“Okay, but if this is about Jake, I really can’t say anything.”
“Wait. What? Is there something going on with Jake?”
“No.” Her eyes shifted to the rug, like a child caught in a lie.
“Whoa, hold on. What’s happening with Jake?”
“Nothing,” she lied. “What did you want to ask me?”
Momentarily stunned, I wasn’t sure which wounded boy I should be concerned about.
“Rory.” I redirected my thoughts. “I think he was abused as a child.”
Casey didn’t seem to be the least bit surprised. “Jake said the same thing.”
“He did?”
“Yes. He’s sensitive to that. Said he saw it in his eyes. Whatever that means.”
“What else did he say?”
“Grace, I can’t. You need to talk to Jake if you want to know.”
Again, I got the impression not all was well in their newlywed world. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine. Jake’s been dealing with some demons since the wedding and it’s been”—tears welled in her eyes—“difficult.”
“Oh. I’m sorry. If you don’t want to talk right now, it’s okay.”
“No. Go on.”
“Something is upsetting Rory. Something big and he won’t tell me. I keep trying but he shuts me down every time. I feel like he’s slipping away and I don’t know how to help him.”
Casey nodded as if this were an everyday occurrence in her life. “You want my advice, Grace? Don’t give Rory a choice. If he wants this relationship with you—if he loves you—he owes it to you to be honest. He needs to let you know upfront what you’re walking into.”
“You didn’t know with Jake?”
“Well… I thought I knew. It’s different with Jake. The world knows what happened to him. All you have to do is type his name into a search engine and you could read for days. But all that, it just barely scratches the surface of who Jake is and what happened to him.”
“And he won’t tell you?”
“I know some things.”
Now I was intensely curious.
“Do you know how he escaped? How he”—I dropped my voice to a bare whisper—“managed to get the knife?”
Casey bit down on her lower lip. So much turmoil going through her. I totally lost track of Rory in this conversation. My sister-in-law nodded her head, slowly at first, then with slightly more vigor. My eyes popped wide open, followed by a quick gasp. I knew she’d never tell, never break his trust in her, but holy hell. As far as I knew, no one in the family knew that part of the story. The why. The how. He’d been thirteen at the time. How had he managed to gain the upper hand?
“How did you get him to tell you?”
“Just like you, I let him choose the pace. I waited so patiently. But Grace, Rory’s never going to tell you unless you give him no choice. He can’t have it both ways. It’s either you and him together forever, or him and his secret forever and ever.”
“What if I ask him and he still won’t tell me?”
“Well, Grace, the answer to that depends on how much you love him.”
29
