The Girl in the Portrait — Rekha Ambardar

Peggy Maynard goes down to the basement one morning to find her husband working on the painting of a young woman. He covers the painting as if to conceal it from her. Then, one day, both Will and the painting disappear from her home and from her life. This initiates a long journey of self-searching, while Peggy wonders why she didn't see warning signs in her marriage, why she didn't leave him before.

One day, Detective Byers, who's on the case, tracks down a doctor who attended a former student of Will's â€" Irma Vasquez. Eighteen years prior, she had a baby, and it appears the father is Will.

Peggy's search for her missing husband leads her to Queretaro, Mexico, where a startling discovery forces her to decide what her relationship with Will was truly made of, or if they ever really had one.

A short story.