Page 49 of Losing Hope

He squeezed her hand gently, his eyes meeting hers, sadness rimming their edges. “Hope, there’s more to this story than he’s told you.” He stopped and let out a long breath, shaking his head regretfully. “And I’m not sure if I should be the one to tellyou.”

“You have to tell me. If there’s more, I want to know.” She dropped his hand as she stood up and began pacing at the end of the bed. “Gage, please, how can we move ahead if I don’t know everything?”

“Because, I’m afraid what I’m going to tell you is not only going to change the relationship you have with your father, but that it will also change the way you look at me. I’m not sure if I can bear that. I don’t want to be the one to reveal this kind of betrayal toyou.”

She stopped short and whirled to face him. “You speak of betrayals and lies and expect me not to want answers? Gage, just tell me. Youmust.”

“Let’s go in the sitting area then. If you keep pacing back and forth in my shirt and those heels, I’m afraid this conversation’s going to take an entirely different direction.” He stood up then. “Come on. I’ll make us each a drink. I think you’re going to needit.”

“Okay.” She spotted her panties on the floor and grabbed them, sliding them on before following him out to the two couches that were in the main area of the suite. He had opened the mini-fridge and was scanning the contents.

“What do you want? We always drank wine at the lake house.” He turned and looked at her. “Do you want me to order a bottle?”

She pointed to the small clear bottles on the door of the fridge. “I’ll take Grey Goose on the rocks. Do you haveice?”

“I’ll get some.” He walked over, grabbed the bucket off the counter, and headed for thedoor.

“Um, no.” Hope stood in front of him and held her hand out. “You are not going out there in just your boxers. Put a shirt on. No one is getting to see that body but me while we’rehere.”

He chuckled but complied and walked back into the bedroom, emerging a minute later wearing gym shorts and a t-shirt. “Better, Mom?”

“Much.” She grinned. “Thankyou.”

Ten minutes later, they were seated on the couch, both of them nursing a vodka on the rocks. He took a deep breath and began, watching as she took a sip of her drink. “I just want to state for the record, one more time, that I’m not sure if this is going to make things better or worse. And I know this is going to sound bad, but knowing you knew nothing about my sister makes it easier for me to be here with you rightnow.”

She lowered the glass from her lips as concern seeped deeply into her eyes. “Gage, you’re starting to scare me now. Just get on withit.”

“Okay, here goes.” He took another quick sip. “Your dad was telling the truth when he said my sister was working at your office. She was in art school in Brooklyn on a scholarship and got an internship working in one of your design departments.”

Hope nodded her head. “Yes, that’s very common. We generally offer five internships a year and send out requests to all the local art schools.”

“Faith was really excited to work for Yorke Publishing. She loved graphic design and said the creative department was very liberal and invited her to submit her work at any time. I was deployed at the time, but she wrote me emails almost every day telling me about her time here in NewYork.”

Hope smiled wistfully. “It sounds like you had a really close relationship withher.”

“Yeah, I guess we did. It was just the two of us, and Irish families tend to be close, I think. We probably get in each other’s business more than we should, which brings me to the next part of the story.” He took another sip of his drink and went on. “After writing me nearly every day for months, all of a sudden, I didn’t get an email for almost six weeks. When she finally responded to all of my worried notes, it was to tell me that she had fallen in love. Then, she went on to tell me that it was to a married man, but she couldn’t stop herself from seeing him because he made her so happy.”

Gage watched as Hope’s breathing seemed to falter, her cheeks growing pink, her head shaking slowly back and forth as she began to put together the pieces of the puzzle he’d been relaying to her. “No. Please, tell me it’s not who I think you’re going tosay.”

He put his drink down on the coffee table and slid down the couch to be closer to her. Speaking softly, he confirmed her guess. “Your father, Hope. She had fallen in love with your father.”

Dismay sprang to her eyes as they widened in disbelief. “How? I don’t understand? I know he loved my mother. He would never cheat onher!”

“It’s the oldest story in the book. Pretty, young new secretary falls for older, sophisticated man. How is that not flattering to both ofthem?”

She still shook her head in denial. “I don’t believe it. He wouldn’t do that. He’s not that kind ofman.”

He took her face gently in his hands and looked into her eyes. “Hope, she sent me pictures of them. He took her with him to a conference in Miami. They went sailing, had dinner on the beach. I’m sorry, but it’strue.”

“I don’t understand. I know he loved my mother completely.” She looked at him, her eyes filled with grief, cracking his heart open just a little more forher.

“I don’t think he felt the same about Faith that she felt for him. She was young, naïve, and so inexperienced. I’m sure she believed she was in love, and maybe he told her he was, too. I don’t really know because there was a lot that she didn’t tellme.”

“I still don’t understand how she came to be in the car with my mother then. Did my mother know about the affair?”

“I think so, but I can only make assumptions based on the little information she told me leading up to her death, and the lies that your father has tried to tellme.

“Wait, you’ve met my father?” Shock bloomed over her features.

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