I didn’t answer immediately.

I had waited for years for my son to speak to me honestly. Now that he finally did, I didn’t know whether to hug him or cry.

—Jacob, why didn’t you defend me last night?

Her face fell.

—Because I was afraid.

-About what?

—From losing my marriage.

I looked at him with deep sadness.

—And in order not to lose your wife, you were willing to lose your mother.

Jacob began to cry.

He made no noise. He didn’t cover his face. He simply sat in front of me, tears falling onto his hands.

For a moment I wanted to get up and hug him.

He was my son.

He would always be my son.

But he was also a grown man who had to learn to take responsibility for his decisions.

“I can’t fix this for you,” I said gently. “I can’t force Amanda to respect me. Nor can I force you to defend me.”

-I know.

—What I can do is find out the truth.

Jacob nodded.

Before leaving, he stopped by the door.

—Mom, there’s something I haven’t told you.

Wait.

—When Amanda and I started planning the wedding, her dad offered to help with some expenses. She said we didn’t need his money because you were going to pay for everything.

I felt a chill.

—And why didn’t they accept your help?

Jacob looked down at the ground.

—Because Amanda said there was a way to turn the wedding into an investment for her family. That, if everything went well, her father could get new clients and pay off an old debt.

My heart began to beat strongly.

—What debt?

Jacob shook his head.

—He didn’t explain the details to me.

I accompanied him to the door.

Before leaving, he turned around one last time.

—Mom, what exactly does your letter say?

I touched the sealed envelope inside the bag.

—It says what I decided to do if someone ever asked me again to sacrifice my dignity to protect a lie.

Jacob turned pale.

—What are you going to do?

I looked him in the eyes.

“I’m going to find out what your father promised seventeen years ago. And if that promise has anything to do with the wedding, everyone involved will have to answer for their own decisions.”

I closed the door when he left.

Then I went back to the kitchen, opened the black book, and checked Richard Cole’s letter once more.

Something didn’t fit.

The date of that letter was seventeen years ago.

But Harold’s note that appeared a few pages later had a much more recent date: just a few months before he died.

My husband had started writing about Richard Cole again when he was already seriously ill.

And at the bottom of the page, he had left an instruction that made me feel a lump in my throat.

If Judith ever needs to know the truth, look for the blue envelope in the safe. Do not give it to Richard. Do not give it to Jacob. Only to Judith.

I stared at those words.

Harold had foreseen that one day I would need to discover something.

But what could my husband have stored in a safe that shouldn’t have reached our son or Amanda’s father?

I picked up the phone and dialed the bank’s number.

The employee confirmed to me that the register was still active.

I could come the next day with my ID and the necessary documents.

I hung up.

Then I looked at the sealed envelope I had written on the night before.

For the first time, I understood that perhaps I wasn’t the only letter that could change that family’s destiny.

There was another one.

One that Harold had hidden before he died.

And if my husband had taken so many precautions to protect her, then what he would find inside that safe deposit box could be much more serious than an old debt.

That could be the reason why Amanda had wanted to keep me away from her wedding.

And the reason why his father had kept silent for seventeen years.