Moonlight After the Storm

Their fourth wedding anniversary should have been a grand celebration surrounded by friends and family.

Instead, Evelyn Fitzgerald went into anaphylactic shock after eating the anniversary cake because it was mango flavored, and mangoes could kill her.

Mara Holloway stood in the corner of the hospital room in a white dress, crowded away from everyone else. She looked nervously at Graham Prescott. "I'm sorry, Mr. Prescott. I didn't do it on purpose..."

"Mangoes were a rare luxury where I grew up. Once a year, I was lucky to scrape what was left from the pit after my younger brother finished one. I never imagined anyone could be allergic to something so wonderful."

Everyone assumed Mara was finished.

Once, a restaurant chef had accidentally added two tiny pieces of mango to Evelyn's dessert, even though she never took a bite.

Graham had stormed into the kitchen and beaten the chef himself.

Not long afterward, the restaurant was forced to close.

While everyone waited for Graham to destroy Mara's future, his low, restrained voice filled the room.

"Evie, she didn't mean it."

"What?" Everyone froze, including Evelyn in the hospital bed. She stared at him in disbelief.

"I nearly died, and you're telling me she didn't mean it?"

Graham paused almost imperceptibly, then sighed as though Evelyn were exhausting him. "I simply don't want an insignificant person ruining our anniversary."

"Then what do you intend to do?"

"Fire her, obviously." Evelyn's expression hardened as her anger rose.

Mara went pale. "Mr. Prescott, I..."

Graham didn't look at her. He stroked Evelyn's hair indulgently and said, "Fine. Whatever you want."

"I have business at the office. I'll come back later."

Before leaving, he glanced at Mara, who had lowered her head. "Go write your resignation letter."

As Mara left looking thoroughly defeated, Evelyn's friends began expressing their envy.

"You scared me. I thought Graham was actually going to let her off. He was only teasing because you were upset."

"I doubt he'll stop at firing her. He'll probably make sure she can never work in Silvercrest again. She fought so hard to escape poverty, and now her whole future is over."

Evelyn smiled faintly along with them, but unease spread through her chest.

Then her phone chimed.

It was a message from Graham.

[Meet me at Nocturne tonight.]

One sharp-eyed friend saw it and teased, "Graham is so thoughtful. He must be planning a second anniversary celebration for you."

Evelyn felt a little embarrassed. She convinced herself that her discomfort had been nothing more than oversensitivity.

That evening, she arrived at Nocturne.

She was about to open the private-room door when she saw the scene inside.

Mara, who was supposedly about to be fired, sat smiling beside Graham with an entire table of mango desserts in front of her.

"Graham, you promised Evelyn you'd fire Mara. What happens if she finds out you not only kept her but promoted her to executive assistant?"

Evelyn's hand tightened around the door handle as her heart sank.

Graham stroked Mara's hair with quiet affection before answering calmly.

"She won't find out. All of you will keep your mouths shut.

"Mara is sweet and sensible. She won't create trouble for Evie. She came to work for me as soon as she graduated, and I can't simply abandon her."

Every trace of color drained from Evelyn's face.

Mara had graduated a year ago. Graham had been unfaithful for an entire year.

Evelyn opened her mouth, but her throat felt strangled, and even swallowing became difficult.

One of Graham's friends mimed locking his lips, then couldn't resist asking another question.

"But Graham, aren't you afraid that dream will come true?"

The lively room fell silent. Graham's angular face disappeared into shadow, leaving only the ember of his cigarette glowing between his fingers.

Mara put on a timid expression at exactly the right moment, but when she noticed Evelyn beyond the door, a smile curled at the corner of her mouth.

She lifted a spoonful of mango cake to Graham's lips. He tasted it and smiled with absolute confidence.

"It was only a dream.

"Mara isn't the calculating club waitress from that nightmare, and I'm not the helpless man I was in the dream.

"In the dream, Evelyn escaped because the Fitzgerald family hid her after she obtained the divorce decree. That was why I couldn't find her immediately.

"But what if Fitzgerald Holdings went bankrupt?

"Without her family behind her, Evelyn could never leave me."

The chandelier light revealed the resolve and cruelty in Graham's eyes as he slowly exhaled a perfect ring of smoke.

"Besides, do you understand how much Evelyn loves me?

"After I told her about the dream, she became even more affectionate and dependent. She's more afraid than anyone that the nightmare might become real.

"How could a woman who loves me that much leave because my attention wandered for a little while?"

His friends laughed enviously. "The loved one really can get away with anything."

Evelyn stood outside the door.

Her stomach churned violently.

She staggered away. Her heart felt like a frozen lake, and every step cracked another piece of ice beneath her.

Only then did Evelyn realize that Nocturne was the very club Graham had refused to enter after his dream.

Now he had returned willingly.

She wandered the streets like a ghost and somehow found herself back at her parents' home.

Her parents were startled by her bloodless face. "Sweetheart, weren't you celebrating your anniversary? Did that boy Graham hurt you?"

Mrs. Fitzgerald instinctively defended him. "Don't jump to conclusions. Before we agreed to the marriage, Graham signed a notarized dissolution agreement to reassure us. Why would he ever mistreat Evie?"

"Dissolution agreement?" Evelyn seemed to wake from a trance. "Mom, give it to me. Right now."

When she saw Graham Prescott's familiar signature on the final page, the weight in her chest finally lifted.

Then it crashed back down and tore a hollow space through her heart.

The grief that followed almost drowned her, but Evelyn drew one deep breath and signed her own name.

She and Graham had reached the ending he once dreamed about.

After her attorney confirmed that the agreement could be filed under Franklin's expedited uncontested process, Evelyn told her parents everything and made her decision while comforting them.

"Fitzgerald Holdings was already planning to expand into another state. We'll move our operations to New Albion instead.

"The final decree should be entered in ten days. Once it's entered, we leave immediately."

Graham had chosen the path from his nightmare on his own, so Evelyn would now bring that nightmare to life, one step at a time.