AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s that all about?” Justin asked. “Was he upset?”
“No, he said he was glad. That he wanted the time to be alone. But now I’m worried about him. Katrina said I should go over there. What do you think?”
“Jeez, Dave. I feel the same way, but you don’t want to insult the old man. How’d he sound to you?”
“Like he was telling the truth. Maybe he didn’t want to have to tell her after all. He said she never asked.”
“Wow, that’s pretty telling.”
“Okay, well, go back to what you were doing. I just thought you should know.”
“Thanks, buddy.”
He ended the call and looked over at Maggie. “Your mother decided not to go back there tonight.”
Maggie frowned, tapping her glass with her nail. “So, after all this, Vic is alone there. My mother is directly responsible for digging up this bullshit, and then she leaves the scene of the crime. Can I tell you how I could have predicted this?”
“Aw, babe, it’s not really her fault. My pop said he asked her to go through the closet so they could get rid of my mother’s things once and for all. She’s been dead for ten years, and he still has her underwear in the dresser.”
“Justin, put yourself in his shoes! If you found my body out on the trail, how eager would you be to go through that room upstairs and dispose of all my crap?”
“I know. I don’t want to think about that, either, if you don’t mind.”
“I’m going to call my mother,” Maggie said, reaching for her phone.
“Okay. While you do that, I’ll go to the barn and button that up for the night.”
She nodded at him and keyed in Rose’s number.
“I wondered if you were going to call,” Rose said when she answered.
“Mother, really? You knew he was going to spill his guts to his sons tonight, and then you dog him when he needs you most?”
“Trust me on this, Maggie. Vic doesn’t need me. He’ll be fine. I don’t even want to tell you what I read today. It would turn your stomach.”
“You gotta give me more than that,” Maggie said. “What could be so bad?”
“Evidently, Vic never begged Emily or her parents to let him marry her, like he told us when the truth about the pregnancy came out.”
“How do you know this?”
“I read the letter her mother wrote to her. She didn’t think she had any other option but to go to the maternity home and give the baby up for adoption. So there goes the knight in shining armor lie.”
“You believe that horrid Margaret Benoit over Vic?”
“I do, Maggie. You should read the letter.”
“That was so long ago, Mother. Give it up. You said you loved Vic. Are you going to turn your back on him now, when he needs you most?”
“Maggie, put yourself in my shoes, if you can. What would you do if Justin had this in his past?”
Shaking her head, Maggie knew what Rose was getting at—his one-night stand with Amber Greely and the issues that had led from it.
“It’s not the same. That was just bad behavior. We’re talking a life together here, Mother. Are you really willing to give up Vic because of how Emily’s mother portrayed him in a letter nearly forty years ago? What if it’s not true?”
She heard a deep sigh on the other end of the call. “You know what? I’m sick of talking about this,” Rose said. “Just like you’re an adult woman, so am I. I think I can decide about these issues.”
“What was all that today, then? You bringing Emily’s wedding dress here for me to try and then taking it to Dave for alterations? What happened between then and now? I think I know. You have your aunt and her disgusting husband to thank for your change of attitude.”
