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The three men swung their heads in the same direction to find Nicolette standing at the top of the stairs. Each man’s chest heaved from emotion and exertion. They each turned and walked away from one another, seeking the control they had lost. Silence reigned, but the tension was omnipresent.
Cole moved to stand at the rear wall and look out at the snow beginning to fall and coat the backyard below. His eyes went to the garden Jillian had begun and how it had been taken over by weeds and overgrowth.
Neglect had a way of doing that.
He let his forehead rest on the cold glass. His heavy breaths fanned it. He had denied himself Jillian’s attention and was beginning to feel and look as abandoned as the garden.
A flash of blue against the glass caught his eye and he watched in the reflection as his mother went to his father’s side. “I knew about the affair,” she admitted, pressing a hand to her husband’s cheek to stroke it lovingly.
Cole’s eyes widened. It was his turn to be stunned. He turned to eye them—united and in love. He had been a fool, thinking he’d sheltered and kept her free from hurt when all the while she had long since given her husband the forgiveness Cole would not. He didn’t know how to feel, but pleased was nowhere on the list of possibilities.
Cole turned from them and fought the urge to valiantly punch his fist through the glass until the entire rear wall shattered. Instead, he lightly tapped it against his leg.
“What affair? When?” Gabe asked.
“Fifteen years ago,” Nicolette supplied as she guided Phillip Senior to another chair to sit.
“And did you know Cole knew about it?” Gabe asked. “Just how many secrets does this damn family have?”
“No, I didn’t know Cole knew,” Nicolette insisted.
That was of little reprieve.
“I’ve got to get out of here,” he said.
Gabe blocked his path. “No! Don’t run from it. Make them stand in their mess and realize it created more mess,” he said before stepping past his brother to eye their parents. “You two have this weird bubble where first and foremost there’s only the two of you. Even now, you comfort a man who betrayed you and ignore a son who protected you.”
Nicolette look confused at first and then her expression changed as if Gabe’s point of view was now her own. “My Cole Man,” she said, reverting to her childhood nickname for him.
He shook his head, denying his mother the opportunity to appease her sudden guilt. He had feelings of his own with which to grapple. “I’m done. This is it for me. I will never keep another secret for anyone, so you have tonight to tell the family about Lincoln or I will,” he said before turning and striding away.
His booted feet ate up the stairs as he descended them. Reaching the first floor, he moved quickly to the closet and yanked his coat from the wooden hanger, causing it to tumble to the floor.
“You good, bro?”
Cole glanced at Gabe coming down the last few stairs to also reach for his coat. He’d also picked up the hanger Cole had sent to the floor in his haste.
“Yeah,” he lied. “You?” Discovering their father had once cheated on their mother had to have affected his brother, too.
“No,” Gabe admitted, opening the door and entering the vestibule. “Affairs. You keeping one hell of a secret from me. A half-brother we have never met. No, I am not good.”
Cole was glad to see Harvey already parked on the street and awaiting them.
“I called him,” Gabe said, answering the unspoken question.
Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzz.
“Great,” Cole said as he pulled his cell phone from the inner pocket of his coat.
For a moment, he wished it were Jillian.
He shook his head at his mother’s number. “Nope,” he said, sending the call to voice mail before dropping the phone back into his coat pocket as he bent his body to enter the back seat of the SUV.
He shivered from the cold and was thankful when Harvey slammed the door closed and rushed around the vehicle to do the same for Gabe.
“We never did get him to admit he had us all investigated,” Cole said just as Gabe’s phone rang. “Unless it was Mom.”
“Actually, my bet is on her after the stunts she pulled with Monica and Jillian,” Gabe said, pulling his phone from his pocket. “I’m glad to be out of there. I’m going home. Eat some dinner. Love on my woman and go to bed, because reality sucks right now.”
