“Liar.”
Then she did something entirely uncharacteristic of the stiff-chinned, unflappable Auggie. She began to cry.
I did the only thing I could think of, the only thing that came naturally. I knelt and put my arms around her, holding her against my chest and using the cloth napkin next to me to wipe her face and nose. Eventually, I picked her up and cradled her, carrying her back to one of the guest rooms that was as of yet, untouched. I laid her on the bed and collapsed gently next to her.
I’d admit to being a bastard when I said that even the sound of her crying was welcomed, if only because it meant that my Auggie was back.
I began to talk then, into the thickness of her damp hair, all the while petting her shoulder as I cradled her thin form against me. “I want to talk, Auggie, and I’m asking you to listen. Can you do that for me, just this once?”
I felt her head nod beneath my chin. So, I began.
“There is nothing I can say to excuse the way I’ve treated you. You have always been faithful and my rock. I need you more than any person alive on this planet. You’ve become the other half of my miserable self, and I’m not worthy of being half to you. I know I became distant and I know that wasn’t fair to you. What I don’t know is why I thought you would put up with that. I have no excuses but I do have an explanation as to what was going on and you may draw your own conclusions. If, when I’m done, you still want to leave, I’ll pack my things and deed the condo over to you without a word and leave you be. If, however, you can find it in your heart to understand, and if not to quite forgive me, then I will sleep in the other room until the time you think you want me back, and to once again wear my rings. Can we agree on that?”
I felt her head nod again and I handed her a tissue as she sniffed loudly.
“I’m about to lose the clinic,” I said and felt her stiffen immediately and felt her head tilting upward for an explanation. “No, just lie still and listen.” I kissed her forehead.
“Just after the grand opening, I received a letter from an attorney. It accused me of professional misconduct and assorted various personal attacks that damaged the reputation of Dr. Jervis. I made the mistake of not reporting something I witnessed, Auggie, and it will involve hurting you a bit more. Can you take it? Can I tell you this last thing so that all is clear between us?”
“Yes, it can’t get much worse,” she whispered.
“I walked in on Dr. Jervis and a woman having sex in his office one evening. The woman was a client and had other ties that made the entire thing more than inappropriate. Auggie, that woman was…” but before I could go on, she interrupted.
“My mother.”
“How did you know?” I felt relief that she knew and pain that she hadn’t confided in me, but then who was I to judge anyone for their lack of confidence?
“She has a pattern. I’ve come to know it fairly well,” she explained and I nodded, hugging her as if it were nothing more than a bee sting that would quickly fade, although I knew that would never happen.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to find out and I took advantage of the situation to force Jervis into selling me his share of the clinic. Jervis has always had one hand in my father’s pocket. Evidently he knew about Linc and had blackmailed my father. I’d always known there was something shady and disturbed between the two of them; rather like honor among thieves. I couldn’t put a finger on it until just then and that was the beginning.” I gave her a few moments to digest this before continuing on.
“Jervis avoided confronting me directly but went to my father instead. His timing was perfect. Father was angry because his second-born, black sheep son had shown him up, outmaneuvering him using his own game. I owned the clinic, had the degrees and the success was about to follow. I had even captured the daughter of his former mistress.”
“Did you come after me because of who my mother is?” she asked and my heart ached that she would even question this.
“No, Auggie, even I am not that devious and anyway, I knew you before I figured out the affair with your mother. She gave it away herself, that first night when you introduced me to her and then later when you told me about the pictures in her album. It all snapped into place then.”
She sighed. “I wondered what that was all about.”
I nodded. “So, you take one pissed Jervis and one highly jealous bastard of a father and the result is a lawsuit that threatened to expose me and disgrace me forever in a professional sense, as well as drain me of finances through interminable lawsuits, all of which would be financed by my own father. That’s when it started coming down on me. I knew I was being short, being distant, but it was the only way I knew how to protect you. You see, as much as I hate it, there’s enough of my father in me to see the pattern, too. When crossed, I go for the throat. I didn’t want you getting in the way.”
I kissed her hair. Her forehead. Willing her to understand.
“So all those nights when I left you to sleep in your bed alone, I was craving you. I needed you. You belonged to me. But I was too dangerous to be near. I don’t know why I thought you would understand that. You had none of the facts and certainly none of the suspicion and background to even guess at what was going on. Your world may have been colored by a promiscuous, controlling mother, Auggie, but your dad is who you take after and he is a true gentleman.”
I held her tighter as sobs once again wracked her shoulders.
“It was my mistake,” I whispered. “I should have never underestimated you. I should have realized that, if anything, it not only involved you but that we could have gotten through it better if we were together. I’m so sorry, Auggie… but once again, I didn’t give you the credit you deserved.”