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“It wasn’t hard, Emma. It’s what I do for a living.”
My entire body shook as I glanced around. “What do you want, Bill?”
“My mother died two weeks ago.”
Jerking my gaze back to him, I stared with my mouth gaping. “What?” I whispered.
“She had cancer but didn’t tell any of us.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “She didn’t tellanyone? Not even Ben Senior?”
He shook his head.
“I’m so sorry, Bill. Are you okay?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. We’re all doing as well as can be expected. Still pretty shocked.”
“I can imagine. But you didn’t have to come all the way up here to tell me.” A thought hit me, and I took a step back. “Did you tellhimwhere I was?”
“No. He hasn’t asked me to locate you. Yet. I think he might be dating someone new, I’m not sure. We don’t really talk anymore, Emma. Even if he did ask me, I wouldn’t help him.”
My stomach turned, not because he was dating someone, more because I knew what a monster he was, and the poor girl he was dating didn’t.
I had a feeling Bill had always suspected something was wrong, but Ben was his older brother. His hero and the man he looked up to. He turned a blind eye—just like the rest of the family. Including my own mother. It wasn’t until the divorce that the truth came out.
“I hope she finds out his true colors quicker than I did.”
Bill looked away for a moment, then back to me. He cleared his throat and said, “I came because I found this in Mom’s things. It was a letter written to you. Ben didn’t see it; I was the one who found it. I wanted you to have it.”
Staring down at the paper, I wanted to tell him I didn’t want it. But Ben’s mom, Lee, had always been sweet to me. There were times I felt like she wanted to tell me to leave, but she could never bring herself to do so.
I sighed and reached for the letter. Bill had just suffered an unexpected loss, and the last thing I wanted was to cause him more grief. “I’m not sure what your mom could possibly want to say to me.”
My voice held a hint of anger. Bill gave me a knowing look.
“Thank you anyway for bringing it to me. You could have mailed it.”
“I know, but I wanted to see how you were doing. You know, check on you.”
I lifted my brow. “Check on me?”
It was then I saw Aiden. Surprisingly, he was still at the church. He’d just walked outside and was now standing behind Bill, looking at the two of us. I pulled my gaze away andmotioned for Bill to walk with me, away from the wandering eyes of the church.
We walked for a few seconds in silence before he spoke, his voice low.
“I knew, Emma. I mean…I was pretty sure it was happening. I asked Ben about it, and he told me to mind my own business. I knew what he was doing, and I didn’t do anything, and for that, I’m so sorry. Maybe I was in denial or…hell. I don’t know. Afraid it was something in our blood because of how our daddy beat our mother.”
Stopping, I turned to face him, shock overwhelming me. “What?”
He kicked at something on the ground. “Our father used to beat Mom pretty badly. I was little and don’t remember a lot of it. Ben tried his best to hide it from me, keep me away from our dad. Ben took a few beatings when he got older, trying to keep Mom safe. By the time I figured out what was going on, it had stopped. For a while, anyway. I guess it started up again after I left for school, but Mom never said anything to us. At least not to me.”
My hand covered my mouth as I attempted not to throw up.
“I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree,” he whispered.
Instinctively, I took a step back.
“No, not me! Ben. I swear to you, I’ve never raised my voice or my hand to a woman. Hell, why do you think I was always gone? It was easier to ignore it all than deal with it, even if it made me a coward. But…truth be told, Emma, I always liked you. More than I should have. And I was jealous of my brother. There were times I wanted to ask you, tobegyou, to just leave with me, but I knew it wouldn’t happen. I figured you stayed with him because you loved him. In my mind, I guess I hoped that meant he didn’t actually hit you, but it was more…verbal. Which doesn’t make it any better.”
