That is the particular cruelty of being deceived by careful people: they train you, over months, to distrust your own accurate instincts, until the day the truth arrives and you realize you had known it all along and had let yourself be talked out of your own knowing.

Chapter 3 — The Draycott Name

“What expectations?” I asked.

Beau straightened his coat, and that small movement told me more than his words.

He was not speaking like a husband.

He was delivering a prepared statement.

“My family needs clarity,” he said.

“The Draycott name carries responsibilities.” “The Draycott name,” I repeated.