Page 83 of Swept Away

And in particular, about the men.

As I said before, she always likes to focus on the positives.

And whatever positives must’ve been in this story, they didn’t matter that much to make him the topic of our conversations.

All we know is that he never got over my mother. But he never came close to us either. I never met the man, so that’s what makes me raise my eyebrows.

“What?” I ask quietly. “Why would he stop by?”

I swiftly realize he knows where my aunt lives.

She hasn’t moved her whole life, so she is easy to track.

I understand that, but why would he stop by her place now? For what?And why is she telling me all this, like it has something to do with me?

“He knew it was your birthday, so he brought you a gift.”

My mouth falls open and stays like that for a few good seconds.

My mother’s first husband brought me a gift?

Like twenty-something years later?

In what world does this make sense?

“Is there a particular reason why he’s doing that now?” I ask, not knowing what to think.

The real question is…Is he still angry with my mother?

No matter how hush-hush this story has always been, it doesn’t take a genius to realize the man might have an ax to grind.

My mother left him while pregnant with another man.

My father.

But Christopher always suspected he was my real father.He liked to think that.

Although my mother adamantly said that wasn’t the case.

But we all know how good she is at putting a spin on things once in a while, especially when it matters, so that wouldn’t be a first.

She never wanted me to meet Christopher.

In fact, he married someone else, didn’t he?

Someone from the Philippines?

“What happened to his wife?” I ask before she has the chance to answer my previous question.

“Nothing. They got divorced.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. He only came to drop off this gift. You’ll see it when you get here. Nothing special, he said. Just some stuff he wanted you to have. It belonged to your mother.”

A shiver races down my back.

That can’t be good.