Trent nodded slowly. “I’ll tell Nora. She deserves to know.”
“Good,” I said softly. “I won’t send the message to your family. They’ll find out when you’re ready to tell them. And Kira—she doesn’t need to hear it from me.”
His eyes softened with gratitude. “Thank you, Alison. You don’t know how ashamed I am.”
I looked at him and said gently, “Don’t be ashamed of who you are. Be ashamed of the lies, not the truth.”
He started crying again, and I felt something inside me finally release. I took his hand and squeezed it. “I can’t promise forgiveness yet,” I said, “but I can promise understanding.”
He pulled me into a hug, both of us trembling. For a moment, I felt peace—like a storm finally breaking.
That day, I lost my husband.
But I also saw the real Trent for the first time.
The man who’d been hiding for years was finally free.
And maybe… that was the only kind of truth worth finding.







