After leaving Noah she came home and went searching again. This time she was searching for the marriage certificate.
She had recoiled when Noah had said that Shaun had taken advantage of her memory loss, to shape her life to fit a narrative that benefitted him." Her eyes had widened with the horror of Shaun's betrayal. It was hard to fathom that Shaun would go that far, but when Noah pulled out the file and showed her all the evidence that supported his statement, it sank in that she had lived a lie.
After crying her eyes out that she had no reassurance that the foundation of her life wasn't built on lies, she had told Noah that she'd do the paternity. They had agreed that they'd have it done two days from then.
Noah had tried to hold her hand but she had pulled hers away. When she got home, her heart was heavy and her mind was racing. She had asked one of her girlfriend's to keep the kids and as soon as she dropped them and got back, she had headed towards the study and rummaged through files and draws. Her fingers flipping through documents with growing desperation. There was no marriage certificate.
When Shaun got home, the house was in darkness. Samatha didn't greet him in the kitchen. When he got to their bedroom it was dark as well and when he flipped on the light she was sitting there staring vacantly.
"Samantha what's wrong. Why are you sitting here in the dark?" He said dropping his bag on the floor, concern lacing his voice. He sat facing her and took her hands.
"Oh nothing, just a lot on my mind. How was your day?" Her voice carried a flatness, that Shaun couldn't help but notice.
"It was good," he said and gave her a brief run down of what he did and experienced, but all the while watching her closely.
"Sounds like you had a very busy day." The lightness in her voice sounded forced, and her eyes betrayed a hint of distress.
Everyday is busy." Shaun slid his hands up her arm and to her shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze. "You sure you're okay, you seem off? You know you can tell me anything, right?" His expression was one of readiness to listen.
She nodded. Did you happen to see our marriage certificate. I want to open a savings plan for the kids and that was one of the documents requested.
"It's in this." He got up and retrieved a thick folder from the bookshelf and went through it pulling out a textured paper. He handed it to her. Samantha's hands trembled as she took it from him, her eyes scanning over the names, dates and witnesses. Looking for any inconsistencies to confim or deny Noah's claim. For a moment she felt a sense of relief, when she didn't see any. It looked authentic. But the confusion still lingered. A marriage certificate didn't prove her entire history. It could be forged. She could still be living a charade.
"Are you sure you're okay? You know you can tell me anything."
"Shaun I'm fine." She sighed. "I forgot to tell you that I have an appointment in the next two days with the gynecologist. I have a papsmear booked." She hated having to lie to him but she just couldn't tell him what she was going to do.
