I place my hands on her shoulders.
She stiffens, but I don’t remove them. “This is like day one all over again.”
“I know, honey.”
“If she sues me, will she win?”
“Joy would know.” She’s an attorney, specializing in family law.
“I don’t want people to know this.”
“Which is totally understandable, but if there’s a lawsuit, you’ll have to defend against it.”
“I want to go back to the beach, before I knew this stuff.”
“I wish we could go back.”
“You don’t have to stay. I’m sure you have stuff to do.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Iris.”
“You said you don’t want a relationship. I respect that. You’re under no obligation.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Because my hands are still on her shoulders, I’m aware of the exact instant when she crumbles. I turn her into my embrace, holding her up as she releases deep, gut-wrenching wails that break my heart. Only my arms around her keep her from falling to the ground. I pick her up and carry her to the sofa, sitting with her on my lap. We’re there long enough for daylight to fade into darkness. “Do you want me to tell the others not to come?”
She shakes her head. “They’ll find out soon enough.”
“But if you need a minute with it first…”
“What will that change?”
“Nothing, I suppose.”
“How could he have done this to me again, Gage?”
“Again?”
“It happened once before, the second year we were married. Before kids. He had an affair with a woman he worked with. He swore to me it was a one-time thing, and after intensive therapy, we were able to put our marriage back together. After all that, he did it again.”
I hold her closer because I don’t know what to say. I hate that he put her through such a thing.
“I’ve always thought that women who said they didn’t know their husbands were cheating had to be naïve. How could you not know? But I didn’t, either time, and I’m not naïve.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I didn’t know. I had no idea.” A sob erupts from her chest. “How could he do this after all the work we put in to repair the damage from the first time? He begged me to take him back and said I was the only woman he would ever love. And then he had asonwith another woman and kept that from me. That baby would’ve been born between Tyler and Sophia.” She shakes with sobs. “Oh God. I’m going to be sick.”
I’m up before she finishes the sentence, rushing her to the bathroom in the hallway, where she’s violently ill while I stand by helplessly, wishing I had a magic wand that could make this nightmare go away for her.
The doorbell rings.
I glance at my watch and am shocked to see that it’s already after six.
I close the bathroom door to give her privacy and go to admit Derek and Roni, who come in laden with bags.
“We weren’t sure anyone was home,” Derek says. “The house is dark.” He turns on a light in the foyer that has me blinking from the sudden onslaught of light. “Are you guys all right?”