Nora stopped beside her van and lowered her voice.
“Your son-in-law came into the bakery this morning.”
I stared at her.
“Spencer?”
She nodded.
I looked toward the house. Spencer was still standing beside Chloe, accepting congratulations from relatives. From this distance, he looked completely relaxed.
“Why would he come back?” I asked.
“That’s what I didn’t understand.”
Nora pulled her phone from her apron pocket.
She glanced around once before unlocking it.
“I think you need to see this.”
The first image on the screen showed the inside of Sweet Delights Bakery shortly after opening. Stainless steel counters reflected the overhead lights. A display case stood near the front entrance.
Then Spencer appeared.
He walked through the door alone.
I watched him approach the counter.
“He told us there had been a mistake with the medical result,” Nora said.
“What kind of mistake?”
“He said the original result couldn't be trusted.”
My stomach tightened.
“But he and Chloe brought the envelope to you.”
“I know.”
Nora swiped forward.
The footage showed Spencer speaking with one of the bakery employees. Then a woman entered behind him.
I did not recognize her.
She wore a cream-colored coat and carried a handbag over one shoulder. She walked with the confidence of someone who already knew why she was there.
“What did she have?”
Nora paused the video.
“A sealed envelope.”
My eyes remained on the screen.
“Did Spencer know her?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“They spoke like they had done this before.”
Nora continued the footage.
The woman placed the envelope on the counter.
Spencer leaned closer to the employee.
Nora's voice dropped.
“They gave us five hundred dollars.”
“For what?”
“To change the filling.”
I looked at her.
“Change it to pink?”
She nodded.
I could not speak for several seconds.
Behind us, someone laughed loudly from the backyard.
A camera flashed.
My daughter was inside celebrating a lie.
“Why would Spencer do that?”
“I don't know,” Nora said. “But that's not everything.”
She moved to another portion of the footage.
The woman returned later.
This time she was alone.
She stood at the counter and spoke with Nora's employee for several minutes. Then she handed over a small envelope.
“What did she want?”
“She asked us to put something underneath the cake board.”
My mouth went dry.
“Did you?”
“I didn't know what it was. She insisted.”
Nora looked toward my backyard.
“I thought it might be some kind of message for you. Then I saw how your daughter reacted when she cut the cake.”
“What was inside the envelope she gave you?”
“She wouldn't tell me.”
I stared at the video again.
The woman.
Spencer.
The envelope.
Five hundred dollars.
A changed cake.
None of it made sense yet, but one thing was becoming clear.
Spencer knew more about that cake than he had admitted.
“Show me where it was placed.”
Nora followed me back across the yard.
We approached the cake table quietly. Most of the guests were busy talking to Chloe, who was sitting with one hand resting protectively over her stomach.
Spencer stood nearby.
His eyes found us immediately.
I placed my hands beneath the cake board.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
Then the board shifted.
I stopped.
Nora leaned closer.
“Careful.”
I lifted the board slightly.
A white envelope had been taped underneath.
My pulse jumped.
I pulled it free.
The instant I did, Spencer's expression changed.
He had been smiling a moment earlier.
Now he wasn't.
“Rose,” he said.
I looked at him.
“What is this?”
He took one step toward me.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“This isn't the place.”
“You're right,” I said. “Which is why you should have thought about that before somebody hid an envelope under my daughter's cake.”
Chloe looked over.
“Mom?”
I turned.
She was already getting to her feet.
Spencer spoke quickly.
“Chloe, it's nothing.”
She stared at him.
“Then why do you look scared?”
He didn't answer.
That silence drew the attention of everyone nearby.
Conversations began to fade.
My sister quietly ushered the children toward the house.
Chloe came closer.
“What is in the envelope?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Spencer said.
Her expression hardened.
“Don't tell me what I need to worry about.”
Nora stepped forward.
“I have something you should see.”
She held up her phone.
Spencer's face went pale.
“Please don't.”
That was the first honest reaction I had seen from him all afternoon.
Chloe looked at Nora.
“What is it?”
“The bakery security footage.”
Spencer shook his head.
“Chloe, please.”
“Show me.”
Nora played the recording.
Chloe watched Spencer enter the bakery.
Her expression changed slowly.
First confusion.
Then recognition.
Then something colder.
She looked at the woman standing beside him.
Her lips parted.
“Oh.”
I moved closer.
“You know her?”
Chloe didn't answer immediately.
The video continued.
The woman handed over the sealed envelope.
Spencer spoke to the employee.
Then money changed hands.
Chloe looked at her husband.
“Who is she?”
Spencer rubbed his forehead.
“Chloe…”
“Who?”
He looked toward me, then at Nora, then finally at his wife.
“I was trying to prevent something from happening.”
“That isn't an answer.”
He said nothing.
Chloe's voice became quieter.
“Who is she?”
I held the envelope out to my daughter.
“Open it.”
Spencer stepped forward.
“No.”
Chloe took the envelope from me.
Her fingers were shaking.
“Why not?”
“Let me explain first.”
“You've had plenty of time to explain.”
She tore the envelope open.
A folded handwritten letter fell into her palm.
Underneath it was a photograph.
She lifted the photograph first.
Then she stopped breathing.
I watched her eyes move across the image.
A man.
A woman.
A little girl between them.
The child looked about three years old.
The woman was the same person from the bakery footage.
The man was Spencer.
Chloe stared at the photograph.
Her hand began trembling harder.
“Who is this child?”
Spencer closed his eyes.
Nobody spoke.
Chloe looked up.
“Spencer.”
He opened his eyes.
“I can explain.”
“That wasn't my question.”
He swallowed.
Chloe raised the photograph.
“Who is she?”
For the first time since I had known my son-in-law, I saw him look completely trapped.
He could no longer change the subject.
He could no longer protect himself with half-truths.
And my daughter, still pregnant with the child she had fought so hard to carry, was staring at a picture that appeared to show her husband with another woman and a little girl who looked unmistakably like him.
Click here to continue reading: PART 3: The Child in the Photograph Was Only Three Years Old, and Chloe Finally Asked the Question Spencer Had Spent Years Avoiding
The Pink Filling Appeared, but My Daughter’s Face Told Me the Celebration Had Gone Terribly Wrong
Part 2 of 40
