“I’ve told you before, your parents argue because they’re insecure of each other’s feelings.” Ms. Helen stirred her stew. “And now that Ethel has met the proof of Simon’s infidelity in Noah, she’s increased the hostilities.”
Darius arched a brow. “You think they’re in love?”
“That’s why your mother’s furious and your father’s still trying to impress her.” The former university professor was in full oracle mode now. Past experience had taught Darius he’d need the patience of Job to wait on her answers.
“How is that possible?” Darius ignored his lunch. “My entire life, they’ve never had a kind word for each other.”
Ms. Helen looked puzzled. “All this time, did you think your parents married because your mother was pregnant?”
“What was I supposed to think?”
“Your parents didn’t have to get married, Darius. They wanted to get married. Then they realized they weren’t ready for the commitment.”
“I thought they hated each other.” And him. Revelation after revelation. Ms. Helen was rewriting his past. “What are you saying? For my parents to stop arguing, they have to admit they’re in love?”
“No, they have to forgive each other and let go of the past.” Ms. Helen sipped her lemonade.
“That’s easier said than done.”
“I’ve been in love several times. Love isn’t easy. Nothing worth having is.”
“But how do you forget that your spouse lied to you much less had an affair? Could anyone’s love survive that?”
“I don’t know.” Ms. Helen contemplated her soup as though she could see the past. “I remember how in love your parents seemed at first.”
“And then I was born.”
Ms. Helen’s attention shot to Darius. She gave him a fierce look. “Their unhappy marriage is not your fault.”
“But it was after I was born that everything went to hell.” He pushed the words past the lump in his throat.
“You’re not responsible for that. They are.” Ms. Helen was adamant.
Darius reached past his untouched sandwich for his glass of iced tea. He drank it as he let his gaze circle the café again.
Outside, it was cold and dreary. But Books & Bakery was always welcoming. Or maybe he was projecting his feelings for his friends onto the shop. Ean, Jackson, Audra, Alonzo, and Ramona sat on bar stools, chatting with Doreen and Megan, who stood on the other side of the counter. When his friends had first arrived, they’d stopped at his table to say hello and to pay their respects to Ms. Helen, the queen holding court. His tension eased as he concentrated on his friends.
Darius set down his glass. “If my father loves my mother, why would he be unfaithful to her?”
“That’s a conversation for you and your father. It’s not my place to involve myself.”
“I’m involving you.” Darius was anxious to understand his father’s motives. Could that help him understand his own? “Please, Ms. Helen, what do you think?”
Several beats of silence passed before she answered. “Your father isn’t a courageous man. I think Simon’s affairs were his way of trying to escape his situation even though he didn’t want to leave Ethel.”
“His way of having his cake and eating it, too.” Darius nodded. That was a match for Simon’s egotistical nature.
“If you want them to stop driving you nuts, you’ll have to help them find a way to forgive each other.”
Darius frowned at his sandwich and half-eaten soup. “How would I do that?”
“I haven’t a clue. But you’ll think of something. You’ve always had good insight about people.” Ms. Helen pushed Darius’s plate closer to him. “In the meantime, you’ll need to keep your strength up.”
Darius grunted. To accomplish a truce between his parents, he’d need more than insight. He’d need a miracle. Where would he find one in Trinity Falls?
The moment Peyton entered her apartment Thursday evening, she stripped off her heather pantsuit and matching pumps and exchanged them for her most comfortable pair of olive green jeans, magenta V-neck sweater, and her fuzzy orange slippers. It had been a long day, made even longer by the dread she’d wrestled with since she’d awakened.
Now wearing more comfortable clothing, Peyton paced her living room, cordless phone in hand. She rehearsed one more time what she would say to Bruce before tapping in his cell phone number.