Page 205 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2
Matt shook his head slowly.
“Ah,” William rubbed his chin, uncertainty etched on his face. “I’m sure we sold it long after you were old enough to remember the place. Are you sure you don’t-”
“I don’t remember, Dad,” Matt interrupted tersely.
“Mmm,” he grumbled. “Perhaps you were too young to remember. We didn’t holiday there often when you were small. Anyway, it belonged to your Mum’s father, he inherited the property from his mother. Terribly costly to maintain the bloody thing. I practically had to force your mother to sell it.”
“Dad,” Matt pressed, wanting him to get to the point.
“She hid out in Burgundy,” William admitted with a small smile. “Two months, I had no idea where she was with my Hannah. It drove me to the brink, not knowing. You see, she never spoke of her father much, what with the circumstances of his passing,”
Matt tried not to sigh in exasperation. Passing. They all knew his maternal grandfather had committed suicide when his mother was only a young girl. It was never spoken of. The old death certificate stated accidental death by misadventure. Anything else would have been too humiliating for his mother’s family to endure.
“Obviously I had no inkling of her Burgundy property in those days, as I said she never really spoke about him,”
“Dad,” Matt was impatient.
His father waved a hand through the air. “Grumps paid this man to find her and he did. Then Grumps brought her home. I never foundout what he said to her, but she returned with your sister in tow and I assumed all was forgiven.”
Matt raised a disbelieving eyebrow at his father’s words.
William smirked, a thoroughly mocking smirk it was. “I was young and thought her two months disappearing act,with my firstborn,was punishment enough.”
“I gather Mum didn’t think so,” Matt retorted dryly.
“No,” William’s face fell for a split second before he smiled again at Matt. “She did not. We loved each other, yes; but she never looked at me the same again. She never trusted me completely afterwards.”
“Understandably,” Matt drawled without a hint of compassion for his father. Matt knew exactly what his mother felt. Once the trust was broken, it was bloody broken.
“My point is, she stayed but she wasn’t really mine anymore, not the way she used to be.” Again a flicker of sadness washed over William’s features. “And nothing I did could take us back to the people we were, so I continued to be,” He shrugged and avoided Matt’s gaze.
“A philanderer,” Matt suggested brusquely.
“Yes. She had her relationships and I had mine.”
“Dad.” Matt staggered a little, just a little. “I didnotneed to have that verbalized. Look, we all know you and Mum don’t have the healthiest of marriages but I need advice onmyfailed marriage. No offence, but a marriage resembling yours was the last thing I wanted.”
William huffed then tilted his head in begrudging acknowledgement to his son’s brutal and honest opinion. “Can you forgive her?”
Matt stared at his father for a few moments.
“Well, can you?” William asked again.
“No,” Matt half-shouted. “I can’t forgive her. Maybe…maybe if she wasn’t pregnant. I don’t know…I would always be thinking what if she…I can’t forgive her.”
“Then there’s your answer,” William went to reclaim his tumbler, took a substantial sip, then picked up a matching glass and poured some whiskey out for Matt. “If you can’t truly forgive her, it’s best to end it as cleanly as possible.” He handed over the glass. “Your mother forgave me, in her own way. Mind you, forgiveness from your mother is my own personal form of purgatory. Being with thewoman you love the most when you know she no longer loves you…it’s purgatory, son. You’re lucky, you can start afresh, put this terrible business behind you and-”
“And what?” Matt cut him off. “Find someone else?”
“Yes.” William agreed as Matt took the tumbler from him and drank the whiskey down in one long gulp. Eyeing his son, William continued, “Someone more suitable. I know I’ve not been a very vocal fan of Madison, but I could always see the love you had for her. I respected that, but it’s time to move on, she has, so should you.”
Matt nodded slowly, mulling over his father’s words. “You’re right, I know this. I guess, I needed to hear it from someone else.”
“Of course, I’m right. I’m your father, damn it.” William said with bluster.
The right pocket of Matt’s trousers vibrated. Pulling out his mobile he chuckled with a bitterness which made his father step closer in concern.
“Speak of the devil,” he said in a dark voice.
