Page 55 of Lunar Desires
Juliet was my mum.
“I’ll tell her tonight,” Dad said. “I’ll leave her, and we’ll go somewhere warm.” He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “We can do this. We can start again.”
My real mum shivered, her eyes still closed. “No matter where I go, they’ll know my face. I’ll never be free from the shame. And our boys…” Tears rolled down her cheeks, breaking free as she opened her eyes again. “I can’t do this, Daniel. It hurts too much. Jonathon has abandoned me, and Janet’s dead.” A horrible sob broke free. She pitched forward into his arms, crying into the crook of his neck.
Dad tried soothing her, tears of his own streaming down his cheeks.
The window closed, reopening seconds later to show Mum and Dad at our house in Broomstick Gardens. The day he’d given me the lunar diamond.
They argued in the hallway outside of the dining room where she’d slapped him, his head snapping around.
“Ten years I’ve lived with this!” she screamed, slamming a fist into his chest. “Ten years of pain. Ten years of wondering when you’d do it again.” She whimpered, her brown eyes bloodshot. “And now you have.” She waved a piece of paper in his face. “Who is she? Who is she? What’s this about twins? About moving to America?”
“Emily, I’m so?—”
She slapped him again. “Bastard! Bastard! Bastard!”
He rubbed where she’d struck him, staying calm. “Let me explain. Please.”
“What’s to explain? You fuck any woman who wiggles her arse at you. Fuck you. You’re slime.” She scrunched the paper into a ball. “I took you back after you went with The Sun. Even agreed to raise your son when she gave up on him.”
Wow. A vicious response, one from someone so deeply hurt. Still, it stung to hear her say it about Juliet. The former Sun had given us up after being backed into a corner with the pressure of shame bearing down on her.
Realistically, what kind of life could she have given us?
“And I’m grateful for that,” Dad answered, his left cheek blooming red. “But we’ve grown apart.” He took a step back. “Let’s end this. Let’s find happiness again.”
She didn’t answer, staring at him with leaking eyes.
“I’m sorry for everything I’ve put you through, sweetheart. I really am.”
Mum sniffled. “So you…so you decided to run away? To America?”
Dad sighed. “To start again. To take the pain away.” A sympathetic smile crept across his face. “So you can be with Peter.”
“What?”
“I know you want him.”
She wiped her eyes. “I don’t…I’m not a cheater like you.”
He nodded. “That’s why I’m setting you free to find real love.”
Okay, this hurt my soul. Dad sounded like an arsehole here, no matter his intentions. At the end of the day, he’d cheated on Mum and fathered triplets. And not only that, but taken me in after Juliet’s death, totally changing Mum’s life.
Bringing me up and knowing I wasn’t hers, but a product of a betrayal?
I wanted to be sick.
Mum pulled a tissue from her jeans pocket. “What about Riley?” She dabbed at her nose.
“He’s coming with me,” Dad answered pretty firmly. “This is a complete refresh, Emily. You can be free.”
Anger creased her forehead. “You bastard. He’s my son.”
“He’s not.” Wow. So cold for Dad.
“I’ve raised him for these past ten years!” Mum cried. “Me! Not her!” She grabbed handfuls of her hair and screamed, almost tearing her brown tresses from her scalp.
