Something made me answer. "Nolan, this is Connie Dunham. " Her voice was young, trying to stay steady but not quite managing it. "I got your letter," she said. "I sat with it for 2 days before confronting him. He broke down and admitted everything.
Months, just like you said. " I started to apologize for how she had learned the truth, but she cut me off. "I need you to hear something. " Her tone flattened, careful, like she had rehearsed it. "I'm 3 months pregnant. Reed and I, we found out just before your letter arrived. I was picking paint colors for a nursery, and then I opened your envelope, and my whole life collapsed in the time it took to read three sentences. " I didn't have an answer for that.
There wasn't one. "You did what you thought was right," she continued. "Maybe you were, but you didn't stop for a second to think about what it would do to me. You thought about what you'd want, not what I need. " The line went quiet except for her breathing. "I'm sorry," I said, and I meant it.
Not for sending the letter, but because her life had been shattered by someone she trusted and then finished off by a stranger with a stamp and an envelope. She hung up without saying goodbye. I sat at the kitchen table for a long time after that. The thing about doing what you believe is right is that no one hands you a reward for it. Sometimes you're just left alone in a quiet house wondering if right was even the correct word.
The next morning, Diane called. Her voice was completely different, tight, sharp, charged. "Reed told me his wife found out. He said someone sent her a letter. " A pause. "That was you. " "Yes. " "You destroyed everything, Nolan.
You didn't just leave me. You made sure there was nothing left for me to go to. His wife is pregnant. Did you know that? " "No. " "Well, she is. Now she's alone.
Reed can't barely face himself, and you're sitting there in that house thinking you're the hero. " There were a few seconds of silence. Then I said what I knew to be true, even if it didn't feel as clean as it had before. "You destroyed everything, Diane. Not me. I told the truth to someone who deserved it.
What she does with it is her choice. What he did to her is his responsibility. And what you did to us, that's yours. " She hung up. Reed resigned from Mercy General within 2 weeks. From what I heard, Connie filed a complaint with administration, and things became uncomfortable enough that he left before being forced out.