Page 81 of Secrets, Lies and Love

He shrugs. “People make mistakes. They do stupid shit. They are imperfect. They wake up on bad days and want to tell everyone to fuck off, eventually. Your ex-wife was always happy. No apparent emotional scars regarding her traumatic past.”

“Then that’s it? You disliked her because she didn’t seem depressed?”

“No. It was because there were pieces of the story itself that didn’t fit together.”

“Like what, for example?”

“She went to college, had a university degree, but worked serving coffee on the campus where her ex-husband studied. She was older than him, but she accused him of being controlling, tyrannical, according to what she told me. From everything I’ve researched, however, there is nothing in Keith Bates’ record to prove this.”

“Like what?”

“Everyone he interacted with said he was a quiet guy, ageek, but never violent. I will grant that people, most of the time, don’t show their true colors, but he had no record of incidents of violence against women, or even bar fights, before his death. Not even a statement from Sue, at any police station, saying that she was being abused.”

“There are many women who are beaten and do not report it.”

“Yes, there are, and that may have been what happened in her case, but I don’t know...Something doesn’t add up. It’s not so much a certainty as a feeling that the story was painted for you in the colors she wanted you to see.”

“And what else?”

“Let’s go back to Keith. Someone who is a habitual drunk or drug addict, as she accused him of being, would eventually have a problem with the law: getting caught driving drunk, getting into fights, being irresponsible at work or college. Keith hadn’t even left home before he married her, Dionysus. The guy lived to study and work.”

“Why are you only telling me this now?”

“Because you were grieving. Both your ex-wife and her allegedly deceased abusive husband were dead. There was no point in bringing this up.”

“So why now?”

“You are in a new relationship, it seems. Your marriage was short, and you didn’t even have time to get to know her, but here’s my opinion: Sue wasn’t a saint. Your marriage was short, and you didn’t even have time to get to know her before proposing to her. I didn’t interfere. You were an adult and should have known what you were doing, but maybe it’s time to close that door on the past.”

“It wasn’t because I loved Sue that I never dated anyone seriously after her death, but because I never wanted to.”

“And now?”

I run both hands over my face. “Now, I have more questions than answers, cousin, so I will choose to live one day at a time.”

* “Daddy” in Greek.

Cecily

CHAPTER FORTY

I knowwhat happened to Joseph was an accident, but I still feel guilty.

It’s as if God is punishing me for straying completely from the path I had set myself.

I didn’t come to New York to have fun, nor to fall in love with Keith’s son’s adoptive father, but to make sure that, unlike the monster that was his mother, our boy was being well taken care of.

He is. Of that, I have no doubt anymore, so half my mission is accomplished, because even though I continue to love Keith like a brother, I will fail him in one thing.

I can’t go to court against Dionysus for custody of his son. I only needed a short interaction with them to understand that blood, in this case, means nothing. Joseph and Dionysus belong together.

The Greek is my boy’s sun, and I would never have the courage to fight for Joseph in front of a judge, to try to take him away from his father or request custody, supported by the letter I have from my friend and which serves as his will.

I have experienced a lack of familial affection for years, so I can recognize the opposite of that: dedicated, faithful, and absolute love. And that is how Dionysus acts with his heir.

He loves Joseph with his whole heart, as if he were his own, and I can’t imagine a better father to raise him.

This would be the moment for me to turn around and leave. There is nothing more to do here, but apart from the fact that I have become much more attached to Joseph than I ever imagined, I also find myself entangled in a web of omissions so large that I have no idea how to get out.

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