AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I ignore the pain welling up in my chest and remain calm.
“Who is she?”
Triss draws a deep breath. “I don’t know. I found her in the bus that I took to Summerset. Or rather, her father left her with me. I fell asleep and I didn’t realize he hadn’t come back. When we reached Summerset, the bus driver thought Lara was my daughter and told me to take her with me. I didn’t have a choice.”
I study her face. She doesn’t look like she’s lying. Then again, she’s fooled me before.
I stand up and put my hand on my desk. “How am I supposed to believe you when you’ve been lying to me all this time? I trusted you, Triss.”
She looks away. “I know.”
“I told you about my past and my memories. I opened up to you about my feelings. I married you. And all this time, you’ve been making a fool out of me.”
“I wasn’t trying to do that.”
“Then why did you lie, Triss?” My fingers clench around a piece of paper.
I’ve been trying to remain calm, but I can’t. Right now, the pain in my chest is too much.
“You know I don’t remember my past. There isn’t much truth for me to hold on to. And still you lied to me?”
Triss looks at me with fear in her eyes. “I was going to tell you.”
“When, Triss?” I slam my hand on my desk. “When Lara turned ten and started asking questions? When we had a child of our own? You had plenty of chances to tell me.”
“I was going to tell you tonight,” she confesses. “Right here. I didn’t come here just to seduce you. I was going to tell you.”
“After seducing me,” I say wryly. “See. You are making a fool out of me.”
“No.”
“You only married me so you could wrap me around your finger, didn’t you?”
“No.”
“You were just using me, weren’t you?” My hands clench into fists.
“That’s not true! I…” Triss stops. She draws a deep breath.
“What?” I demand. “What have you got to say? Are you trying to come up with an excuse? Another sob story? Maggie and Ned were right about you. Bernie was right about you. You’re…”
“A curse?” Triss finishes my sentence with anger in her voice. “Nothing but trouble?”
My eyebrows furrow. Why is she the one angry when she’s the one at fault?
“Why don’t you go ahead and hit me, then?” Triss dares me. “You want to, don’t you?”
I stare at my clenched fists.
“Go on. I lied to you, remember? I betrayed you. I used you.”
My fists tremble and then relax. I drop them to my sides.
I can’t. Why was I even thinking of hitting her? Even if she did all those things, she’s a woman and my wife. She’s Triss. I’m sure she has a reason for doing what she did.
“Just to be clear, though, I wasn’t planning on lying to you.” Triss looks straight into my eyes. “I was going to leave Lara at your doorstep, remember?”
I do.
“I was hoping maybe you could find who her real parents are, or if not, then you could give her a home. I was trying to do what I thought was best for her. That’s why I left her. But you saw me. And I fainted. And when I woke up, you were there. You were kind. You saw me as a human being, which I hadn’t felt in a long while. You made me feel like I was worth something again. You saved me. So when you called Lara my daughter, I went along with it.”
Come to think of it, that’s exactly what happened.
“But of course, I shouldn’t have,” Triss goes on. “I should have corrected you. But I was scared. For the first time in so long, someone was kind to me. I didn’t have anywhere to go and you were offering me your home. I thought that if you found out Lara wasn’t my daughter, you’d throw me away.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Why would I do that?”
“Because that’s what people do. Throw me away. Because I’m useless.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Would you have offered me your home if I was all alone? Would you have been as kind?”
I find myself unable to answer. Why did I agree to let her stay? It wasn’t because of Lara, right? Or was it?
“I thought I was trying to protect Lara, too,” Triss says softly as she touches her arm. “I wanted her to be safe, to be cared for. But I guess I was just fooling myself. I was just using her, too, wasn’t I?”
I don’t think so. Triss may not be Lara’s mother, but she’s been nothing but kind to her, especially these past few days. How many women could manage that?
“You know what? I’ll just leave.” Triss takes a step back. “You hand Lara over to the cops and I’ll leave town. You’ll never have to worry about either of us again.”
