EPILOGUE

By July Cornwallis Farley was glad to be on vacation. She had finished a very busy year teaching the graduate nursing students and was thrilled to have this week at her time-share condo in Aruba.

As soon as she unpacked her clothes, she made a pitcher of iced tea. She poured a glass for herself, placed the pitcher back in the refrigerator, picked up her sunglasses and her newest book, and headed out to the deck.

She placed her drink on a small table, sat down in her chaise lounge, sighed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. She felt the almost unbearable tension begin to leave her body. She relaxed in the warm sun. The ocean’s waves thundered on the shoreline and the repetitive sounds made her relax.

“Hello, there! It’s nice to see you. When did you get in?”

Wally looked over the railing and saw Becky Long smiling at her from the adjoining deck.

“Oh, hi. I’m glad to see you, Becky…Becky Long, is it?”

“Right. How are you?”

“Good. Real good. Just got in today and I’m so glad to be here.”

“Know what you mean. John and I have been here for a few days, and we’re having a great time.”

“I’m looking forward to some relaxation myself. I really need it.”

“Don’t we all?” Becky said.

“Becky, didn’t you tell me that you worked for a Dr. Matthews?”

“I still do. Why do you ask?”

“When we first met, I was sharing a condo with a girl named Alisha Morton.”

Becky plopped down in a chair and rested her arms on the railing to stare at her neighbor.

“You lie!”

“No, I’m not lying…”

“That girl! I tried to warn her, but she had set her mind on Dr. Matthews. Poor man, he had no chance!”

“So she married him?”

“Told him she was carrying his child! He divorced his wife of twenty-five years and married her.”

“Well, when I found out what she was up to, I just couldn’t live with her anymore, so we sold the condo and parted ways. Is she still with him?”

“Wallis, girl,” Becky’s voice was pitched low and she gave her answer in a deliberately paced fashion for maximum effect.

“Wally, that bitch tricked him. She had used a sperm donor. Told him it was his!”

“Oh, my God! She is crazy!”

“Tell me about it.”

“What happened?”

“I guess being a physician, he suspected something after the child was born. Had a DNA test done that proved the child was not his.”

“Then what?”

“Oh, he divorced her. The child was adopted and he and his ex-wife remarried.”

“Why on earth would his wife take him back after all that?”

“She loved him.”