Page 79 of The Secret to a Southern Wedding

The back door opened. He didn’t turn around. He recognized the sound of his dad’s footsteps as he came into the kitchen. Preston’s shoulders were slumped. His brows were drawn together and the lines around his mouth were deepened by the frown on his face. He stopped in the door of the kitchen and stared at Cyril.

“Imani found out.”

Cyril let out a long breath. If only he had told her before now. “I was about to tell her. Then Aunt Gayle just popped up.”

Preston closed his eyes and shook his head. “Gayle...” he said in a tired voice. “Why is she here?”

“She said she heard you were getting married and came to stop the wedding. I guess her and Daryl stopped at the Dairy Bar on their way in. Imani and I were meeting there.”

Preston opened his eyes and came further into the room. “Why were you two meeting at the Dairy Bar?”

Cyril leaned his forearms on the table. “I asked her there to tell her everything. The full story about what happened to Mom.”

Frustration filled his dad’s face. “Why were you going to do that? I told you I would handle everything.”

“I was trying to prevent what happened today,” he snapped back. He didn’t care about trying to remain calm or respectful. He’d known this would happen. Known it and had tried to tell his dad that they could prevent it. “I didn’t want her and Ms. Kemp finding out another way and hating us.”

“I don’t want to keep reliving the memory of the way people looked at me. As if I would really harm my wife.” The angry frustration in his dad’s voice was familiar. The utter disbelief that people would think he would murder the one woman he’d loved more than anything else in this world.

Some of the anger left Cyril, but he wouldn’t back down. “Don’t you get it, Dad? You can’t ignore what happened in the months after Mom was murdered. If you keep trying to push it aside then people will think you’re guilty.”

“Why did you let her listen to what Gayle had to say? Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Preston paced back and forth. He anxiously twisted the gold ring on his finger.

“I didn’t get the chance to stop Aunt Gayle. I was shocked to see her there in the first place. She started throwing out her old accusations the moment I asked what she was doing in town. Imani was there and heard everything, then left before I could get the chance to explain. Now I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to explain, or if she’ll even listen to me.”

He lifted his hands to his face. Frustration and anger churned in his stomach. Things weren’t supposed to go down like that. He’d wanted Imani to understand he wouldn’t keep secrets from her. That he was ready to face whatever came before them. He’d been ready to start a life with her. All of that had been snatched away from him before he even had the chance to say anything.

“I can’t believe Gayle came down here,” his dad muttered. “It’s my own fault.”

Cyril looked up from his hands. “It’s not your fault that people won’t believe the truth.”

“It’s my fault that she’s in Peachtree Cove. I was happy about the wedding. It got me feeling nostalgic. I love the life we have here, but I miss the life we had back home. So, I called up my old buddy Clarence. I thought we could catch up and remember the good days.”

“What did he say?”

“He was happy to hear from me. Said he was glad I was doing well. Then at the end of the conversation he told me that Gayle was still going around saying the police got it wrong. I got mad. All these years. All the evidence they found to show that asshole came and took my entire life from me. None of that mattered just because that sick bastard grinned and winked at me at the trial. So I called her.”

Cyril groaned. “Why did you call Aunt Gayle?”

“To tell her to stop slandering my name,” Preston said defensively then immediately shook his head. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. When he spoke again, the fire had left his voice and only weariness remained. “I foolishly thought I could try and convince her to see the truth now that some time has passed. As soon as I let it slip that I was starting over, I knew I messed up. I just didn’t expect her to come here and try to ruin everything.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you’d talked to her?”

“I knew you would worry about me making things worse. Besides, you and Imani seemed to be getting along better. If I mentioned Gayle, you’d push me to say something to Linda.”

“This is exactly why I pushed you. She deserved to hear the whole story from you. If you love her, then you have to trust her with the truth. Keeping things like this hidden away doesn’t make it better.”

Preston hurried over to the table. He put one hand on the surface and the other clasped Cyril’s shoulder. “That’s why I need you to go talk to Imani. See if you can get her to calm down and talk to her mother. Maybe things will be okay?”

“Imani isn’t going to talk to me. I betrayed her trust.”

“Tell her I asked you not to say anything.”

“That doesn’t matter anymore, Dad. Not after we...” He looked away.

“You what?” Preston asked. He straightened and narrowed his eyes at Cyril. “It was her, wasn’t it? The woman you were kissing on Main Street. The woman you snuck out of here the other morning.”

Cyril’s head snapped up. “You knew I had someone here?”

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