Page 34 of Secrets Within Us

A boy and a girl.

The little boy was a spitting image of Kip, with his dark coloring and perfect smile. And the little girl was an exact replica of the gorgeous woman holding Kip like he was her grand prize in life.

Molly.

Molly, my one true love, my soulmate among imposters.

I trembled looking at the happy family and then looked up around the room.

He was a dad and a husband.

The man I had fallen in love with in such a short time had a family. My legs gave out, and I fell to my knees amongst Kip’s past.

Pictures littered the boxes, tons of them.

Pictures of the kids and them, all happy and all madly in love.

My hands shook uncontrollably as I filtered through them. I felt like such a spectator looking at their happy memories from the outside, but I needed to know where they were, why they weren’t here with him, and what happened to his perfect family.

Below some pictures in one of the boxes, there were a couple of velvet jewelry boxes and I picked one up, unsure of what would be inside. When it snapped open, there was a military medal inside, with the Marine Corps logo on the inscription.

Next to a couple more of the same things were a few pictures out of frames. They were pictures of Kip, with other men dressed in military uniforms overseas. One picture was of him in his dress uniform, spiffed up with his crisp white hat and shiny metals on display, and so much about him fell into place from there.

Tears fell from my eyes and landed on the pictures that had collected in my lap. He had wanted to know my deepest darkest secrets, the ones that would tear me open and cause my heart to hemorrhage right there in front of him, but yet he never told me he was a soldier, or a father, or a husband.

He was making plans for the house to help me get more comfortable here, all the while his kids’ bedroom was locked away with pictures of them and his wife and all of his past like a tomb.

He wanted me to bear all of it to him when he couldn’t even tell me the smallest part of his history. I felt so betrayed and heartbroken that there was this whole side of him I didn’t know.

Did I know him at all?

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

I yelped and gasped as I turned towards the door in fear and shock at his harsh tone and words. The movement sent lightning bursts of pain up my sides and into my chest.

A sense of helplessness washed over me as he stood in the doorway, his scowl conveying nothing but disdain and fury.

I picked up the picture of them at the campsite and held it in front of him, my shoulders rising in shock and confusion, tears streaming down my face. I searched his eyes, silently pleading for him to say something that would bring clarity to the confusion.

It all had to have an explanation that I could understand.

It had to.

I needed it to make sense because I couldn’t just accept that he had kept all of this hidden from me while lecturing me about honesty and lies.

“I asked what the fuck you were doing in here, Hadley!” He yelled from the doorway. His body was coiled tightly, his hands clenched into fists at his side, his chest heaving with anger, and I slid backward slightly away from his bulking form.

“Wh- what is all this?” I finally got out of my mouth. With my eyes wide in shock and mouth open, I just stared up at him. The events unfolding before me were so overwhelming that my mind couldn’t comprehend them.

“It’s none of your goddamn business! Get up.” He ordered, but I couldn’t get my body to move. I couldn’t just get up and walk away from all of this. I looked down at the boxes and opened my arms, motioning to it all.

“How can you say it’s none of my business? After what has happened between us here. How could you say that?” Instead of replying, he simply met my gaze, his eyes burning with a murderous rage. “What does all of this mean, Kip? Why is all of this in here shut away?” My entire body was shaking, and my lungs felt like I couldn’t grasp my next breath fully as panic set in.

He bellowed over top of me, “Get out. Get up and get your shit and get the fuck out of my house.” Now it was my turn to just stare back in horror. “I said get out!” He screamed as he lunged forward, grabbing me by the arm and yanking me up to my feet before turning and pulling me out of the room. He ripped the picture frame out of my hand and threw it at the wall where it exploded on impact, raining shards of glass and wood down on us.

Dragging me down the hall, he lifted my arm so high that I struggled to stay on my feet and had to fight to maintain my balance. “Stop. Kip, stop! You’re hurting me!” A scream erupted from my lips as I crashed into the doorjamb, my shoulder slamming against the unforgiving wood, sending waves of agony coursing through me. “Kip!” I screamed again, but he didn’t stop.

He let go of me once we got to the living room, and I tripped without his hand on my arm, falling into the back of the couch and landing on the floor in a heap.

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