Chapter 6 - The Call That Reached Sabine
Authorities tried to reach me.
That fact almost destroyed several employees.
My old apartment received a certified letter.
We had moved.
An old corporate switchboard got two calls.
One was entered as:
Pennsylvania social worker calling re: Marianne.
For years after Marianne disappeared, my office received dozens of supposed sightings.
Psychics.
People seeking reward money.
Confused callers.
One woman claiming she was Marianne herself.
Eventually my staff created a screening process.
Anything involving Marianne went through one person before reaching me.
For the final year before the wedding, that person was Sabine.
She had become my fiancée.
She knew my grief better than almost anyone.
My assistant forwarded the Pennsylvania message.
Sabine called back.
Caleb Ross answered.
He explained.
Marianne was alive.
Identity confirmed.
She wanted contact with her family.
Sabine sat in her parked car after that call.
Her phone records showed forty-seven minutes before she drove again.
She could have called me.
She did not.
The next morning, she drove to Pennsylvania herself.
Marianne recognized her.
Not immediately.
Then:
“Sabine.”
Sabine cried.
Held her hand.
Told her Melusine was healthy.
Told her I was healthy.
Then Marianne asked:
“Why isn’t Rainier here?”
Everything depended on Sabine’s next sentence.
She could have said:
Because he doesn’t know.
Instead she said:
“He thinks you died.”
True.
Then:
“We need to be very careful about telling him.”
Why?
“Melusine is emotionally fragile.”
Partly true.
“And Rainier only recently accepted your death.”
True.
“He may need time.”
Not hers to decide.
May you like
Marianne agreed to wait a few days.
A few days became eight months.
