Page 206 of Severed Heart

He stares back at me as I release his shoulder to help clear my eyes. “Well, I’ll take your word for it because you’releaking again.”

I can’t help laughing. “I have been nothing but anemotional womansince I stopped drinking, and I hate it. But if you can believe it, no matter how much I leak now, I am so much happier.”

“I see it in you. You look well ... healthy,” he rasps out, “I almost couldn’t believe it when Tyler told me”—he tilts his head—“but then I remembered noticing a real difference in you when I took you to Pretty Place for that sunset. You were sober that day.”

“Oui.” I smile. “I had just gotten sober. I have worked very hard to stay sober. Very close to a year now.”

“It shows,” he whispers low before a rare apprehension fills his eyes. “You know, Ormand personally escorted me and Sean to the airport last night.”

“Oh?” I say, dread settling low. “Good, he owes me many favors.”

“Tatie,” he drags out, his tone confirming that Ormand did much more than give him a ride. Fury instantly fills me as I gape over at him.

“What did Ormand tell you?”

“A lot that you omitted. You undersold the shit out of your past when Tobias forced the conversation between us before I left for MIT.” He nudges me. “Jesus... fuck, Tatie, why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because you werechildren, and it was my job to protect you from such vile truths. Of all my failures, it’s theone thingI successfully managed to guard you from, even as I failed to shield you from myself. As you both grew older, I decided I never wanted you to know.” I shake my head in fury. “Ezekiel still does not know, and it was not Ormand’s place to tell you anything,” I whisper shakily, “he had no fucking right, the fucking imbecile.”

“Well, you might be pissed at him, but I got the impression you’re his hero,” he relays ironically. “I don’t think he meant any harm because he got pretty choked up as he rambled on about how he had wronged you. He looked fucking terrified, too, like he had the fear of God put in him. He kissed mine and Sean’s collective asses the whole ride. So, while you might hate it, I’m glad I know what little he did tell us, Tatie, and that you’re here because I already decidedmonths agothat I was coming to you after I got back.”

My heart lights at his admission. “You did?”

“Through a coincidence—I’m now positive is namedTyler—I stumbled upon my grandfather,” he confesses.

“You metFrancis?” I gasp.

“And his son, Ranier, briefly, but yeah, and my conversation with him changed a lot of my perception of you.” He shakes his head, his expression dimming. “After hearing Ormand last night... you’re not the only one who has an overdue apology. I fucking”—he swallows—“I fucking made fun of you, antagonized you, and you...” His remorseful gaze prompts me to answer his unspoken question.

“No.” I shake my head. “This is not the conversation I wanted to have. I have put that in the past behind me, and you are suffering enough.”

“Tatie,” he urges. “This is the conversation I need to have. I have bits and pieces, but I need to hear the truth from you.” He watches me carefully as if through new eyes. “I remember you before, Delphine. The aunt you were to me before my parents died. You weren’t a ball of sunshine, but you played with me and Tobias in the yard. You read to me a lot to practice your English.‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish,’” he says as I mouth the last of the title with him. “It was our favorite book, even if you did have a love-hate relationship with Dr. Seuss.”

I palm my mouth to hold in my emotion as he nudges me. “Tatie, tell me what happened.”

“You were a child,” I tell him. “Please let it be.”

“I can’t. Tell me what he did.”

Closing my eyes briefly, I nod. “If I tell you this, Dominic, you must promise never to share it with Ezekiel.”

He nods.

“I will not give you all the details, but to keep it short, Alain took a heavy ashtray from the kitchen table, a very heavy ashtray, and struck me here”—I point to my left temple—“causing permanent damage... he almost killed me, but it was Beau, your father, who saved me from that fate,” I relay in hopes it brings him pride. “Beau terrorized Alain enough to scare him into hiding, and he never contacted me again.”

“Jesus Christ,” he utters. “All those times I fucked with you about it,” he darts his eyes away, “and that morning... I was so fucking vicious with you about Tyler.”

“Shh, Dom, no”—I glance back at the door in fear—“please don’t speak of this. I don’t want Tyler to hear or to know.Not ever.”

“Fuck that,” he says, not lowering his tone by a fraction. “I know you broke it off with him after I went off on you that morning,” he relays, guilt clear in his eyes, “because he enlisted just after and would never come near this house. That’s... on me, and I’m fucking sorry for that, but I swear to God, Tatie, I thought I was protecting him.” He palms the back of his neck. “Or maybe I was just too much of a fucking asshole to see it.”

“You weren’t wrong, Dom. You weren’t right, either, but time told us differently. Tyler and I are very happy now. You just wanted your friend to have the best life. It’s not so hard to understand why you had so many doubts... I shared them with you, butplease, please let’s not speak of this... you know he has the hearing of a bat.”

He nudges me again. “He really doesn’t suspect?”

“No, and he willnever know,” I vow.

“I don’t know if I can live with it. He deserves to know, and I deserve his wrath for it.”