Page 8 of Coveted Justice

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Tanner mentally ran through the evening, examining his actions and words, but he couldn’t come up with anything that he’d done to upset his wife. Maddie had barely said a word to him since they’d returned home.

She didn’t look mad, but she didn’t seem happy either. The evening had been a success by any measure, but she looked like she was facing the gallows in the morning. If she was this upset, he didn’t want to be the reason.

Their marriage was pretty healthy. They argued but they always made up, trying to compromise as much as they could. Maddie could have a temper but normally she had a damn good reason for losing it now and then. After all these years together, they didn’t fight all that much anymore. They’d settled the big questions a long time ago, and the little shit wasn’t worth the hassle. When something was important to her, he compromised. When something was important to him, she compromised. It had worked well for them.

Open communication was key.

“Honey, is something bothering you?”

Maddie was sliding into bed and she froze, her eyes wide.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you look like something is bothering you.”

His sweet Maddie would never play professional poker. She might be able to play it stoic for her patients, but in their personal life she was an open book.

Sighing, she plopped into bed, pulling the covers to her chin.

“Yes, I am upset. I wasn’t going to say anything tonight. I didn’t want to ruin everything for you. The fundraiser went so well.”

“You won’t ruin anything. It did go well, but if something is wrong I want to know about it. I want to help.”

“I don’t think there’s anything you can do.”

“I can listen.”

She scrunched up in the bed, her knees to her chest.

“My dad wanted to talk to me tonight after the dinner. He said he had something important he wanted to tell me.”

“Is he sick again?”

Tanner had already lost his own parents, and now Maddie had to face her own father’s mortality. No one was getting any younger and Greg’s health had been precarious this last year.

“No, he’s not sick.” She turned to him, tears glistening in her eyes. “He says that I have a sister. A half-sister. Apparently, he cheated on my mother and got some woman pregnant.”

Tanner couldn’t quite believe his ears. Maddie had said that her father had cheated on her mother and that there was another daughter out there in the world. In a million years, he never would have guessed that. From what Maddie had told him, Greg had been a devoted family man, never dating until she was an adult.

Now Maddie had a sister.

“My dad cheated on my mom,” Maddie said, a few tears sliding down her cheeks. “I can’t believe my own father is a lying, stinking cheater. What else am I going to find out? That he knocks over banks in his spare time? Does he kick kittens and puppies, too?”

“Greg is a good man,” Tanner assured her. “He’s been a good father to you after your mother died. He’s been a good doctor in Springwood and taken care of its residents.”

“He cheated. Good men don’t cheat.”

“Good men make mistakes. It sounds like he made a big one, but that doesn’t make him a bad person.”

Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open.

“Are you defending him, Tanner Marks? Are you saying that being unfaithful is not a big deal, because I have to say that I had no idea that you felt this way. I’m learning all sorts of things tonight.”

Whoa, back up the bus. That was not what he was saying at all. He’d been trying to reassure his wife that her father wasn’t some kind of monster.

“I am not defending your father and I certainly don’t think being unfaithful is no big deal. I think you know that, Maddie. I was simply trying to let you know that Greg has always been a good person. Obviously, everyone has their secrets and this isn’t a good one, I’ll admit that. But it was a long time ago, and from the way your father has acted since it looks like he hasn’t done it again.”

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