Richard's POV
He hated his new bride.
How was anyone to love a woman that had tried to kill him when she was just ten years old all because of a few words.
So, Richard had done everything to avoid the marriage.
When he realized that his parents were adamant, he had succumbed.
He would marry her and in less than a year, they would get divorced.
That was his plan.
He would frustrate her and if that didn't work, he would pay her off.
That had been all he could think of until he had walked into that room and taken a look at the person that was his wife or rather claiming to be his wife.
He hadn't told her the entire story because he wanted to see what she would say in her defense and like he had suspected, she had no memory of the day.
On that day, his father had been drunk and inconsolable over the thought of his dead best friend and his Mum had been trying o comfort him while Mrs Dennis had been with them, leaving he and the other children alone.
Through out the day, he had watched Esther and her brother bully their baby sister in a most unbelievable manner, going as far as pinching her and slapping her around.
Richard had no siblings of his own but he had always wished for a little sister that he could protect and play with and watching how Esther and Joseph treated their own sister was absolutely unbelievable to him.
He had immediately jumped in to stop them and threatened to tell the adults but Esther had simply laughed and told him that their Dad had died because of her younger sister so their mother hated the young girl even more than she did.
If he reported, their mother would do nothing and even hurt the little girl more.
Richard had only been ten years old but he remembered how angry he had been.
He had tried to help the little girl when Esther had dragged him and pushed him into the lake.
He had never learnt to swim so he had immediately began to flutter around the lake but Esther had only laughed maniacally and watched as he went down while her brother held on to the little girl who was crying fearfully for his situation.
When he sank down into the lake, Esther and her brother and finally left and the little girl had immediately jumped into the water to save him.
She was almost half his size and could barely swim but she had jumped in with no thoughts for her life and grabbed him and together they had fought out till an adult had noticed them and they had been saved.
So, it was strange to him that anyone thought that he would ever forget the face of the person that had pushed him into the lake or more importantly, the face of the person he had seen just before he thought that he would die.
It was fifteen years ago now, but he had never forgotten what Lisa Dennis looked like.
Just to be sure of what was happening, Richard had asked to bathe with her for various reasons.
The first being that the only thing he knew about Esther Dennis was that she hated water and bodies of water.
It was the reason he had prepared the tub because he knew how much she hated water.
If it was Esther, she would make up an excuse not to get into the water and if it wasn't, well, he would see.
It had all been going according to plan until it had been time for her to get naked and he had turned around.
There were mirrors all over the bathroom so it didn't even matter if he turned around to avoid seeing her.
He hadn't mentioned this to her because she seemed scared already.
When he turned around, Richard had planned to keep his head down like the gentle man he was but at that moment, he had remembered something.
On the day of the incident, while they struggled in the lake, Lisa had grabbed on to a branch of a tree that had fallen in the lake and held on to it while she held on to him with her other hand.
She had held on so tightly that the branch had scratched a corner of her clavicle and cut her deeply.
The doctors had said that it would leave a little bit of a scar.
He immediately had a thought to check for the scar so he raised his head briefly.
What Richard saw had his jaw dropping.
Before he even noticed her shoulder, he realized that the entirety of get body was covered with blue and black marks along with old scars and cuts everywhere.
Her legs and arms were also so skinny that it was almost scary to look at her.
Richard was so shocked that he totally forgot about checking for the scar.
What…what had happened to her?
Who had done all of this to her?
Remembering the events from when they were little, Richard had an idea of who was responsible for the scars that dotted his wife's body and it took the greatest amount of willpower to prevent himself from immediately grilling her on who had done this to her and immediately punishing them.
He would have to take it slowly.
He just had to.
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Lisa's POV
"You're not Esther Dennis".
Lisa immediately panicked.
"I'm Esther Dennis. People's faces change as they grow, I'm sure you know that," she rushed to say.
Richard simply shrugged again, seemingly not believing a word that she was saying.
"I don't believe that," he told her and Lisa panicked more.
"Why wouldn't you believe that? Your parents literally came to my house to meet me? So, how wouldn't I be Esther? Do you even have proof of all these allegations?," she asked him fervently.
Richard stared at her and then smiled again as the twinkle returned to his eyes.
"Proof? Of course I do. I made sure to get it before I actually said anything," he told her.
Before Lisa could react, he had moved closer to her and pushed her hair offhrt shoulders.
Surprised, Lisa moved back and hurriedly covered her shoulders back again to hide her scars.
"What do you think you're doing?," she yelled as she glared at him.
But he already looked so remorseful that she didn't know how to react everything that was currently going on.
"You have the scar," he whispered.
Lisa blinked as she stared at him, wondering what he was talking about.
"What scar?," she asked, confused because even though she had a lot, he seemed to have a specific one he was talking about.
He looked up to her and smiled softly, his eyes shining.
"Can I?," he asked this time around as he touched her shoulder again.
Lisa stared at him for a while before she eventually nodded and watched as he pushed the hair away.
Right there on her shoulder, was a line across her clavicle.
It was one of her oldest and most mysterious scars because she didn't remember how she had gotten it.
She often stared at it in the mirror trying to think of what could have given her the scar.
"Do you know how you got this?," he asked her.
Lisa stared at him, confused.
Why did he seem troubled about her own scar?
How did this prove that she was not Esther Dennis like he had said?
"Remember the story I told you earlier of how I was pushed into the lake by Esther? Well, I was saved by Esther's little sister.
She was just a tiny child and could hardly pull me out of there but she held on to me like her life depended on it.
And while we struggled in the lake, she had grabbed on to a branch of a tree that had fallen in to the lake and held on to it while she held on to me with her other hand, refusing to let go of either.
She was so little but she had held on so tightly that the branch had scratched a corner of her clavicle and cut her deeply.
The doctors had said that it would leave a little bit of a scar and that she might not remember much of this incident because it was after all, traumatizing," he finished.
Lisa stared at him as he finished speaking, breathing softly.
She remembered.
For years, she always had dreams of her swimming but she had never understood why she had those dreams because she didn't believe she had ever swam.
Esther hated water so they had never been to pools and beaches like other people during the summer and she had often wondered why she would sometimes have such realistic dreams of being in a pool.
"Do you really think I wouldn't recognize the girl that saved my life?," he asked her softly while Lisa froze.
She didn't know what to say now that she had been caught in her family's lie barely hours after she had gotten here.
"Also, are you not aware of your sister's dislike for water or you thought it was safe since there was no way I would know that?," he asked again.
As soon as he asked her, Lisa's mouth fell open.
She had of course not expected him to know that about Esther which was why she had been okay with going into the tub.
She realized now that it was his first test to prove that she wasn't Esther.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't wish to deceive you," she whispered thinking he would be quite angry.
To her surprise, he laughed out loud.
"Deceive me? If this is deception, then I'm happy to have been deceived. I could not have asked for a better deception," he told her with a big grin on his face.
Lisa was instantly confused.
What exactly was going on now?