Page 81 of The Summer of Us

I picked up the envelope, my fingers not cooperating as it slid from my grasp, hitting the top of the desk. Her eyes followed my movements.

“What is that?”

I opened my mouth to start, but the words didn’t come out. Instead, all I heard was Sunny.

“If you do this, you lose me, Linc. Forever.”

“The loss of the man I thought you were is going to wreck me for the rest of my life.”

I cleared my throat.

“You’re forgetting the one common factor here—Mrs. Tremont is a person as well. A fellow human being. You don’t know her story. You are threatening to hurt a person. Think about it. Think hard.”

The words that came from my mouth shocked me. “Why do you hate me? Even as a kid, you did—even though I never did anything to you.”

“You kept your father from me.”

A humorless laugh escaped my throat. “I think, Martha, perhaps you have been misguided in your judgment. My father spent no time with me at all unless he was telling me to do something or punishing me.”

She didn’t say anything. I stood, rounding the desk, leaning on the edge. I copied her stance, crossing my arms over my chest. I started to talk, not stopping for over fifteen minutes. I spoke of the way my father ignored me, held me responsible, somehow, for everything—including my mother’s death. She grew pale as I talked about the inflicted punishments. How he’d pound my chest or sucker-punch my gut.

“Always with the intent to hurt badly—but not leave scars others could see,” I told her.

Silence fell between us as we stared at each other. Looking—perhaps really looking for the first time. Martha gave off a polished vibe. Her makeup was flawless, her hair perfect, her outfit becoming. But when I regarded her, I saw underneath the façade. The pallor the makeup hid. The anxious tremor in her hands she was trying to hide. The fear in her gaze.

I wondered briefly if that was what my father saw when he brought people to heel. If he reveled in it—the power he held in his hands to destroy a fellow human being—because he could. I bet his euphoria was high, his ego swelling at his power, his chest inflating with his own sense of supremacy. I wondered if it turned him on sexually.

All I felt was ill. And disgust.

Right then, I knew Sunny and Abby were correct. I couldn’t do this.

I reached behind me and handed her the envelope. She frowned, opening the flap, staggering to the left as she saw the contents. I gripped her elbow and helped her sit.

“What? Where did you get these?”

“From my father’s personal files.”

“He… I… No. He wouldn’t.”

I sighed and stood, needing the distance. I sat back at the desk. “He did.”

Her head bent as she shuffled through the pictures, sounds of distress escaping her lips on occasion. She sat in the chair, her shoulders slumped in resignation. When she lifted her head, her voice was defeated.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing. I’m giving you those pictures, Martha. There’s only one set. Do what you want with them. I will never tell anyone about this. Ever.”

“Why?”

She was right to be suspicious. “What good would it do? Destroy your marriage? Cause an unnecessary scandal? Allow my father to carry on his reign of destruction?”

She shook her head. “I thought…I thought I meant something to him. He always promised once you were out of the way, we’d be together. Then when you left, he spent all that time trying to mend fences with you…” Her voice trailed off at the look on my face.

“He hated me,” I told her. “He sent me away—there was no mending fences. He was cruel and stole my life for falling in love with someone he didn’t approve of. Because I didn’t follow his rules, everyone I cared for suffered.”

“I-I didn’t know. He said…he told me so many lies,” she murmured, then held up the pictures. “Why are you giving these to me if not to manipulate me?”

I sighed. “Rightfully, they belong to you. I think, Martha, your esteem for my father has been misplaced. I thought if you saw them, you would realize the memories you are clinging to perhaps weren’t real.” I cleared my throat. “I suggest you try to make your peace with it and move forward.”