Chapter 14 - THE FIRST LIE LENORA TOLDThe first lie was not about Emmett.
It was about how she met Roland.
Lenora said they met accidentally at Newport gala.
In truth, Adrian had encouraged her attend because Roland would be there.
Message:
R will be at Preservation Saturday. Go remind him life exists.
Lenora:
That’s gross.
Adrian:
You like powerful men.
She went.
Did she target Roland for trust?
At that time maybe no explicit.
Adrian knew wealth.
Lenora wanted new life.
She later admitted:
“I hoped he’d notice.”
Roland felt manipulated.
But people arrange introductions all time.
The darker lie:
She told Roland she had not spoken to Adrian in years.
False.
They remained occasional contact.
Thus marriage started with omission.
Yet early love real.
Again.
Roland and Lenora had adult sexual/romantic life, trips, tenderness.
She helped through grief.
He supported her father’s illness.
No rewriting.
This makes betrayal hurt.
One recovered message after wedding:
LENORA to friend:
I married man I love and somehow still feel like guest in dead woman’s house.
May you like
Not gold-digger only.
Complex.
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