Page 93 of Requiem for Love

“Gio said Eesh doesn’t know about ‘Mr. Veeny,’ so I didn’t want to say anything,” Mo said. “And, trust me, Theo’s more sad about his accident. He said not to tell ‘Mama or Daddy’ about what happened because he didn’t want them sad on their ‘happy trip.’ I’m sorry you had to call to find out.”

“No, no, I understand,” he reassured her. “You didn’t want him to feel betrayed by going against his wishes. I get it.”

“Gio saw Lavigne. He said there were two men, but he killed one of them. Dez was with us, and they let Lavigne go.”

They’d saved him the last bite of a good ass dinner. What better brothers could a man ask for?

“Do you wantusto tell Ayesha?” Mo asked. “Gio said Lavigne was in their house in Maui. When Ayesha finds out, she won’t take that well. We can do a girls’ night or something and break the news that way.”

“It has to be me, Mo.”

She sighed. “I know. Just…don’t do it out there. Wait until you get back. You two deserve this.”

Ayesha appeared in the bedroom doorway.

“We can come home tonight,” he said.

In the background, Aleksi cried out, the cry followed by Giorgio’s voice.

“Joel, we’ve got this until you get back. Take your joy when you can because, as usual, there’ll be times we won’t get to have any of it.”

He locked gazes with Ayesha. “You’re right.”

“Say hi to Eesh for me.”

“I will. I’ll see you tomorrow, Mo.”

He ended the call.

“I didn’t get Theo to talk,” Ayesha said. “Josiah didn’t want to talk either, but it was because Theo told him, ‘Don’t tell her, Jojo,’ when he started to explain.”

“He had an accident yesterday when they were at the home improvement store, and he’s embarrassed.”

“Oh, no.” She crossed the room and sat on the sofa. “But how? Did he fall asleep in the car?”

“No, he was awake.”

She scooted over, and he took the cushion next to her.

“Joel, I can’t help but think this ‘veeny’ is a name. I think an actual person terrorized my baby, and he must have repressed it until recently. Theo’s behaviors are similar to those of a child being abused. A dream wouldn’t terrify him to this extent.”

He drew her into his arms. “I know.”

“Joel, I don’t know what to do here.” A sudden flood of tears wracked her body. “What if this ‘veeny’ is a person and he…hehurtmy baby, and I didn’t know? What kind of mother would that make me not to know someone hurt my little boy?”

His heart tugged, but he knew this was a mild reaction compared to what would happen if he broke the news to her right then.

“I keep trying to tell myself, ‘You’re doing your best, you’re doing your best,’ but the fear that I’m failing never seems to go away completely. And now,” she choked out a cry, “what if…Joel, how would Theo come back from that? How could I not protect him from that?”

She buried her face in his shoulder, and he pressed kisses into her hair. Would telling her now make this better or worse? How could he reassure her without making her feel even more like a failure because she hadn’t known Lavigne was in their home? Lavigne likely specialized in getting into locations undetected, but how much of that would matter to Ayesha?

“Eesh, I asked Theo if anybody ever hurt him like that. He said no.”

“And you believe him, right?” she asked.

“Yes. I do.”

She curled her arms around him.

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