Page 154 of The Promise Of Rain

Shortly after ten the next morning, I pulled a chair up close beside my father’s bed.He’d had a rough night, but I would never again put Jenny second to anyone.

Bracing my elbows on my knees, I clasped my hands together and studied his face.

Confusion clouded his eyes as he searched mine.“What is it, Son?”

I swallowed, readying myself for the truth I could see coming straight for me at a hundred miles per hour.

“Jenny and I ran into her mother yesterday.”

At the mention of Jenny’s name, irritation flashed in his eyes.

But it was immediately replaced with panic as he processed my words.

I gritted my teeth.“So, it’s true.”

His eyes skittered back and forth between mine.“Your mother already knows.It’s done and over with.”

“When and how long?”

His habitual mask of calm serenity began to slip over his face.“It hardly matt—"

“When and how long?”I roared, my hands fisting on my thighs.

His eyes widened as his jaw dropped.

He was just a man, a man who stumbled through life along with the rest of us.

He tried, he failed, he loved, he hurt, and he needed forgiveness as much as everyone else.

He chose his path.

I would choose mine.

Hurried footsteps flew up the hall and the bedroom door swung open, bouncing off the wall before coming to a stop beneath the slap of my mother’s small palm.

Her frightened gaze swung wildly between us as she sagged in the doorway.“What’s wrong?What’s happening?”she panted.

My father held his hand out to her.“Come sit with me.Seems Deacon ran into that woman yesterday and she dug up the past.”

She stared back at my father for only a moment before standing up straight and levelling me with her fractured gaze.

As if I was the one who betrayed her.

When she spun on her heel and walked away, I followed, catching up with her in the kitchen.

My heart broke for her, and her behaviour, although unfair, finally made sense.

She stood at the counter with her back to me, staring out the window.

“Are you okay, Mom?”

She slowly turned around, accusation shining in her glossy eyes.“How could you do this to me?”She demanded harshly.“Issheso important it’s worth putting me through this?Putting your father through more than he’s already dealing with?”

So.

It was like this.

“She’s worth everything,” I stated calmly despite the fury coursing through my veins.