The year I was released from prison, I'd served five years of someone else's sentence.
Good behavior got me out a year early. On the day I walked free, I took what was left of my savings from before the conviction and bought a designer watch. It was our wedding anniversary, and I wanted to surprise my husband.
I stood outside the gates of the university where he taught, waiting.
A security guard stepped in front of me. "Who are you here to see?"
"Stewart Matthews. My husband."
I smiled and offered him a cigarette. "Today's our wedding anniversary. I wanted to surprise him."
The guard's expression shifted. His eyes snapped up to mine.
"Don't be ridiculous. Professor Matthews's wife was just here two days ago, dropping him off. She drives a BMW." He looked me up and down. "You've got some nerve showing up here pretending to be her."
I stood frozen.
"That's impossible. I just got out of—"
Before I could finish, the guard pointed toward a woman nearby, a child balanced on her hip.
"See? That's Professor Matthews's wife, right there. Those two are as happy as they come."
I turned to look, stunned. The woman was already frowning at me, sizing me up.
"Who are you? What do you want with my husband?"
……
She shifted the child higher on her hip. "Wait, don't tell me you're one of his admirers. Ever since my husband made the news for that heroic rescue, women have been swarming him like flies. The trash cans are overflowing with roses."
She was dressed head to toe in expensive clothes, her gaze dripping with contempt as it swept over me.
She wasn't wrong about one thing. On my way here, I'd seen Stewart Matthews's photo on the campus bulletin board. Apparently, he'd saved an autistic child from a suicide attempt, landed a spot on the local news, and become something of a local celebrity overnight.
Was that why he'd been telling people he had a wife? To fend off the attention?
I took a deep breath, ready to explain.
But the guard spoke up first, grinning at the woman. "Mrs. Matthews, everyone around here knows how devoted Professor Matthews is to you. He saved up three months' salary just to buy you that necklace you liked for your birthday. The man even turned down a job offer in New York to stay with you." He shook his head admiringly. "Other women don't even register on his radar."
The woman's chin lifted. She looked me over again, smirking.
"So save yourself the trouble, sweetheart."
"My husband has very high standards. He wouldn't look twice at someone like you."
With that, she bent down and scooped up the little boy standing at her feet. "Come on, baby. Let's go find Daddy."
I stared at the child in her arms. A boy. About four years old.
My mind went blank.
She turned to leave, and I grabbed her arm.
"The husband you're talking about. You're sure his name is Stewart Matthews?"
Alberta James frowned and glanced at me sideways.
"Who else would it be? You think I don't know my own husband's name?"
I held my patience and pressed on. "I'm sorry, I just don't want there to be a misunderstanding. Is it possible there are two Stewart Matthews at this university?"
Alberta let out an incredulous laugh and yanked her arm free.
"What is your problem? There's one Stewart Matthews at this school, and he's my husband."
Then she thrust her left hand in my face, waggling her ring finger.
"See this? My husband bought it for me. A Bulgari diamond ring. Not exactly something just anyone can afford."
I stared at the ring on her finger.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
I knew that ring. I knew it better than I knew anything in the world.
It was the wedding band I'd bought for Stewart Matthews in our second year of marriage. I'd emptied every cent of my savings to afford it.
When he'd opened the box, his eyes had gone red with emotion. He'd pulled me into his arms and said the words over and over, like a prayer.
"You're so good to me. I want to be with you forever. We'll never be apart."
