Page 189 of The Woman By the Lake

No one was perfect.

Tru kept going.

“Jeff was Lincoln’s. They were…” He shook his head. “There really isn’t anything in normal society to explain what my parents were. Dad loved Mom, and they were committed to each other. Lincoln loved Mom, and they were legally married, but also committed to each other. Obviously, I’ve thought about it over the years, especially recently, since I’ve asked a woman to be my wife, and did it knowing I’d lose my mind if another man touched her, or she touched another man.”

Regardless he had little affect, at hearing that, Riggs was leaning toward liking this guy.

“Maybe it was because they were twins,” Tru kept on. “But they were two very different men. I just know, there was never any issue with both of them being with Mom.” He shrugged. “That isn’t to say there weren’t arguments, disagreements. They each had their own partnership with Mom. I’m engaged. I’ve had other relationships. That happens with a partner. It happens between siblings. But it was never anything big. As much as no one will get it, and we were all very aware no one would get it, primarily Mom’s parents taught us that, thus we kept it a secret, but it worked. We were a happy family.”

“So your maternal grandparents knew of this situation?” Harry queried.

Tru shook his head. “No. But they guessed. They called Dad and Lincoln unnatural. Said they’d made Mom the same. Sinful. Filthy. I’m sure there are pious people who are quiet about their faith who are good people. The ones who are the loudest, though, usually are not.”

Riggs couldn’t disagree.

“They had an arrangement,” Tru shared. “Lincoln had Mom in Seattle. She was with Dad when we were here. Lincoln had to come with her most of the time so it wouldn’t seem weird, so no one would notice. But he gave them their privacy when they were here. Even when us kids were. He had that in Seattle. Dad had it at the lake.”

And there was the explanation of why he’d built his house as he did, not to mention why Lincoln and Sarah spent six months a year in Seattle.

“The reason why your brother and sister contend she liked to spend more time with Roosevelt,” Harry remarked.

Tru nodded. “They were doing what Lincoln told them to do, though. So was I. Giving him motive.”

And there it was.

Lincoln didn’t pull the trigger.

Rus glanced at Riggs.

Riggs cocked his head to the side.

“So Lincoln was okay that your mom was with your dad when he was at your house on that lake?” Harry asked.

“Yes,” Tru answered. “It’s how it was. It’s how they worked it. It’s how they shared. Mom was all about making sure neither of them, nor any of us kids, felt like she had favorites. She knocked herself out to do that. She was the one who asked Lincoln to figure out how to make our dining room have a circular table in the big house, because we always had dinner together when we were at the lake, and she didn’t want Dad or Lincoln to have to give up the head of the table.”

That explained his dining room.

And maybe, if Lincoln thought like Riggs did, when he sometimes used movement in design to communicate emotion, that explained the circling back on itself of the winding staircases.

Sarah wound her way to and from each of them in a continuous cycle, always circling back to one after returning from the other.

Tru carried on sharing.

“She even wanted to have another baby, because Dad had two, and Linc only had one. She got pregnant after Jeff, twice. Miscarried both, the second baby deep into her second trimester. Losing him so late, it destroyed her. Her going through that, it wrecked Dad and Linc. She was so into making sure it was all equal between all of us, she wouldn’t hear of not trying again. So Dad and Linc both got vasectomies.”

A ghost of a fond, sad smile hit his lips, the first indication of any emotion from the guy.

“When she found out they did, it wasn’t an argument or a disagreement. That caused a fight. But it was two against one. She was outnumbered,” he said quietly.

Okay, it seemed both men really did love the same woman, and they were all right with that.

And the kids, at least this one, were okay with it too.

When no one spoke, Tru continued.

“Like I said, it all worked. Really well. I know a bunch of crap came up in all the infighting. But Lincoln held up his side of the family, even after he quit writing with Dad. He managed the money, the accounts, the investments, paid the bills, the taxes. He went on the book tours, did all the interviews, because Dad hated that. When they negotiated Dad’s third contract, he fired his agent, and Linc negotiated everything after that. Yes, Lincoln wanted to sell more movie rights and Dad didn’t, but money is money. They owned a lake, for God’s sake, managed three houses, and had three kids to put through school and pay for weddings, not to mention, they had three retirements to cover. Mom liked to travel. She liked to shop too. Linc and Dad both would have spent all their time at the lake if Mom didn’t like having her time in the city to hang with her girlfriends and go to Nordstrom.”

Tru put his hand to the table, seemed to be about to rub the surface with his forefinger, then he put his hand back in his lap.

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