Black Rainbow (Rainbows 1)

She walked around me, heading to her son’s side as he cried.

“Tristan, leave it alone. Please, just leave all of this alone. Everything was fine—”

“Everything was not fine!” I yelled once more.

She flinched, then began rocking her son back and forth as his crying intensified at my outburst.

Taking a deep breath I tried to calm myself. “If you’re scared—”

“I’m not scared,” she lied, shaking her head.

“Then say the truth. You are not fine. With this hanging over your head and in your heart, nothing is fine. Your mother was in love with Ben Walton. Doing this is not what she would have wanted. You lying for the rest of your life to everyone, to yourself, it isn’t want she would have wanted.”

“Then she shouldn’t have embarrassed us like that!” she spat at me. “Right in the open, she was cheating on our father. She wanted to use me as her cover so that she could sleep with him! It’s her fault. This is all her fault.”

It sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

Wait.

“Embarrassed us. Our father. You’re speaking about two people. Your brother, you called your brother. Cole was what, eighteen? Nineteen? You didn’t want to tell your dad, so you called your brother.”

Everything was starting to form in my mind.

She didn’t answer.

“What happened that night in the motel room Odile?”

She shook her head as she wiped her tears away—.“This was done. It was over. Why did you have to bring it—”

“Because this isn’t right. You know that. This is blackening you soul. Your smile used to light up rooms, and now you're a walking pit. The brother you think you are protecting is slowly killing you, and you won’t be the only one to suffer. That child in your arms, he will suffer worse than anyone, because he will never understand why you are the way you are. Why you will hurt him because you are hurting yourself. So please Odile, tell me, what happened.”

She swallowed, still trying to wipe away her tears and with a choked sob, she began.

“She took me to that stupid fair. She said it was just going to be us that weekend, just the girls. But then he came, and she thought that I was stupid, that she could just force me to be friends with his daughter, and I wouldn’t notice what was going on.

“I was mad at her, and when I saw the pregnancy test in the bathroom that night, I just couldn’t take it anymore so I called Cole. I told him everything and he told me not to move, that he would be there soon. I stared at her and I realized that I hated her; I couldn’t stand the sight of her, so I went to sit outside. It was cold and she kept telling me to come in, but I told her to leave me alone. Finally Cole arrived, and he told me to stay in the car… I…”

She covered her mouth and finally looked to me. “She screamed once. That was all I heard, but it took Cole so long to come out again, and when he did, he had changed. He threw away the trash, and got into the car with me.

“The whole way home he said how we were a family—we were the Van Allens. He called her a disgrace, and told me what to say. But I didn’t realize he had killed her until she was on the news. Everything happened so fast and he said no one was going to talk to me. He told me to stay away, so I did. No one came—”

“You have to testify to this Odile.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I just can’t. They will crucify me. Everything will fall apart. I can’t.”

“I’ll help you. I will do everything in my power to protect you. But you need to testify because hearing it from you is much better than hearing it from a tape.”

I reached into my front pocket and pulled out my phone.

Just lik

e that, she broke down, and I pulled both her, and her crying son, into my arms.

LEVI

“Levi!” Selene yelled as she ran towards me.

I had just called her, didn’t I? How did she get here so fast?