by Nicole Casey
Instead, I put the car in reverse and almost squealed out of the Viera’s drive, eager to be away from her judgmental gaze.
My cell dinged, and I knew it was Vyolet before looking at the screen.
What am I going to say to her? What am I going to say to Alex?
“Uncle Evan?” Alex called. “Your phone is going off.”
“I know, hon,” I told her. “I don’t want to text while I’m driving.”
“It’s probably Vyolet. Call her on Bluetooth.”
I shook my head.
“I’ll call her when we get home,” I told her.
“But I want to talk to her now! She’s the best teacher I ever had,” Alex chirped. “Do you think that you will marry her now that she lives with us?”
“She doesn’t live with us!” I snapped with more anger than I intended but Alex did not seem deterred.
“But will you marry her?” she pressed. “I bet she would be a good mommy. She’s so nice to me but sometimes I forget to call her Miss Viera at school and call her Vyolet and get in trouble.”
I gritted my teeth.
Amelia was right. The bug was already in everyone’s ear. Alex, in her naïve sweetness had inadvertently told the town about our relationship.
We had been under scrutiny and not even realized it.
“Uncle Evan?” Alex called. “Can we call Vyolet?”
“No,” I said sadly. “We can’t.”
And I meant it. We had to make a clean break before any more damage was done.
10
Vyolet
I didn’t understand what was happening.
Evan hadn’t returned my calls and Alex hadn’t been in school for two days.
Any attempt I made to visit the apartment went unrewarded as I stood at the door knocking, blinking back tears of betrayal and confusion.
On Friday he had gone to pick up Alex from my mom’s place, he did not answer my texts and my panic mounted with each hour that slipped by.
Did something happen to them? Were they in an accident?
I called my mom, demanding to know if Evan had picked up Alex and she calmly explained that he had.
“What was he acting like? Was everything okay?” I screeched in her ear. “He’s not answering his phone!”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” my mother replied, not a note of concern in her voice. “Although I have to say you seem very attached to your Uncle Evan. Maybe he needed some time to breathe, Vyolet. Perhaps you’re spending too much time with him.”
It didn’t make sense to me and I rushed to the apartment, listening at the door.
I could hear Alex inside as I banged on the wood, calling out to them but no one responded.
Why is he doing this to me? I wondered, my heart shattering into pieces. I recalled how I had decided to break up with him that night and suddenly I felt like karma was laughing in my face.
He beat you to the punch. He’s ghosting you now. He took what he wanted and now he’s cutting you out.
I expected to see Alex on Monday but when Tuesday arrived, and she still did not show up for class, I knew that he had taken her and left without so much as a text to say goodbye.
His cell was disconnected when I called to leave yet another voicemail and on Wednesday, I called in sick to sob into my pillow.
I lay, curled into the pillows as tears streaked down my cheeks, wondering if I should pursue it.
I could track him down in Seattle if he had gone back there. My parents would know where he went. I had to bite the bullet and ask them.
I was owed an explanation at the very least, but I couldn’t force him to talk to me.
Still, I had to know what was happening.
How could he simply wrench Alex out of my life so easily? I could almost bear it if it was him alone…or so I lied to myself.
When my iPhone chimed at noon, I fully flipped to snatch it off my bedside table, my heart racing in anticipation.
It was only Maya.
She didn’t text back, and I knew that meant she was simply going to appear on my doorstep like she always did.
I’ll just take a page out of Evan’s book and ignore her when she comes, I thought bitterly but I knew I wouldn’t be able to do that and when she arrived fifteen minutes later, I had managed to pull myself out into the living room to answer her knock.
I never really did understand how Maya always managed to slip inside without buzzing but I couldn’t remember a time when she had not simply landed on my doorstep.
That day was no different and as I opened the door, already turning away as Maya slipped her foot into the jamb.
“You’re not sick,” my sister commented. “You’ve been crying.”
I didn’t answer, falling onto the couch to curl my legs beneath my robe and close my eyes.
“I heard Evan left for Washington,” Maya sighed, and I tried not to sob at the sound of his name.
So I had been right; he had simply disappeared without a word.
How could I have been so stupid? I had ignored all the warnings and still pursued him even though I knew it could only end this way.
Why are you so upset? You were going to end it anyway! I thought for what felt like the hundredth time, but no amount of logical reasoning made it any less painful.
“Vy – “Maya started to say but I closed my ears to her.
“I know, you told me so,” I spat. “Did you come here to rub it in?”
I could sense my sister’s shock at the accusation.
“Have you ever known me to do that?” she replied quietly, sitting on the edge of the sofa to stroke my hair lovingly. “I came here to tell you that I am here for you.”
I opened my eyes cautiously and I read only compassion in her bright green eyes.
My hand flew to my mouth as I stifled a strangled noise.
“How could I have been so stupid?” I wailed, tears falling to my cheeks. “He just left. Just like that! I didn’t mean anything to him but kinky sex!”
Maya’s eyes widened with interest, but she wisely did not comment on my wording.
“It’s probably for the best, Vy,” she told me gently. “You wouldn’t want to get in any deeper than you’ve already gotten.”
I had to admit that her rationale was sound, but it didn’t make it any easier.
“Have you tried to contact him in Seattle?” she asked me, and I shook my head.
“No,” I sighed, sitting up and wiping my eyes. “I’ve been tempted but I can’t bring myself to do it. I just can’t believe he would take Alex without a word to anyone.”
“He told mom he was going,” Maya volunteered. “Maybe he was trying to spare you more pain.”
I scoffed.
“He did a fine job,” I retorted but I wasn’t mad at Maya of course.
I wasn’t even sure I was angry with Evan.
I knew I was livid with myself for allowing such a thing to happen.
Glancing sharply at Maya, my eyes widened.
“You didn’t say anything to mom about – ”
“Of course not!” she replied indignantly, folding her arms over her busty chest and scowling. “Why would you even ask that?”
I exhaled slowly.
At least one thing had not exploded in my face.
Maya studied my expression and suddenly I got the sense that she wanted to say something else.
“What?” I demanded. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
She shook her head and rose from her spot on the couch to saunter into the kitchen.
“Nothing,” she replied. “I’m going to make you something to eat. You look pale and I bet you haven’t touched anything since he left, have you?”
> I swallowed and shook my head, following her into the galley where she stuck her head in the fridge, busying herself with the contents.
As she pulled out condiments and bread to make a sandwich, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
“Mai, what is it?” I asked, approaching. “You came here to tell me something.”
Maya refused to look at me and I knew that the news was going to be devastating.
“Oh my God!” I gasped. “Did something happen to them? Is Alex okay?”
Maya threw up her hands in surrender.
“No! Nothing bad happened…to them,” she murmured, and bile rose into my throat.
“Just tell me,” I ordered, my jaw locking. “I deserve to know what’s going on.”
Maya pursed her lips together and leaned back against the counter, shaking her head.
“I think I know why he left so suddenly,” she whispered, and my eyes grew like saucers.
“Why?”
Maya gritted her teeth as if steeling herself for the backlash of what she was going to say.
“I was at mom’s for dinner on Sunday,” she explained, and I groaned inwardly, realizing I had completely flaked on the weekly gathering for what was probably the first time in my adult life.
“And?” I demanded. “What happened? Was he there?”
My heart began to hammer with excitement.
“No,” Maya replied slowly. “But mom said something which makes me think she knew about you two.”
I stared at her dubiously.
“No way,” I said. “She would have confronted me.”
“I think she confronted him, Vy and that’s why he left.”
I gaped at her, uncomprehendingly.
“Wh – what did she say exactly?” I demanded, a sudden spark of hope lighting my gut. If he had only left because of my parents, there was still a chance we could salvage our relationship.
Maya looked at me, biting on her lower lip.
“What I’m going to say is going to hurt, Vy so I want you to brace yourself,” she told me but I only half-heard what she was saying.
In my mind’s eye, I was already reaching for the phone, begging Evan to come back to Oriental and be with me.
“Vy, are you listening?” Maya asked, and I nodded, my palms sweating in anticipation.
“Yes,” I replied. “What did she say?”
“She said that it was a blessing that Evan did the right thing leaving before a scandal ensued,” she started, and I felt myself bristle at my mother’s old-fashioned mentality.
“Mom is such a prude,” I groaned but to my surprise Maya shook her head.
“No,” she replied softly. “Not in this case.”
I gazed at her, cocking my head to the side.
“What does that mean?”
“Mom told us that Evan has a fiancée in Seattle. That’s why he was biding his time here. He didn’t want to rush back with a kid and scare her.”
Shock wracked my body and I gasped.
“What?” I croaked. “He’s engaged?”
Maya nodded, averting her eyes.
“According to mom.”
Bile choked me, and the world began to spin around me.
Mom’s comment to me roared in my head when I had begun to show interest in Evan.
“He’s got a condo there, honey and a career and a life,” mom reminded me. “He probably has a girlfriend too whom he is eager to see.”
I realized she had been trying to warn me before I had even gotten started.
All the signs had been there, and I had ignored them all in my blind desire to be with a man I had no right to have.
I felt my legs buckle and Maya reached out to steady me.
“It’s okay,” she murmured, pulling me into a hug. “You had no way of knowing. It’s not your fault.”
I thought I would melt into a puddle of tears right then and there but suddenly I had none left to cry.
There was nothing left in me but an empty abyss of betrayal.
I had to accept that I had made a mistake allowing myself to love the wrong man.
But he’s gone now, and the damage could have been so much worse, I thought, gulping down the lump in my throat. There is nothing to do now but accept my stupidity and move on.
“Are you all right?” Maya asked, squeezing me into her and I could barely manage a nod.
“Yes,” I whispered but I was lying.
I wasn’t okay but I would be.
Eventually.
Epilogue
EVAN
“Uncle Evan, we don’t even have a Christmas tree,” Alex said, sighing as she looked around the condo and I cringed at the reminder.
I had promised to pick her up one twice in the past week, but work had been demanding so much of my time, I had forgotten.
“I will go tomorrow after work,” I told her, and she turned her head away.
“Okay,” she muttered but I could hear little conviction in her voice. “Christmas is next week.”
I looked down at her big brown eyes and suddenly I was seized with a deep loathing for myself.
What had I done bringing her back to Washington? What was I thinking uprooting her from her home?
I couldn’t even get Christmas right, the first one she would spend without her parents.
I was ashamed of myself and I wanted to scream.
The house in Minnesott Beach remained on the market despite me having lowered the price twice but I had not gone back to North Carolina.
I couldn’t shake the deep depression which had gripped me since leaving Vyolet.
You should call her and explain everything, I told myself daily, but I knew that would only cause friction between Vyolet and her family.
Enough families have been ruined this year. She had probably moved on anyway. She hasn’t tried to contact me either.
Alex had finally stopped asking about Vyolet regularly but occasionally, I would see her get a faraway nostalgic look on her pixie-like face and my heart would break all over again.
She was learning to hide her emotions and that filled me with more guilt.
“Alex?” I called to her abruptly. “Go change out of your pajamas.”
She stared at me in surprise.
“Do you have to go back to work?” she asked, disappointment coloring her voice. “Can’t you call a babysitter here instead of taking me somewhere?”
I smiled through my anguish and shook my head.
“No,” I informed her. “I’m not going back to work. We’re going back home.”
Her brow furrowed in surprise.
“Home?” she echoed. “We are home.”
I shook my head.
“No,” I said quietly. “This is not home. North Carolina is home.”
Her eyes lit up with happiness and she squealed.
“Really?” she gasped. “Or are you just joking?”
I reached over to embrace her tightly.
“No,” I told her. “We’re going home. Tonight.”
Never had I seen the child move so fast as she bolted toward her bedroom at the back of the condo and I reached for my phone to find tickets out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport that night.
I was interrupted by my phone buzzing.
“Evan Collier,” I snapped without checking the display.
“Mr. Collier, this is the concierge. You have a visitor.”
I frowned. I hadn’t been expecting anyone and I wondered if it was Children’s Services doing a welfare check on Alex.
“Who is it?”
“Vyolet Viera.”
I stared at the phone in disbelief.
“Is this a joke?” I snapped but I recognized the number at the front desk.
“Uh…no sir,” Marv replied uncertainly. “Should I send her away?”
“No!” I choked. “No! Send her up.”
I dropped the phone, staring uncomprehendingly at the door with my heart pounding.
What was I going
to say to her? What could I say that would make her hate me less?
As I tried to get my bearings, I heard the elevator ding and seconds later there was a tentative knock on the door.
I bounced from my spot on the sofa and threw open the door, my breath catching in my throat.
She looked more beautiful than I remembered, her soft blonde mane swirling around her face.
Her skin seemed to glow against the light rain which had fallen on her face.
“Hi,” she said. “Can I come in?”
I swallowed nervously and stepped back.
Slowly, she began to remove her gloves, droplets of water scattering against the marble entranceway.
“Nice place,” she commented, and I nodded, still not trusting my voice.
I could hardly believe she was standing before me on the very night I had decided to go to her.
We were connected beyond anything we could see, that much was clear, and her presence just confirmed that for me.
“You don’t look happy to see me,” she sighed, standing uncomfortably in the foyer but I shook my head.
“Just the opposite,” I croaked. “Your timing is…unbelievable.”
She cocked her head to the side and peered at me with bright blue eyes.
“Is Alex here?”
I nodded.
“She’s in her room getting ready…” Again I was confounded with the surrealism of what was happening.
“My mother ran you off,” she announced. “And she told me you were getting married.”
The words hit me like a brick and I realized just how much Amelia wanted to keep us apart.
“Your mother was wrong,” I whispered, reaching for her. I half expected her to resist but she seemed to melt against me and I felt her quiver slightly as if fighting off her sobs.
“If I had known,” she breathed. “I would have tried to contact you sooner.”
I embraced her tightly, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head.
“It’s all right,” I told her gruffly. “Your mom is worried about your reputation.”
“My mom is stuck in the eighties,” she replied curtly. “My reputation is not going to suffer because I am in love with you.”
