I never know what to say to her when she says things like this.
It’s hard to disagree when it’s true, so like always I don’t say anything at all.
The truth of the matter is there are so many mistakes made by those who should have known better.
Mom got involved with my father, Phillipe Falcione, a married man who already had a family of his own.
Who can justify something like that when it can never be right?
Not only that. He was Grandfather’s best friend.He was the same age as him, so nearly thirty years older than Mom.
But he loved her, and she loved him.It was he who contracted my grandfather to work for the Syndicate when he first came to the States.That is how my mother and father began.
Dad had an arranged marriage for business purposes that benefited his family and his wife’s in relation to their membership in the Syndicate.It had been like that for generations, so he knew divorce would mean losing everything.
He started a secret relationship with my mother, and by the time I was seven, his wife found out about them.I’m sure she would have had her suspicions well before because at the time Mom and Dad would have been together for over twelve years.
I can’t imagine his wife, Persephone, not having an inkling her husband was having an affair.
I always thought she must have had some confirmation of those suspicions to make her act the way she did.
Because all Dad’s wealth came from his wife’s side of the family, she had power over him.I was too young to remember everything that happened, but I remember the arguments and the dark feeling of uncertainty.
The first thing she did was sever the contract Grandfather had with the Syndicate.Then she threatened Dad with a divorce if he didn’t stop seeing Mom.The effect would have made him useless to the Syndicate so he would lose his position.Back then they didn’t have a leader, but my father was the chairman, the closest thing they had to a person in charge.
The last threat was us.
Persephone threatened to destroy us, and our company.
And that’s how we became the family everyone forgot.
The big secret.
“Mom, now’s not the time to worry about that,” I tell her because I don’t know what else to say.
“I know. It’s just that sometimes I believe this is payback for my sins.I thought losing my legs was enough, but there was so much more to come.”
Mom was driving at the time she found out Dad had been killed in the Syndicate bombing.She crashed her car. The damage to her spine and legs was so severe she was told she’d never walk again.
“I’m losing everything,” she rasps, and her words pull on my heart.“The man I loved, the kids we had, the company my father built for us.And I’m stuck in this helpless position, unable to do anything besides sit and watch everything fall apart.”
The click of the front door opening silences my next words.
Apart from Jude, the only other person with a key to the house is Amy.
My whole body sighs with relief when she rushes into the room and I stand when I notice the foolscap folder tucked under her arm.
“Hi,” she says looking from me to Mom.
“Are you okay?” I ask, giving her a quick hug.
“I’m fine. I’m so sorry it’s taken me all day to get back to you. I know it’s late, but I figured time was of the essence, so I came anyway.”
“God, of course, and thank you.”
“Is it safe to talk?”
“Yes,” Mom answers.