Page 54 of Hidden Raphael
"I didn't connect the dots with you."
She stood up with the picture. "And you always know everything? Is that why you assume the worst about everyone and everything?"
He followed her and stayed at her side. "Kimberly, I shouldn't have said your name and money. I am sorry."
She trusted Raphael. She lowered the picture to her side. "Why did you say it?"
"I don't know honest women, and I was out of line."
"You have a thing where you mention honesty, a lot." Kimberly let Erica's picture fall to her side, and then reached out to brush Raphael's arm. "I'm not out to hurt anyone."
"I believe you."
She pointed for them both to sit on the edge of the bed. She held up the wedding picture, and smiled at her sister's photograph. "How did they meet?"
Raphael sat a foot or more away from her. "They were snowed in together, and she helped him solve a mystery related to his dead wife."
“Tiffany?” Kimberly patted her chest and the medallion beneath her shirt. "Sounds morbid."
"Gabriel is happy." He nodded. "I'm happy for them, and I swore I'd never do anything to my family ever again."
She stood up and spun around. "I'm just checking. You didn't sleep with my sister, did you?"
"No." Raphael got to his feet.
She nodded, and the world made sense again. "This is just screwed up. Do you have any alcohol up here? I think I need a drink."
He swallowed and she watched his Adam’s apple bob as if he’d accepted a mission. "Wine. I have a bottle somewhere."
She smiled. "Perfect. Can I have a glass?"
He took a step toward the closet door. "Fancy glasses are downstairs."
Now was not the time. She shook her head. "I don't need fancy. Whatever you have."
He nodded then poured into a beer cup. He handed her the glass, but then spoke like he was a boy. "I ruined Gabriel's life and caused Tiffany's…err…death. I swore to never hurt anyone in my family, no matter the cost to myself."
Raphael's dark features had stains of red. She reached up and took the glass and his hand to hold. "I thought you must have loved that woman. You held on to Tiffany's portrait and today burned it."
"No. I never liked her." His face cleared up. "I don't remember more than waking up in the bed with Tiffany, and I shouldn't have been there. If you are a decent woman, full of kindness and honor, then Kimberly, you deserve better than me."
Now was not the time for his excuses. She placed the picture next to her and swallowed the red wine. "So if my sister and your brother were snowed in, where were you?"
"You ask a lot of questions."
"Where? Raphael, what happened after you had an affair?"
He answered in a low voice, "I left home and joined the CIA. I never wanted to set foot back on US soil. My family deserved better than me for a son, but then I wound up involved with another woman who I thought was the one. She dumped me right after I introduced her to your sister and my brother as they announced their engagement."
The Marines then the CIA. He knew how to fight. Yet another woman who broke his heart must have put the wall around his heart. She sipped her glass to take her words slowly and not upset him. "Then what happened to you? How are you here?"
He sipped from his glass too. His eyes were dead, and he had edges of sadness in his voice. "I was shot, and it ended my career."
She scooted over and told him to sit back down. He followed her directions. She then turned to face his profile. "So you live on an island in your hidden castle?"
"I'm prepping the hotel to reopen." He sat straighter. "Next winter I intend to remodel more rooms."
"This is the first conversation we've had where you've been totally up-front with me." She drank the remaining liquid. "I could get used to this. I miss friends."
