The Truth He Buried With Her Chapter 03

The Truth He Buried With Her Chapter 03

Outside the window, someone was sweeping the courtyard. The broom scraped against the ground.

Leo ran in and flopped against my leg, tilting his face up. “Mommy, what are you reading?”

I put the letters away.

“Old business.”

A few days later, people in the housing block started calling me a jealous wife behind my back.

The first time I heard it was at noon, going to the washhouse for water.

Before I reached the door, several wives were inside talking, the faucet left running.

“Colonel Prescott’s wife keeps digging into that girl’s situation. What does she think she’s going to find?”

“Even if she figures it out, so what? He was deployed six months. These things happen.”

“Why does she keep walking around with that face anyway? The girl’s already pregnant and going through enough. She probably wants to make her life miserable.”

I walked in carrying my basin.

The washhouse went silent.

The three wives lowered their heads and filed out. The last one didn’t even turn off the faucet.

Blair, meanwhile, behaved properly every day.

Every morning she helped out in the kitchen before breakfast.

When she saw me carrying Leo past, she’d reach out to help. And whenever she saw me, she lowered her head and called me Mrs. Prescott.

The older women in the housing block all said she was sweet. Then they’d shake their heads and call her “poor thing.”

An old woman once took her hand in front of me and said, “Don’t you worry, sweetheart. Nobody in this housing block is gonna give you any trouble.”

I tried asking her directly once.

That day, she was sitting in a corner of the yard scrubbing clothes. I walked over, crouched down, and helped her wring one out.

She looked up at me, her eyes brightening.

I looked at those bright eyes, and my doubts only grew.

The way Blair looked at me didn’t look like the way a mistress looks at a wife.

Seeing an opening, I spoke.

“Blair, where in the southwest are you from?”

Her hands paused.

“Just—just a small town.”

“What were your parents’ names?”

“My parents died a long time ago, Mrs. Prescott.”

“How did you meet Griffin at the relocation center?”

She set the clothes down in the basin, looked at me, and pressed her lips together.

Then, as if she’d made up her mind, she said quietly: “Mrs. Prescott, do you hate me?”

Then she turned and ran out of the yard. She didn’t run fast—her belly bobbed with every step—just fast enough for Rita, out on her front steps next door, to see.

I was stunned.

That afternoon, Rita Cooper led three wives to my door.

The four of them stood in a row, like debt collectors.

Rita crossed her arms and started in: I’d driven a pregnant woman to tears every day. Was I even human?

Leo stood behind my legs, hugging my knees, and whispered, “Mommy.”

I pulled him behind me and looked at Rita.

“If you’re that worried about her, she can stay with you.”

Rita froze.

“She’s staying in my house. So unless you’re paying her bills or doing the work, shut your mouth. Bunch of gossips.”

I shut the door before she could answer.

At the end of the month, the battalion held an all-hands family meeting.

Eleanor Harrington stood at the front, going on about how we all needed to stick together and not make life harder for each other.

Then her tone changed.

“Some of you are letting your own problems spill over onto the rest of us. And it’s dragging everyone down.”

In the crowded conference room, every pair of eyes turned to me.

I sat up straighter. I wanted to stand and defend myself.

Beside me, Griffin reached under the table and squeezed my hand, hard.

I tried to pull free and couldn’t. I turned to glare at him. He shook his head.

I was furious. After the meeting, I stormed to the Battalion HQ archives.

The clerk, Ellison sat behind the counter. When he heard my request to see Blair’s file, he looked uncomfortable.

“Ma’am, I’m afraid that’s not allowed. Family members can’t access operational files.”

I asked who had handled Blair’s resettlement paperwork.

Ellison hesitated, then said Eleanor had handled it personally. The materials were locked in the safe.

I glanced at him but didn’t make trouble. I turned and left.

I went to ask Eleanor. She looked at me with a complicated expression and sighed.

“Sloane, take my advice. Let this go. Don’t make it harder for everyone.”