Page 133 of My Vows Are Sealed

My father approached us, and his eyes widened as he looked at Darla. But unlike my mom, he didn’t dismiss her obvious injuries.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Ruth!” he exclaimed. “When are you going to accept that that manliedto you? When are you going to realize that you destroyed our marriage for a snake oil salesman?!”

My mom blanched, and it was like a lightbulb turned on over my head. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it sooner. Why my mom just ate everything Abraham said up with a spoon. Why she always took his side in any debate, even against my father. Why my father never seemed like he wanted to come to church anymore. And why my mom was standing here grasping at any straw, anyfiber, she could in an attempt to defend a man who was behind bars for assault and battery and was about to be convicted of over fifty counts of possession of child pornography and child molestation.

“He’s Nate’s father,” I said, barely aware that I was speaking out loud.

“Oh, my God,” Darla gasped quietly.

My dad looked at me with a shell-shocked expression. “You know?”

“I heard you arguing about her affair and Nate one day a few years ago,” I admitted. “I just didn’t know who she had an affair with until now.”

“He didn’t do this,” my mom mumbled. “He couldn’t have. He’s such a kind, gentle man. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Yes, Miss Ruth, hediddo this,” Darla said, a lot more calmly than I would have, as tears started to trail down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. He tried to sexually assault me, and I ran away from home to protect myself. I’ve been living with one of my friends, but I’ve spent a lot of time at Brendan’s apartment too. And when you saw my car in the apartment complex’s parking lot on Friday night and told my dad about it, he broke into Brendan’s apartment, almost killed me, and managed to get Brendan arrested for the crimeshe’dcommitted. Then he refused to leave my side in the hospital and tried to make my doctor kill your unborn grandchild, and the doctor finally had to call security and have them forcibly remove him from my room. I’m so sorry that my dad lied to you, but he’s not who you think he is. But you know what? Hedidgive you an amazing, sweet, curious little boy who I’ve loved from the second I first held him when he was a week old and am proud to call my family. You can always be thankful for Nate, because I know I am, and I know Brendan is.”

She turned and wrapped her casted arm around me too as she buried her head in my chest and let more tears fall, and I figured that was my cue that I’d fed my mother a big enough slice of humble pie. We could apologize to Peter later for missing the service, but right now, I had to do what was best for Darla. And she and our child had been through enough for one day.

“Come on, baby,” I whispered, kissing her head and then starting to lead her away from my parents and the old biddies who just parroted everything my mother said. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Darla shook her head. “I want to stay. I’ve missed church. And I really need some Nate time tonight. I’m not letting her take this away from me.”

“Peter actually asked me if I’d talk to you about going into the main service tonight. He has to address what happened with your dad, and he wants us there to verify what he’s saying. But if you want to just hang out in the kids’ room and spend time with Nate and the twins, we can.”

“No, if he wants us there, we can go into the main service,” she said immediately. “But can we go see Nate for a few minutes before we go into the sanctuary? I really need a hug from him.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked back the tears stinging my eyes. I didn’t know why it meant so much to me that, if anything, she loved my brothermorenow that she knew she was biologically related to him. Maybe because it just felt like this solidified the fact that the two of them werebothmy family, and it just made our bond stronger.

“Yeah, of course,” I told her.

“Should we tell him?” she sniffled.

I sighed. That was a damn good question. I had absolutely no idea how Nathan would take the news that his father wasn’t really his father, and that the man whowashis biological father wasn’t a good person. I considered it for a moment and decided I had to go with my gut reaction.

“I think we should. He needs family who cares about him. And he already loves you so much. But maybe not tonight. I think that’s a conversation we need to have when we’re alone with him.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” she murmured, picking her head up to look at me. “Is it weird that I kind of already knew? I mean, I didn’t know, but I did. I’ve always felt a connection to him that I didn’t feel with any of the other kids.”

“He feels it too,” I sniffed, wiping a few tears off of my cheek. “You’ve always been family to him. To both of us.”

“You’ve always been family to me too. Both of you. I can’t imagine my life without youorNate.”

“You’ll never have to. Even if my parents never want to speak to either of us again, I’ll fight to make sure Nate stays in our lives,” I promised.

Chapter 35

Darla

Stars

“Darla!” Nathan exclaimed as he jumped up from where he was sitting on the floor watchingVeggieTalesand ran over to us. “I was so scared when I saw the news. I knew Mom was lying when she said your dad didn’t do anything.”

I choked down a sob as I folded my arms around my half-brother and pressed my lips to his head. I honestly had no idea how I hadn’t figured out that I was biologically related to this sweet little boy sooner. We’d always just gotten each other in a much different way than I’d ever experienced with anyone else, even Brendan.

“I’m okay, little man,” I sniffled. “My arm and a couple of ribs are broken, but I’ll be good as new in no time.”

“What about the baby?”

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