Read Online Rising Tide: Dark Innocence (The Maura DeLuca Trilogy Book 1) by Claudette Melanson - Free Book Online
Authors: Claudette Melanson
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she began.
“Mom, you don’t have to talk about
him,” I ached for her not to listen to me, but above all, I couldn’t
watch her fall apart.
Tears swam in her eyes. She
swayed a bit unsteadily as she sat there, and I knew her words would be at
least slightly alcohol induced. She was brave enough to speak them,
numbed as she was at this moment.
“No. I’ve known for a long
time that you deserved to hear more about him. I’m sorry, very sorry, I
could never give you that.”
“Mom, it’s ok…” I didn’t put
very much force behind my words, though. I felt inextricably guilty to
hunger so for the words that would tear her heart apart. At the same
time, I was desperate for her to continue.
“Maura, your father, he wasn’t a
bad person. He isn’t with us for very good reasons…”
I interrupted, “What reasons, Mom?”
She looked uncomfortable when I
said that. She didn’t answer my question. Instead she explained,
“When I met him, Maura, you know I was very young. He didn’t realize how
young. I was only fifteen that summer…younger than you are now. Of
course he would have never touched me if he’d known that. I lied and told
him I was twenty. I looked it, too. I matured faster than any of
the girls at my high school, and when I went out, I could always get away with
pretending to be older than I really was.”
I gaped at her in silent awe.
I’d always wondered why any man would leave a girl, so young, alone with a
child. Still even if he had thought she was twenty…there were so many
things I wanted to know. Everything about my beginning was enshrouded in
mystery.
“I know,” she took in my astonished
expression, “it was very wrong of me to lie to him. At the time, I
couldn’t know how wrong. All I knew was that he was much older than me,
and I didn’t want to him to lose interest and think of me as a child.” A
tear broke free and ran away down her smooth cheek. My mother still
looked like she was in her twenties. We were always being mistaken for
siblings. It was ironic that she could look older when she was younger,
and now that she’d reached her thirties, she’d stayed in that same youthful
place she’d created for herself.
I didn’t want to say anything at
this point that might stop her from talking, so I let her continue.
“I was working in my parents’
restaurant that summer, since school had let out. He came in one night
and sat in a back corner, alone. He was so dark and brooding. I
went to wait on him, and I think I fell in love as soon as he looked up at me
with those black eyes of his. There was something soft and pleading in
them, despite their darkness. And, of course, he was exceptionally good-looking.”
Caelyn smiled, but it was full of sadness. She picked up a strand falling
across the front of my blouse. “His hair was just this
color.” More tears. From both of us now.
“Mom, you don’t have to…” It
was a ragged whisper that broke as it escaped my lips.
“Maura, please stop saying
that. I should have told you a long time ago. I just have missed
him so…” Her sentence ended in a sob, but she took in a deep breath and
composed herself so that she could speak again. “Just let me finish
okay?”
“Okay. Thank you, Mom.”
That seemed to give her a bit of
courage to continue. She played with the strand of hair she’d lifted,
unconsciously. “I remember, I brought him a glass of Merlot. He
never even touched it. I kept going back unnecessarily to check on
him. He seemed to be so sad about something. Every minute I stood
in front of him I wanted to reach out to him, wanted to touch his face and
chase away whatever was troubling him. At first, he seemed to resist
talking to me. But once, he looked up and stared into my eyes. He
must have liked something he saw there, because he started to ask me questions, instead of the other way around. I told him
“Mom, you don’t have to talk about
him,” I ached for her not to listen to me, but above all, I couldn’t
watch her fall apart.
Tears swam in her eyes. She
swayed a bit unsteadily as she sat there, and I knew her words would be at
least slightly alcohol induced. She was brave enough to speak them,
numbed as she was at this moment.
“No. I’ve known for a long
time that you deserved to hear more about him. I’m sorry, very sorry, I
could never give you that.”
“Mom, it’s ok…” I didn’t put
very much force behind my words, though. I felt inextricably guilty to
hunger so for the words that would tear her heart apart. At the same
time, I was desperate for her to continue.
“Maura, your father, he wasn’t a
bad person. He isn’t with us for very good reasons…”
I interrupted, “What reasons, Mom?”
She looked uncomfortable when I
said that. She didn’t answer my question. Instead she explained,
“When I met him, Maura, you know I was very young. He didn’t realize how
young. I was only fifteen that summer…younger than you are now. Of
course he would have never touched me if he’d known that. I lied and told
him I was twenty. I looked it, too. I matured faster than any of
the girls at my high school, and when I went out, I could always get away with
pretending to be older than I really was.”
I gaped at her in silent awe.
I’d always wondered why any man would leave a girl, so young, alone with a
child. Still even if he had thought she was twenty…there were so many
things I wanted to know. Everything about my beginning was enshrouded in
mystery.
“I know,” she took in my astonished
expression, “it was very wrong of me to lie to him. At the time, I
couldn’t know how wrong. All I knew was that he was much older than me,
and I didn’t want to him to lose interest and think of me as a child.” A
tear broke free and ran away down her smooth cheek. My mother still
looked like she was in her twenties. We were always being mistaken for
siblings. It was ironic that she could look older when she was younger,
and now that she’d reached her thirties, she’d stayed in that same youthful
place she’d created for herself.
I didn’t want to say anything at
this point that might stop her from talking, so I let her continue.
“I was working in my parents’
restaurant that summer, since school had let out. He came in one night
and sat in a back corner, alone. He was so dark and brooding. I
went to wait on him, and I think I fell in love as soon as he looked up at me
with those black eyes of his. There was something soft and pleading in
them, despite their darkness. And, of course, he was exceptionally good-looking.”
Caelyn smiled, but it was full of sadness. She picked up a strand falling
across the front of my blouse. “His hair was just this
color.” More tears. From both of us now.
“Mom, you don’t have to…” It
was a ragged whisper that broke as it escaped my lips.
“Maura, please stop saying
that. I should have told you a long time ago. I just have missed
him so…” Her sentence ended in a sob, but she took in a deep breath and
composed herself so that she could speak again. “Just let me finish
okay?”
“Okay. Thank you, Mom.”
That seemed to give her a bit of
courage to continue. She played with the strand of hair she’d lifted,
unconsciously. “I remember, I brought him a glass of Merlot. He
never even touched it. I kept going back unnecessarily to check on
him. He seemed to be so sad about something. Every minute I stood
in front of him I wanted to reach out to him, wanted to touch his face and
chase away whatever was troubling him. At first, he seemed to resist
talking to me. But once, he looked up and stared into my eyes. He
must have liked something he saw there, because he started to ask me questions, instead of the other way around. I told him
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