“You’re not going to deny it?” my father pressed, stepping closer. “That’s your answer?”
“My answer is that this is none of your business,” Cole replied evenly.
“It’s my daughter’s business.”
“Then your daughter and I will handle it.”
“That’s your answer?”
“Cole.” My voice cracked. “Just say something. Please.”
But he only shook his head.
His mouth pressed into a hard line.
My father let out a bitter laugh.
“You see?” he said to me. “This is exactly what I warned you about. A man with a wild past always has secrets. He can’t even look you in the eye.”
“A man with a wild past always has secrets.”
“That’s not fair,” I managed.
Though my certainty was already cracking.
Dad straightened his coat.
“Isn’t it? I hoped I was wrong, sweetheart. I truly did. But I’m not the one lying in this room.”
He turned toward the door, pausing only once.
“I’m not the one lying in this room.”
“When you’re ready to face the truth,” he said, “you know where to find us.”
Then he was gone.
Dad hadn’t gotten the confession he came looking for.
But Cole’s silence had given me something almost as frightening: doubt.
I stood there staring at my husband, the man I’d trusted with everything.
Cole’s silence had given me something almost as frightening: doubt.
For the first time, I wondered if I knew him as well as I thought I did.
“You have to tell me what that was about,” I said.
He wouldn’t look at me.
“Cole. Please. Who is that boy?”
“I can’t tell you,” he answered quietly.
“You can’t, or you won’t?”
“You have to tell me what that was about,”
He finally lifted his eyes to mine.
There was something heavy in them I had never seen before.
“Both,” he said. “Not yet.”
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
“My father just accused you of hiding a child. He said he researched you. He knew things, Cole. About your past, about the band, about years I don’t even know.”
“Not yet.”
“I heard everything he said.”
“Then say something back! Deny it. Tell me he’s lying.”
Cole pressed his lips together and shook his head slowly.
“I can’t share this with you. Not until I talk to the boy’s mother.”
Until that moment, part of me had hoped Dad had misunderstood everything.
Now Cole had confirmed two things: there was a boy, AND there was a woman he had never told me about.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
“I made a promise,” he added softly. “It isn’t mine to break.”
That was the first thing he’d said that didn’t sound like an excuse.
But he was still keeping something from me.
And I needed to know what that secret was.
