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“I don’t have special powers, Daddy. I’m just an ordinary person.”
“You’re a lot of things, Gina. Ordinary isn’t one of them.”
It suddenly occurred to me. “What was I supposed to see?”
“You tell her,” my father said to Mona.
Mona put her hands up and backed away. “Leave me out of this.”
“Fine,” Daddy said. “That man you were so adamant about marrying… He helped put your mother away.”
“Joel?” I said. “That’s not possible.”
“I assure you,” my father said, “it is.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Would it have made any difference?”
“Of course it would.”
“Well, at any rate… I knew what he was the first time I laid eyes on him.”
“And still you said nothing.”
“By the time I put two and two together, you were already married. I was packing things up when I found the file. His name was on the bail bonds paperwork.”
“He would have been a kid back then.”
“He was young,” my father said. “But hardly a kid.”
I took a deep breath in and held it. “Well, it’s not like he killed her.”
“Maybe not with his own hands. But that’s exactly what he did, Gina. He felt guilty about it, and that’s why he married you.”
“That’s not true. He loved me.”
“When I confronted him, he offered me hush money, thinking I was going to die soon. Guess the joke was on him.”
I could feel my rage building. “All along you knew, and you said nothing?”
“You never listen, Gina. I didn’t figure you’d suddenly start then.”
“Yeah? Well, here’s some more news for you… Mona is slowly poisoning you. You know how sometimes you feel sick and other times you feel completely fine? If I were you, I’d ask her why.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Gina,” he told me. “It’s not nice to take your anger out on Mona. She’s been nothing but helpful to this family. Sheisfamily.”
“When have I ever been nice?”
I don’t recall what else was said. I only know that harsh words were spoken, but nothing was really resolved. How could they be? Some things you can’t take back.
Still, my father was right about one thing: family is family. The only thing you can do is run, which is exactly what I did.
