eight and a breakfast nook held a table that seated four.
Although the house possessed a formal dining room designed to entertain on a grand scale, the room was used infrequently. For holidays, birthdays and spontaneous dinners, the family gathered in this casual space.
From the refrigerator, his mother brought out white cheddar cheese, pâté, and olives. From the pantry, two types of crackers. By the time she handed Max a glass of crisp chardonnay, an empty plate and a napkin, he was grinning.
“What’s so funny?” she demanded, handing him a cracker spread with pâté.
“I didn’t realize it was happy hour.”
“It’s five o’clock somewhere.” She waved her hand at him and sipped her own wine. “I tried a new recipe for the pâté. I’d like your opinion, but only if you rave about my wonderful cooking. Now, what did you want to know about your father’s relationship with Marissa?”
Nathan’s mother’s name slipped off her tongue with ease as if she’d spoken it a thousand times.
“It really isn’t the affair I’m interested in. I wanted to know why you forgave Dad after what he’d done to you.” Max popped the cracker into his mouth and chewed. “Or maybe I should ask how you forgave him.”
“I loved him.”
“That’s all there was to it?” Max couldn’t shake his disappointment. He wanted a concrete, step-by-step plan that he could apply to his own difficulties with Rachel. “You didn’t weigh your options then decide do it to keep the family together or because he promised never to do anything like that again?”
His mother shook her head. “No. I forgave your father for purely selfish reasons. I didn’t want to live without him.”
“Even knowing he hadn’t been honest with you?” The question struck at the heart of what he couldn’t grasp. “What assurance did you have that he wouldn’t lie again?”
“None.” His mother cocked her head. “I went on faith.”
“That’s it?” Damn it. The answer to such a complex problem couldn’t be that simple. “After everything that happened you didn’t want a guarantee?”
“What assurance do you have that someone will love you forever or that they ever intended to keep vows they made? ‘Til death do us part. How many people believe in that anymore? The vows should say, ‘’til we’re no longer willing to work on our marriage.’”
His mother’s pragmatism left Max momentarily speechless.
“But you and Dad just renewed your vows. Why did you do that if you didn’t believe in them?”
“Did I say I didn’t believe in them? I took my vows to your father very seriously.” She handed him a slice of cheese. “And just so you know, it was his idea to renew our vows. It’s taken us a lot of work to get to where we are today. But I can say with confidence that your father and I are more in love and more committed to each other than we were the day we got married.”
Max chewed on the cracker and pondered his mother’s words.
He loved Rachel. There was no sense in denying it any longer. Her stubborn need to reject all outside help had given him the excuse he needed to hide from the truth in his heart. No matter how many secrets she kept from him, she wasn’t deceitful because she was a bad person. She merely struggled to trust anyone. And after what she’d been through, could he blame her? He had his own issues with trust.
“Is this about that woman you brought to the party?” his mother asked, stepping into the silence. “I liked her very much.” Her lips curved in a wry grin. “I got the distinct impression you did, as well. You two left here early enough.”
Max felt a little like a teenager caught in the backseat of the car with a half-naked girl. “We’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks.”
“And she’s important to you.”
“Yes.”
“But there’s a problem of trust between you?”
“We met five years ago. She was married at the time, although I didn’t find that out until after we …” He paused, groping for a delicate way to put it.
His mother played with her diamond tennis bracelet. “Spent some time together naked?” While he regarded her in dismay, she chuckled. “Oh, I wish you could see the look on your face right now.”
Max dove back into the story. “I was so angry when I found out. With everything that happened with Dad you know I wouldn’t have gotten involved with her if I’d known.” Or would he? The chemistry between them had been hot and all consuming. Would he have walked away if she’d told him up front that she was in an unhappy marriage?
“She’s divorced now, I take it.”
“For four years. When we met, she didn’t tell me she was married. I found out when her husband showed up to bring her home.”
“And you overreacted because you’ve always taken issue with your father for cheating on me. If you love her, you can’t continue to punish her for mistakes she made.”
“I don’t want to punish her.” But wasn’t his inability to trust her just as detrimental to their relationship?
“If you can’t forgive her, you might have to give up and let her go.”
But his mother hadn’t given up and Max needed to know why. “Why didn’t you leave?”
“Some things are worth fighting for. Your father was one of them.”
“Even after he’d lied to you and had an affair?”
“Not just an affair,” she told him, her voice and eyes steady. “He loved Marissa. I don’t know why he never left me for her.”
Max’s temper simmered at the old hurts. “You didn’t ask?”
“It was enough that he stayed.”
He remembered those days. His mother had been depressed and on the verge of tears much of the time. Max hadn’t understood what was happening between his parents until Nathan appeared, but he’d been mad as hell at his dad for upsetting his mom.
Max still didn’t understand his mother’s ability to forgive his father. Sure, she loved him and wanted to keep her family together, but she wasn’t bitter or angry about the past. It was as if she understood she needed to let it go in order to be happy in the future.
“And he promised it would never happen again,” his mother continued.
“You believed him?”
“Yes.” She lifted her hand and showed off the five carat diamond ring Brandon had bought to renew their vows. “And we’re still married because I did.”
“I’m not sure I have it in me to forgive Dad.”
“I wish you would. Hanging on to the past isn’t healthy. You’ve
