Page 157 of Forbidden You

She still sits firmly, and annoyingly, in my head, not even fading a little.

Frustrated, I rub my hands over my cheeks before letting them fall to my lap with a loud thud.

“Why did dad keep taking care of my mom?”

“What do you mean?′

“She was an addict. He clearly wasn’t enough to make her stop using. I clearly wasn’t enough. Yet he kept giving her chance after chance after chance.” My heart thumbs louder with every word I blurt out. “He was the smartest man I knew, but he wasn’t smart enough to see it was hopeless! He was stupid when it came to my mother. She was a lost cause.”

“That’s what you think?” Lucas jumps up from his chair with a flaring rage. “That your mother was a lost cause? That your father was stupid? Did you have your eyes in your pocket your entire life, Bodi? Your father loved your mother more than anything in the world! He lovedyoumore than anything in the world! Your mother loved both of you more than anything in the world! Every single time she was sober, she cried her eyes out, begging your father to help her because she couldn’t lose either of you! Your mother fought her addiction as hard as she could, and your father did what any good husband would do; he was there for her. In sickness and in health, for better and for worse! Don’t you dare taint my brother’s memory with whatever lies you’ve been feeding yourself. Your father did what was best for the love of his life. The mother of his child. YOU! He did it as much for you as he did for her!”

“And look what that brought him!” I roar, matching his energy. “When it was over, he lost his mind over his broken heart!”

The shock is evident on his face. He stays quiet, taking my words in.

“Your father didn’t lose his mind, Bodi,” he says with a shake of his head. “He got dementia. Something completely different.”

“Is it? Because we both know his behavior changed after mom died. He got dementiaaftershe died! She had his heart and when she died, his mind went with it.”

His face freezes, shock flashing across his face until his brows knit together as if a light bulb pops on in his head. His eyes shut briefly while he pushes out the air in his lungs.

“Bodi.” There is a sadness in his voice and his shoulders start to hang. “Your father was diagnosed with dementia when you were twelve.”

What?

My mouth falls open before it snaps back, followed by a discomfort sensation tingling down my skin.

“You’re lying.”

“Why would I lie about that, Bodi? Why do you think we brought you to the states?”

My chest feels heavy as I just stare at him.

“Your father had concentration issues for about a year before that. He went to the doctor, thinking he had a lack of vitamins or something. But when the doctor did some memory tests, he noticed difficulties. Your dad had to go through a number of tests after that.”

Bullshit.

Lucas runs a hand through his hair, the hardship clear in his words. “The doctor diagnosed him with early dementia. At the time, he hid it from everyone, including your mother. He knew he was the only one who could take care of her. He only told me because he knew he couldn’t take care of your mother and you at the same time. It’s why he brought you to Maine. Tome.”

“My mother didn’t know?” My voice breaks, and I become aware of the tears that have been running down my cheeks. My throat tightens, the little heaps of air I suck into my lungs becoming less and less with each inhale.

He shakes his head. “He needed to be her rock.”

That’s it? He needed to be her rock?

He says it with a lightness that surprises me, as if there’s nothing else to it. As if you can just decide to be there for someone, defying all odds because you choose the other person.

Because you choose love.

I close my eyes, breathing in as deep as I can, then push it out on one long exhale before I open them again. My father was diagnosed before…before I left Australia?

And he never told her, because he needed to take care of her.

Because he loved her.

“That simple, huh?”

“It’s what you do when you truly love someone.”

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