Why Was His Dead Wife Living Under Another Name

CHAPTER 2 - THE NAME SHE CHOSE

The whole restaurant seemed to hold its breath.

Daniel stood there with broken ceramic at his feet and his dead wife's face ten yards away.

Sophie looked from one adult to the other, confused now. "Mommy?"

The woman swallowed hard. "We're leaving."

She took one step back.

Daniel found his voice. "Emily."

Her eyes closed for half a second, like the name itself hurt.

"My name is Anna now," she said quietly.

It should have made him angry. Instead, it hollowed him out.

He followed them outside into the hot afternoon. Sophie held the woman's hand and skipped once, then stopped when she sensed the tension. They reached an aging green station wagon parked near the curb.

"Please," Daniel said. "Just tell me if you're real."

The woman turned at that. Her mouth trembled.

"I am real."

He laughed once, sharply, because the alternative was collapsing in the street. "I identified your body."

"I know."

That hit harder than seeing her.

Sophie stared up at them. "Mommy, why is this man crying?"

The woman crouched and smoothed the child's hair with shaking fingers. "Sweetheart, get in the car for a minute."

When the girl was buckled in, the woman faced Daniel again. Up close, there were faint scars near her hairline, hidden under careful styling.

"You have every reason to hate me," she said.

"Then start with the truth."

A bus roared past. She waited until the noise faded.

"The car accident was real. The fire was real. But the body wasn't mine."

Daniel felt the world tilt.

"What are you saying?"

She looked at Sophie through the windshield before answering.

"I'm saying your wife died that night to save our daughter."

Daniel stared at the child in the back seat.

Our daughter.

Then he noticed something hanging from Sophie's backpack on the seat beside her: a silver moon charm.

Emily's moon charm.

The one she'd been wearing the night he was told she died.