5
RAFAEL
Around three that afternoon, Rafael let himself into the hotel room. He’d been out for most of the day with Stone, Nico, and Trey, having a tame bachelor party. They’d had lunch in town and then rented snowshoes for a hike through the woods. The afternoon had ended with expensive scotch and stinky cigars. His muscles slightly fatigued from exercise and his mind calm from the quiet of the woods, he shrugged out of his jacket. Where was his bride? The suite was quiet. Too quiet.
Something was wrong. A darkness hung in the air, like the interior of a funeral home. The hair at the back of his neck stood up as he called out to Lisa. There was no answer. Glancing around, everything looked the same as when he’d left. The door to the other bedroom where the wedding gown and the bridesmaid dresses were hidden remained closed. The bathroom door was also closed. Even if Lisa were in the shower, she usually kept the door slightly ajar. He crossed the room and tapped on the door. “Lisa, are you in there?”
“Yes.” The sound of splashing water told him she was in the tub. That was a bad sign. She only took baths when she wasupset. What had her mother done? “Come on in.” Her voice sounded muffled and strange. Was she crying?
He opened the door a few inches. Thick steam shrouded his view, but he made out the outline of Lisa sitting in the middle of the tub. Her face was buried in her drawn-up knees.
He shut the door to keep the warmth in the room and crossed over to her. “Sweetheart, what’s the matter?” He knelt next to the tub as she lifted her face to him.
Puffy red eyes peered at him. “My parents are getting a divorce.”
He rocked back on his heels and then plopped hard onto the floor. “What?”
“Yes. They told David and me this morning.”
“The day before your wedding?”
She nodded. “Good timing, right?”
“I’d say.” His mind had gone from calm to enraged in a matter of seconds. What was wrong with these people? Couldn’t it wait until after she returned from the honeymoon? It was as if they wanted her to be as unhappy as they were.
“It’s my dad. He wants out.” She went on to tell him they’d been in counseling and that her father realized he’d been miserable for years. “You won’t believe what Mom told me today. She said they got married because she was pregnant. It’s like everything was a lie. My whole childhood.” She started crying again, speaking through her tears. “I kept it together until after Mom left.”
“She was here?” He knew it.
“Yes. She threatened to leave before the wedding, but I talked her out of it. I was calm when she was here, like I was channeling someone else. But the minute she left, everything just crashed in on me.”
He was sweating under his ski pants and sweater in the warmth of the bathroom. Peeling them off, heuncharacteristically tossed them aside without a thought of hanging them in the closet.
When he’d discarded his underclothes, he climbed in behind her and encircled her with his arms and legs. “Everything’s going to be all right. Maybe they’ll both be happier.”
She nodded into her hands. He felt her relax against him. “I hope so. I’m not sure my dad could be more miserable than he’s been, but she seemed content. At least, that’s what I thought. Apparently she had to give up studying art in Paris when she got pregnant. I had no idea.” She paused for a moment, quiet. Her back moved up and down as she breathed. One of her relaxation techniques was to breathe slowly in and out. She’d learned it from the trauma therapist after witnessing a mass shooting.
She rested the back of her head against his chest. “I’m afraid, Rafael. What if we end up like them? Hating each other?”
“That’s not going to happen. We’re marrying for the right reasons.”
“Because we don’t want to live without each other?”
“That’s not really a question.” He caressed her upper arms with his thumbs. “Baby, you’re my soul mate and best friend. We’re nothing like your parents.”
“But maybe my family has the marriage curse, too. Look at what happened to David.”
“The truth is—statistically fifty percent of marriages don’t make it. There are probably a lot of different reasons for that, including being ill-suited, like your parents. If you have to give up who you are to please the other person, then it’s not right.”
“You think that’s what happened with my dad?”
“Seems that way to me. He doesn’t seem present. Like he checked out a long time ago. Her personality is so strong, there was no room for him.”
“He wants to come out to California to be close to David and me. He told us that in front of Mom.”
“Talk about salt on the wound,” Rafael said. He almost felt sorry for Mrs. Perry. Almost. Until he remembered all the ways she’d hurt Lisa over the years.
“She acted like it was a contest and they’d chosen me over her. It was bizarre. She spewed all these hateful things at me. Awful predictions about my life. She said eventually you’ll leave me. I’ll be a has-been by then, and the kids will all have grown up and moved away. I’ll be left all alone.”
