for over four years. Just like he had never told her about the relationship he’d had with his parents, she’d never told him about the one she had with hers. Would things have been different if they’d been honest with each other before?
“Mom believed, even after fifteen long years, that he truly did love her, and that one day he would leave his wife for her like he said he would. Everybody tried to tell her differently, but she refused to believe them. Finally, my grandparents just accepted that Mom would never see Dad as anything but the man who loved her.”
Toni paused again. She was sharing with Drew something she’d never shared with any of her friends other than Joy. She certainly hadn’t ever told any of her male friends. So why was she doing it now—opening her soul to Drew, sharing something that was private and personal...something that had once caused her so much pain?
She knew the answer. She loved him. And after hearing what he’d told Ellis, she’d known his story was something he had wanted to share to help someone else. And it had. She had seen Ellis’s finger on the trigger. At any point in time, he had been prepared to put a bullet in Sam’s head. Drew’s words had stopped him.
“One day, a week before Christmas, Dad came to visit us. It was on a Thursday night. Thursday was always his regular time to come see us. I knew the moment he walked into the house that evening that something was different.”
She could clearly remember that particular night. “He didn’t come in and act like he owned the place…although, he actually did. He had bought the house for me and Mom, so I guess I could say he looked after us well enough. And we never needed anything that he didn’t get for us. Mom’s car, our clothes...everything. And he set us up in a nice community. She was a kept woman, and I was her kept kid.”
Toni’s throat grew tight, remembering, but then she swallowed and returned to her story. “That night, I thought Dad seemed kind of sad. I found out later that his wife had finally found out about me and Mom and had given him an ultimatum—he either cut his ties with us, or she would sue for divorce. He chose his marriage over me and Mom. That night he’d come to tell us goodbye.”
Toni drew in a deep breath and a sob caught in her throat. “All those years, he had Mom believing that all he’d been waiting for was a chance to divorce his wife. The moment he got it, he chose to stay married. Mom cried every day after that. Then one day, she didn’t cry. I was hoping she’d finally decided Dad wasn’t worth it, and although this would be our first Christmas without him, at least we had each other.”
Tears Toni could not stop filled her eyes. “Dad had made things easy for us to move on. He had left Mom the deed to the house, money for my college education, and enough funds in a bank account to tide us over for years to come. I thought we’d be able to start over. But I found out that wasn’t the way Mom was thinking at all.”
“What happened?”
“I woke up Christmas Day to find Mom had overdosed on her sleeping pills. She’d committed suicide, Drew. Heartbreak had pushed her into doing it.”
“I’m so sorry, Toni.”
She swiped at her tears. “Yes, I’m sorry, too. Mom deserved better, but she never believed that she did.”
“Has your father ever reached out to you since then?” Drew asked.
“Yes. He tried, and for years I refused to see him. I asked that he not attend Mom’s funeral. I heard he came to my high school and college graduations, but I didn’t see him. It was easier to hate him. For years I hated him. That’s why I decided that I would never fall in love. Being in love left my mother vulnerable. It brought her nothing but pain.”
“Is your father still living in Miami?”
“He moved to Philadelphia ten years ago. He subsequently got a divorce, and his family remained in Philadelphia, where his ex-wife’s family lives. He moved back to Miami a few weeks ago.”
“What does he do for a living?”
“His family has always been in land management and development. Are you familiar with the Oliver Properties?”
“The developer of those gigantic shopping malls across the United States?”