She pauses and out of the corner of my eye, I see Ruslan continuing to approach.
“He told me that yes, he was having an affair, but it wasn’t what I thought. He and your mother were getting a divorce, and they were both already moving on with their lives. They just hadn’t told you. He was going to tell you before he left with her. And I believed him because he seemed so sincere, but then I was at your house just after the New Year, do you remember? And I saw your parents acting very much in love, and that’s when I realized he lied to me. So I confronted him outside and he told me he was ending the affair because he realized he loved your mother. But that passport… he was just lying to me.”
Every word cuts deep like Moira’s tongue holds a razor.
My father was having an affair?
He was cheating on Mom and planning to leave her, to leave both of us?
I stand as suddenly, the stone bench becomes too hard to sit on, and my stomach curdles like off milk. “He was… he was having an affair?”
Moira nods and looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Ivy.”
“He was having an affair and youknewabout it? Since last year? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he made it sound like both he and your mom had moved on,” Moira exclaims desperately. “So I didn’t want to bethe asshole that told you your parents were splitting up before you were ready to hear it!”
“Then why not when you caught him in those lies?”
“I don’t know, okay? I didn’t want to hurt you! Your dad said he was going to come clean, and I wanted to be there for you when you needed someone.”
“How could you be there for me when you knew for months that he wascheating?” My head’s going to explode. I can’t keep up with the flood of information coming my way or how casually Moira speaks about it. She doesn’t know about all the other shit going on, but suddenly, my sweet, kind, somewhat absent father has crumbled before my eyes and become an utter cunt who was in the process of breaking my mother’s heart.
“I don’t believe it,” I gasp, lifting a trembling hand to my lips as if the contact will keep my churning gut calm. “He wasn’t a cheater. He was loyal. He loved Mom!”
“I’m sorry,” Moira pleads and she blinks, sending tears rolling down her cheeks. “When I found out he died, I wasn’t ever planning on telling you because what would it matter? But then I wanted to because what if she turned up at the funeral? I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry, Ivy. I didn’t want to be the one to hurt you!”
Thankfully, bile stays where it belongs inside me because anger takes its place and my breathing grows ragged. “You’re sorry? You’re sorry? What about my poor mom? Months andmonthsshe spent thinking she was happily married and all the while, he was fucking someone else?”
“He said it was mutual!” Moira rises to her feet. “I swear he made it sound like she had also moved on. I know he lied, but I thought no one was getting hurt at first.”
“You—” I point at her but no words come. I’m so angry that I’m boiling up on the inside and sweat stings at the back of my neck.
He was having an affair and had a passport with a different name. None of that suggests he was planning on telling Mom anything. I dig into my back jeans pocket for my phone but just as it rests in my palm, a shadow falls over me.
I look up and meet Ruslan’s blue eyes, as intense as the sky behind his head.
His hand closes over my palm and snatches my phone away. “No phone calls.”
“Ruslan—”
“No calls.”
“No!” Anger bubbles over and I slam both my hands into Ruslan’s shoulders but he doesn’t move. “Give me my phone! Give it to me now! Give it!”
His eyes don’t leave mine even as I shove at him again. “Tell me.”
“He—” My voice cracks and the soft notes in his voice seem to unlock some of the pain smothered under the anger. Tears spring into my eyes. “My d-dad was having an affair and I need to call the family lawyer because I need to know if he was divorcing my mom. So give me my damn phone!”
Ruslan’s brow twitches for a second, then he silently hands my phone back to me. “Make it quick.”
As I turn away from them both, Moira wails and sinks back down onto the bench. “I thought I was doing the right thing! I didn’t want to be the one to hurt her. I was doing the right thing!”
“The right thing for you or her?” comes Ruslan’s stiff reply.
I ignore them both and walk to the edge of the patio while dialing the lawyer’s number. It rings out for a long time until a woman answers.
“Afternoon, thank you for calling?—”
