“Yes, it was,” she agrees with me softly. “It was a blessing when she died.”
My mind immediately turns to my own parents who are back in Prague. My father, Cenek, is a software architect for one of the largest global investment providers. My mother, Hedvika, is an executive for ?koda Auto, an automobile manufacturer and subsidiary of Volkswagen. It’s one of the largest employers in Prague. Needless to say, my parents are fairly well off and we lived in what would be considered a luxury apartment on the banks of the river Vltava overlooking Old Town. As I was growing up, and to this day, my parents were immersed in work. It was what was most important to them. From an early age, I concentrated on hockey, which was at their insistence at first merely so I would be occupied and would not bother them. This means we didn’t spend a lot of time together. There were times when I was a kid that I wanted their attention and I would sometimes act out. It’s probably where I get my prickly nature and the driving need sometimes to do what I want to do without regard to the circumstances. But for the most part, we had a fairly sterile relationship that maybe has a tinge of fondness to it, but was and still is sadly lacking in any real bond.
I think about my parents, who are lovely people and very nice, but almost like strangers to me, and I honestly don’t know how I’d feel if they got sick the way Lexi’s mom did. While I can’t seem to muster any real empathy for my own situation, I know I feel a tremendous amount for the sassy woman beside me who has persevered through some really bad times.
“She told you about Brian before she died,” I say as a statement, as she told me that much already. “Why did she keep it hidden from you?”
I can see Lexi shrug from the corner of my eye and her voice is light when she says, “I think she had a bit of a broken heart when he cut things off with her. He was still hung up on his dead wife and couldn’t give my mom what she wanted. Plus, my mom was just one of those people who didn’t like to impose or be a burden, as evidenced by the fact she kept her illness hidden from me.”
My tires slide a little, alarming me enough to give her hand a quick squeeze before releasing it to move it back to the steering wheel. I could downplay this with Lexi, but that’s not my style. I’m bold in my opinions, but hopefully deliver them with a measure of tact. “It was wrong of your mom to keep knowledge of your dad from you, and I know you have to be reeling over all of this. But not sure she was wrong about sparing you her illness. That was purely her protective instinct kicking in.”
“I agree with you on all of that,” she says simply. “I’ve had a lot of time to process all of this and try to come to grips with it. This past week has been a little wild having just met Brian and Gray, but I think things will even out.”
“What do they say about all this?” I ask curiously.
“Brian is fully on board,” Lexi says, and I can hear the affection in her voice. “He’s chosen to believe what my mom told me on her deathbed, that she had not been with anyone else and I was definitely Brian Brannon’s child.”
“What about Gray?” I ask, and I’m mildly surprised by the slight harshness in my tone. Gray and I don’t see eye to eye and I’m poised to take offense at what Lexi might tell me, especially when I saw the way Gray treated her in the locker room.
Lexi lets out a sigh. “She’s a tougher nut to crack. She has moments when I think she’s cool with everything, then she’ll turn right around and remind me that nothing’s been proven yet.”
“A DNA test?” I ask.
“We sent it off about a week ago,” she says lightly. “Hopefully the results will be back end of next week.”
“She didn’t treat you very nicely in the locker room the other day,” I observe just as my nav system advises me I’ll need to take a right in five hundred feet. At the speed we’re going, that could take awhile.
“I know,” Lexi says with resignation. “And it got worse when we went up to her office. She point-blank asked me if I was after them for money.”
“What the fuck?” I practically bark, and Lexi’s head snaps my way. “She actually thought that’s what you were after?”
Lexi doesn’t respond, and after a few moments of silence, I risk a quick glance at her. She’s staring at me with her head tilted to the side, as if I’m a great mystery.
“What?” I ask as I look back to the road.
“It’s just…” she says with a little hesitation. “Why would you jump to my defense? You don’t know me any better than Gray does. It could be a legitimate concern.”
“No way,” I say adamantly. “You’re not like that. And that was uncalled for…for her to attack you like that for no reason.”
“How do you know?” she presses me. “How could you possibly know?”