Page 58 of Denying Davis
“I’m so glad you reached out,” he said as he stepped from the doorway into the moonlight. “I thought you wouldn’t.”
“I admit I was ignoring you.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “It seemed like the easiest thing to do. The simplest solution. I didn’t know what else to do. I wanted—”
“What?”
I stared at him, struggling to find a way to phrase it all. His grandfather was dead, and maybe it was better that the horrible secret between his family and mine had died with him.
“I know all about what happened,” Davis whispered, as if he could read my mind. “I know the truth.”
A flush pulsed through my body. “You do?”
“I know what my grandfather covered up. The things he did in the name of our family.” Davis sneered. “The pain he caused so many people. I know the truth.”
“I’m sorry.” A sob pushed on my chest. “I kept the truth from you. I edited out the bad parts. I lied to you.”
Davis shook his head. “No, you didn’t lie. You protected your mother. She was innocent. Dad wasn’t.”
Another sob heaved inside me, and this time I didn’t bothered to hide it.
“Come inside,” he said. “Let’s talk.”
I followed him into the kitchen, and a chill raced up my spine. Here we stood, in the house that held so much of the past, but this time, things had fundamentally changed. The wall between us had broken.
He motioned for me to sit at the kitchen table, found a napkin in the cabinet drawer, and headed to me before he sat in the chair opposite mine. By then, I was crying harder than I’d cried in a long time. He knew the truth. I felt almost vindicated, as if justice had been served for my mom. But he’d also just lost his grandfather, so my victory felt short-lived.
“How did you find out the truth?” I asked.
Davis took a long breath. “I confronted my grandfather about everything. After you left, we argued. And he admitted what he’d done.” His jaw hardened. “He’d covered up for my father, and what he did to your mother went further than just a drunken allegation.” Hurt swelled in his eyes. “He told me my father tried to rape your mother. What he did wasn’t reckless. It was criminal.”
“Yes,” I croaked. “Then your grandfather sent a team of attorneys to our apartment and paid my mom over one hundred thousand dollars to go away.”
“I’m not like him. I’m not like either of them.”
“I know.” I wiped my face with the napkin. “I think I’ve always known that. But at the time, it was enough money to change our lives. And it worked for a while but…” I looked away. “Now you know why I didn’t want your help at first. This thing with your family went deep.” My eyes met his again. “I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Sam.” He braced his elbows on the kitchen table. “I’m the one who should be sorry. For the past. For the pain. For the way my family treated yours. And that when you needed me to stand up for you, I didn’t.”
“I don’t blame you. I couldn’t.”
“You’re too forgiving.”
I shook my head. “No, I just wish we can get a chance to start over. With this mess gone. With none of the secrets and lies between us.”
“I want that too.”
He studied me for a long time, but even in the heaviness of the moment, I could feel the world around us shifting. Maybe we did have a chance for a future, one without lies and deceit, one where money didn’t lord over our lives and keep us chained to the past.
“I love you,” he finally said. “I do.”
“I love you too.”
Davis got up from his chair and moved to the one closest to me. “I want to start again. I believe we can do it. Today can be day one.”
A gasp escaped my lips.
