girl who captured Coop’s heart in such a way he felt the need to carry her photograph. Now I know. She’s Laura.

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