“I made excuses a-and looked the other way. He said he didn’t want a divorce, but he’d s-see whomever he liked, whenever he liked, and I had to be okay with it. So I told myself I was.”
“Oh, Mama,” Devon breathed.
“I-I focused on you girls, and Addy and I opened the shop. Your father and I… had an understanding.”
“Did the Babes know?” Dara asked.
Their mother shook her head and sniffled, staring down at her hands. “I don’t think so. I never told them. Richard promised he would only see women out of town. He promised.”
The promise of a cheating man obviously wasn’t worth much, Devon thought bitterly. Father or not, his behavior was horrifyingly wrong on so many levels. And the fact that her mother had known? Stayed? That was a level of co-dependence Devon hadn’t seen until now. How could she have missed it?
Devon shoved the thought aside because it was too heavy to contemplate at the moment on top of everything else. “Mama, the funeral… We’ve made the arrangements. Will you be able to handle it?”