“I was,” he replied calmly. “Three months ago, after surgery in Chicago, I started seeing again little by little, and I didn’t tell anyone.”

My heart pounded painfully as confusion turned into something sharper.

“Why would you hide something like that from me,” I asked, barely keeping my voice steady.

He looked at me with an expression that was too calm for what he had just confessed.

“Because I knew you would run if you knew the truth too soon,” he answered quietly.

I let out a broken laugh that sounded nothing like humor.

“So instead, you lied to me and married me first,” I said, and the words felt heavy in my mouth.

“I was waiting for the right moment,” he said.

“You chose after the wedding as the right moment,” I replied, and the silence between us grew thick.

I stood up quickly, feeling the fabric of my dress against my scarred skin in a way I had not felt earlier.

“You saw me, and you said nothing,” I said, my voice shaking despite my effort to stay calm.

“I saw you before we even met,” he said, and that sentence changed the air in the room completely.

I froze, staring at him.

“What do you mean,” I asked slowly.

He took a breath and began explaining something I never expected to hear.