First Snow Cannot Hide Old Sins

Three years after faking my death, I ran into my ex-husband, Jarvis Weiss, at an underground auction house on Harbor Isle.

He was burning an offering for Adela Henson, buying a pair of blood-dove rings.

Three years apart, and he was still as high and mighty as ever, murmuring softly to the woman in his arms.

"In this whole world, only you are worthy of it."

I sat in a private box on the second floor, watching the scene.

Three years ago, Adela had said with red-rimmed eyes, "It seems like Judy just can't stand me."

And Jarvis had sent me off to the Women's Virtue Academy.

"Judy James, go learn how to be a well-behaved, gracious lady of the house. Once you stop making trouble, I'll bring you back."

Later, my ribs were broken, and I was left barely breathing.

He was still setting off fireworks for Adela, telling me over the phone, "Still putting on an act. Without me, do you think you could even survive?"

He didn't know.

The one who truly died at the Women's Virtue Academy.

Was the Judy James who still wanted to beg him for a little love.

...

The gavel came down, and the light pressed onto that pair of blood-dove rings.

Vivid red.

"Mr. Weiss makes the offeringsold!"

Applause exploded.

Jarvis sat in the front row, prayer beads wound around his wrist, his brow hard and cold.

Adela leaned into his arms, tears in her eyes.

"Jarvis, it's too expensive. I really don't deserve it."

Jarvis pulled her shawl back into place.

"If I say you deserve it, then you deserve it."

Someone egged them on. "Over these three years, Mr. Weiss really has spoiled Miss Henson like she's the moon over Harbor Isle."

Adela blushed.

"Judy would be upset if she found out."

Jarvis's hand paused for a moment.

Then he said, "The dead don't get upset."

"Then Mr. Weiss might be disappointed. This ghost of mine has always had a bad temper."

I laughed out loud, pulled back the curtain of the box, and looked at them.

Adela followed the sound and lifted her head. When she saw my face clearly, the wine glass slipped from her hand in fright.

Crack.

Jarvis's head snapped up.

The wine glass shattered in his palm, blood dripping down between his fingers.

He stared at me, utterly stunned.

"Judy James?"

The whole room went silent.

I came down the stairs in my high heels and stopped in front of him.

Jarvis stared at me and let out a cold laugh.

"Judy James, so you're actually still alive. Gone for three years, and now you show up playing ghostwhat are you trying to pull?"

Adela tugged at his sleeve.

"Jarvis, don't say that. Judy's probably just had a hard time of it."

She looked at me with red eyes.

"Judy, it's so good you're still alive. We all thought you'd done something to yourself."

I looked at her.

She was good at crying, deliberately using her tears to win sympathy and hurt other people.

Jarvis's voice turned cold, with a note of condescension.

"If you've had it so hard, then you should come back and beg me. What, are you here today to admit you were wrong?"

I lifted my eyes to him.

"Three years ago, I knelt at the gate of the Women's Virtue Academy and begged you to take me back. Didn't you say I wasn't worthy of talking about dignity?"

Jarvis's expression shifted slightly.

Just as Adela was about to speak, I raised my hand and slapped him.

Crack.

His face turned to the side.

I drew back my stinging hand.

"Mr. Weiss, I really am no longer the obedient Judy James you remember."

"Because the Judy now can hold this whole game togetherand can hold your ashes too."

Adela shrank behind him in fright.

"Jarvis, she's terrifying."

Jarvis stepped in front of her.

"Judy James, you're scaring Adela."

Three years had passed.

And it was still the same line.

I laughed.

"If she's so easily scared, why didn't she go down sooner and die with me?"

Jarvis flew into a rage and clamped down on my wrist.

He caught it right on an old injury.

My wrist hurt terribly, but I didn't frown.

A voice came from the top of the second-floor stairs.

"Mr. Weiss, let go."

The man who came down was Elijah Stephens.

The man in charge of the Stephens family of Harbor Isle.

And the man who, three years ago, had rescued me.

He draped his coat over my shoulders and looked at Jarvis.

"She's not here to apologize. She's the seller of that pair of blood-dove rings."

I took out the document and slapped it down in front of Jarvis.

"Mr. Weiss, the Blood-Dove Ring is a keepsake from my grandmother."

"Using my own things to sweet-talk hercame pretty naturally to you, didn't it? Since you're so generous, Mr. Weiss, then I'll thank you for paying such a high price."

Adela went pale.

I looked down at the line of text on the inside of the ring.

To my granddaughter Judy, may she never bow her head as long as she lives.

I turned and walked toward the back.

Behind me came Jarvis's voice. "Judy James, what exactly did you come back to do?"

I didn't turn around.

"To take back what's mine."

"And to let you all knowwhen the dead come to collect a debt, they never show mercy."

The lights in the backstage lounge were very white.

I took off my gloves, and the old scars on the inside of my wrists showedrope marks.

Elijah leaned against the door.

"Did he hurt you?"

"It doesn't hurt."

He looked at me.

"You used to say that too, when it did hurt."

I didn't answer.

Three years ago, at the Women's Virtue Academy, I said the same thing.

The dean made me kneel in the ancestral hall and forced me to recite the Weiss family precepts.

A husband's word is above all else; the mistress of the house must be gracious, must not argue, must not make a scene.

If I got a single word wrong, the rope tightened another inch.

It hurt so much that I begged them, crying, to let me call Jarvis Weiss.

The dean put it on speaker.

"Go on, call. Let Mr. Weiss hear how good you are at pretending."

The call connected.

I cried, "Jarvis Weiss, save me."

There were a few seconds of silence on the other end.

Then his voice came.

"Still haven't learned your lesson?"

There was a knock at the door.

"Judy James, open the door."

Jarvis's voice came through the door, edged with anger.

I didn't move.

He knocked twice more.

"If you won't talk about the ring, you should at least talk about the divorce."

Elijah asked, "Want me to handle it?"

"No need."

I opened the door.

Jarvis stood there, his palm wrapped in gauze.

Adela was behind him, her eyes red.

"Judy, I didn't know the ring belonged to your grandmother."

I looked at her.

"There's a lot Miss Henson doesn't know."

"Three years ago you didn't know why I was sent away, didn't know how I was beaten, or how I died."

"And now you don't even know whose ring it is."

I took a step forward.

"What exactly do you know?"

Adela stepped back.

Jarvis reached out to block me.

"Enough."

He was getting impatient again.

"You're barely back and you already have to make everyone miserable?"

Three years ago, he said the same thing.

That day, Adela cried and said I looked down on her.

In front of a room full of guests, Jarvis told me to pour her tea and apologize.

I refused.

After that, I went into the Women's Virtue Academy.

I took a paper envelope from the drawer and threw it against his chest.

"Sign it."

The supplemental divorce agreement.

Jarvis's face went cold.

"You really want to make a clean break with me?"

"It's not what I want. It's a notice."

He gave a cold laugh.

"Have you forgotten? Back then, to marry me, you stood outside the Weiss family's gate all night."

"Now you come out playing the victim with Elijah Stephens. How much did he offer you?"

Adela tugged at him.

"Jarvis, don't bring that up, it'll embarrass Judy."

I looked at her.

"You're the one who reminded him to bring it up, aren't you?"

Her face stiffened.

I looked at the man in front of me and curled my lips into a smile.

"Jarvis Weiss, for three years, so you could take over the James family's assets legitimately, you deliberately held back reporting my death and only reported me missing. Since we're still husband and wife in the eyes of the law, let's sign the agreement todayand while we're at it, go over the list of James family assets you're going to cough back up."

I pulled a photo out of the envelope.

In it, seventeen-year-old me stood at the Weiss family's gate holding my grandmother's urn, barely able to stay standing in the rain.

That day, I wasn't the one throwing myself at you.

It was Jarvis who used the James family's port land as the condition for me to marry him.

It was also the first day I was under his control.

I tore the photo in half.

"Jarvis Weiss, you always think I owe you."

"But you've forgottenyou married me to get the James family's port land."

His expression changed.

Adela spoke up. "Judy, he clearly pities you."

I cut her off.

"That land is now in your name."

Adela's face went pale.

Jarvis looked at her.

"What land?"

I slapped the documents down on the table.

"Don't rush."

"The James ancestral home, the port land, the Women's Virtue Academy, and the real death certificate."

"I'll look into every one of them."

Jarvis's voice was low and hoarse.

"You're investigating me?"

"No."

I looked at him.

"I'm investigating how you people stole my life."

Jarvis didn't sign.

He threw the agreement back onto the table.

"Judy James, I don't care what kind of relationship you had with Elijah Stephens over the past three years."

"Come back to Capital City with me now, and I'll let it go."

Elijah let out a laugh.

Jarvis looked over.

"My wife and I are talking. It's not an outsider's place to butt in."

I pushed the agreement back.

"First, you and I stopped being husband and wife a long time ago."

"Second, Elijah is not an outsider."

Jarvis's eyes went cold.

"Say that again?"

"He is not an outsider."

Adela's tears came fast.

"Judy, are you deliberately trying to provoke Jarvis? You know perfectly well that he hasn't forgotten you in all three years."

I almost laughed out loud.

He hasn't forgotten me?

His so-called not forgetting was taking Adela to watch fireworks every year on the anniversary of my death, burning my belongings as offerings for her, and signing my grandmother's land over into her name.

Hearing that, Jarvis felt a pang.

"Judy James, you can hate me, but don't degrade yourself."

I looked at him and felt nothing but how absurd it all was.

"You sent your wife to a women's virtue academy, used her land to keep another woman, and burned her grandmother's ring as an offering."

"And you're still talking to me about being clean?"

Jarvis's throat worked.

After a moment, he said, "Sending you in back then was rash of me."

"But if you hadn't gone after Adela again and again, I never would have done it."

It was supposed to sound like an explanation.

But every single word left me agitated.

I asked, "Have you ever thought about why I went after her?"

Adela sobbed, "I really only saw him as an older brother."

I threw the transfer records in her face.

"An older brother gives you money, gives you land, and goes with you to prenatal checkups too?"

At the words "prenatal checkups," it was Jarvis whose face changed.

Adela bent down to pick them up.

I picked one up for her and held it out in front of Jarvis.

"Harbor Grace Maternity Hospital, March 18th, three years ago."

"Want me to read out the diagnosis for you?"

Adela rushed over to snatch it, but someone stopped her.

Jarvis grabbed the form, and once he saw what was on it, his voice changed.

"You were pregnant?"

Adela went pale.

"Jarvis, it was a misdiagnosis."

"A misdiagnosis?"

I opened my phone and played the video.

On the screen, Adela walked into the obstetrics ward arm in arm with Jarvis.

The nurse asked, "Is the baby's father going to sign?"

Adela said with a smile, "He's busy, I'll take care of it."

The video stopped.

Jarvis stared at the screen.

"Whose child was it?"

Adela went pale.

"There was no child, there really wasn't."

Jarvis turned to look at me.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

I put my phone away.

"No rush."

"Tomorrow. The James ancestral home."

"Everything you want to know, I'll show you all of it."

As I reached the door, Jarvis spoke.

"Judy James, don't push me."

"The James ancestral home is still in my name. One word from me and I can have it torn down."

I stopped.

I turned around and looked at him.

"Tear it down, then."

"As it happens, buried under the crabapple tree is the very thing you're most afraid to face."

Jarvis's expression changed.

"What do you mean?"

I didn't answer.

I only took Elijah's arm and walked out into the Harbor Isle night.

Behind me, Adela cried out, "Jarvis, she's lying to you. She just wants you to feel sorry for her."

Jarvis said nothing.

Because he remembered that three years ago, in the last call I made to him before I disappeared, I had also cried and said,

"Jarvis, don't let them touch the crabapple tree."

The next day, the space outside the James ancestral home was packed with cars.

Jarvis Weiss stood under the crabapple tree, dark shadows under his eyes.

Adela's eyes reddened the moment she saw me.

"Judy, how long are you going to keep making a scene?"

I ignored her.

Elijah handed me the key.

The key had been hidden inside the Blood-Dove Ring.

I put on gloves and lifted the stone slab under the crabapple tree.

Underneath was an iron box.

Adela was the first to change expression.

"What is this?"

I looked at her pale face and said,

"Three years ago, when I escaped from the Women's Virtue Academy, before I passed out, I begged Stacy at the old house to bury it under the crabapple tree overnight. I was afraid you'd destroy the evidence, so I had to leave myself a fallback."

I took out the phone, the USB drive, the gold locket, and the folder of medical records.

Jarvis stared at the gold locket.

"What is that?"

I didn't answer. I turned on the phone first.

The screen was badly cracked; Elijah had spent half a month getting it repaired.

Inside was a voice message that had never gone through.

I pressed play.

The voice that came out of the phone was from three years ago. It was mine.

It was very soft, very hoarse, hard to make out.

"Jarvis."

"I'm pregnant."

The courtyard went dead silent.

Jarvis's head snapped up.

The recording kept going.

"Seven weeks. The doctor says there's a heartbeat."

"They have discipline class today. I'm afraid the baby won't hold on."

"Come get me. Save her."

The last line broke off in a fit of coughing.

Jarvis's face went white.

Adela shouted, "It's fake!"

I opened the next record.

Not a voice message.

A screenshot of a forwarded message.

Three years ago, the distress recording had been sent to Jarvis.

He had heard it.

And he had forwarded it to Adela.

The note was only one line.

It said: She's putting on a show again.

Adela had replied to him:

Don't go soft. She just wants to use the baby to tie you down.

Jarvis had replied:

Let the dean keep teaching her.

The wind blew through the crabapple tree.

Jarvis stood there, not moving.

"No. I don't remember."

I opened the medical folder and pulled out the surgical consent form.

It was a surgical document from a clinic affiliated with the Women's Virtue Academy.

In the signature line were three words.

Jarvis Weiss.

His eyes narrowed sharply.

"I never signed that."

Adela took a step back.

I looked at him.

"Of course you don't remember."

"Three years ago, March 27th. Adela's birthday."

"She brought you a document and said it was a safety liability confirmation form from the Women's Virtue Academy."

"You were busy picking out firework colors for her, and you signed it without even looking."

Jarvis wheeled around toward Adela.

"Is that true?"

Adela's lips trembled.

"Jarvis, I"

I picked up the gold locket.

It was very light, its surface already tarnished black.

"I bought this for her."

"I thought that when you came to get me, you could put it on her yourself."

Jarvis reached out his hand.

"Judy."

I stepped back.

"Don't touch it. She thinks you're filthy."

The sound of a patrol car came from the mouth of the lane.

"Mr. Weiss, we'll need your cooperation with the investigation regarding the signature on the abortion consent form from back then."

Jarvis stared at the paper.

He remembered that night.

Adela sitting on his lap, holding the documents, coaxing him.

"Jarvis, just sign this for me. The academy's rushing me."

He didn't look.

The pen tip slid across the paper.

One page, then another.

He signed the name fast, completely careless.

I closed the gold locket in my palm.

"You keep asking me why I never came back."

"Three years ago, I was lying on the operating table when I heard the doctor say,"

"The family consents."

"Don't save the fetus."

Jarvis's face went white, and he stumbled back a few steps.

"I didn't. I never said I didn't want her."

Adela suddenly smiled.

Laughed until the tears came.

"Of course you said it."

"That day the doctor asked whether to save the baby."

"I called you and put it on speakerphone."

Jarvis's head jerked up, his eyes red.

"What did I say?"

Adela looked at me and said,

"You said, don't let Judy James die."

"As for the baby."

"Whatever."