Page 30 of Beautiful Agony

I turn to see him following us onto the porch. He gestures for me to join him.

"I'll wait in the car," Lacey says softly.

Martin's weathered face is solemn as I approach. His shoulders are tense, and his hands are stuffed in his pockets.

"Your mother..." he starts, then pauses to collect himself. "In all my years with her, she's never spoken once about what happened to her. Not once. Even on nights when she woke up screaming at the top of her voice. Whenever I asked, she'd just say it was a past that she wanted to forget."

"But hearing it today... Christ." The porch light casts deep shadows across his face. "I knew that it had to be something terrible, but this..." His voice breaks. "No wonder she flinches sometimes when I move too fast. Why certain things trigger panic attacks."

My throat tightens. "I'm sorry this is how you found out."

Martin shakes his head. "Don't apologize. What happened to her, to you both... that's on the monster who did it." He meets my eyes. "I'm just thankful you saved our daughter from that fate."

"No Martin. I should be thanking you," I tell him. "You gave my mother the life she deserves. You helped her build something beautiful."

"I'm glad you came back," Martin says, his voice gruff with emotion. "Your mother needed this. Hell,youneeded this."

"If it weren't for my wife," I look toward the car where Lacey waits. "I'd still be..."

The words catch in my throat. Still be what? Still avoiding a mother who couldn't bear to look at me? Still letting the ghosts of Pankration keep us apart?

Martin follows my gaze, and shakes his head in admiration. "That's one hell of a woman you've got there. You're a lucky man to have her, just as I'm lucky to have your mother."

"I don't deserve her." The admission slips out before I can stop it.

"Don't you?" Martin's hand lands heavy on my shoulder. "She chose you. That's the funny thing about love. You can wake up every day thinking that you don't deserve someone, but it won't change how she feels about you. How she sees you."

Martin looks back at the house longingly.

"I felt the same way about your mother. Woke up every morning asking myself. How can someone like her ever want to spend forever with someone like me? A jaded Marine haunted by ghosts of the friends he's lost overseas. But she did. Hell, she still does."

The simple wisdom in his words resonates with me, and I mull over his words.

He chose to love my mother, knowing that something broke her. He helped her rebuild herself piece by piece with endless patience. He built a family with her.

And today, he accepted me without hesitation.

"Love's a funny thing, ain't it, son?"

"It is." I nod. "Thank you." I extend my hand. "For everything you've done. For her."

Instead of taking my hand, Martin pulls me into a fierce embrace. The gesture is so paternal, so genuine, and so unfamiliar that for a moment I'm overwhelmed by it.

"Don't be a stranger, son," he says as he releases me. "This is your family too."

Family. The word echoes in my chest as I walk to the car where Lacey waits.

And for the first time since I can remember, it doesn't feel like a curse.

The warmthin my heart lingers even as we step back into Pankration's cold marble halls. My heart still pounds from everything that happened at Mom's house.

The reconciliation feels surreal, like a dream I might wake from at any moment.

"Thank you,zvyozdochka," I tell Lacey when we stop at the foot of the stairs. "For pushing me to do this." My voice catches. "For making me face her."

"I was happy to," she says, her amber-flecked eyes soft with understanding.

I take her hand in mine, my heart skipping as a familiar warmth starts spreading through me from the touch.

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