Murder Deja Vu

couldn’t look him in the eyes when she told him. He wrapped his arms around her, and she felt his heat like a warm blanket in the cool morning.
    “There is.” She took a moment, marshaling her courage. “I married Robert right after I finished college. He came on to me like Prince Charming. Swept me off my feet. Maybe he was the same bastard then, but I didn’t see it. Not until after my father died. Then he turned into this controlling martinet. I should have left him then, but I stayed because my sons were young, and I didn’t want to put them through something I knew would be ugly. Robert was a disciplinarian, but he wasn’t a bad father. When they started school, I needed something of my own, so I went back for my master’s in English. I had an affair with my professor.” She paused, giving time between her last sentence and the one to come. “My professor was a lesbian.”
    Reece didn’t say anything, and he didn’t lessen his hold, but Dana held her breath. She wondered whether she should have told him, but he’d been straight with her.
    “Does that bother you?” she asked.
    “No.”
    She expected him to elaborate, but he didn’t. “Our relationship started out innocently enough. I was miserable; she was a good listener. Then it turned into something more. It seemed natural, and it was. Robert found out and hired a sleazy detective to follow me. He caught us in a compromising position and photographed us. From that time on, Robert threatened that if I left him, he’d make sure I never saw the boys again. He’d have sent them off to some military school out of spite and revenge so I couldn’t see them. In a fit of anger, he said he’d kill my younger son if I left. He apologized for that.” She snickered. “It’s the only time he ever apologized. I know he didn’t mean the threat. He couldn’t handle losing control, and my affair with a woman challenged his manhood. Still, he said if he showed the pictures to a judge, he’d be awarded full custody. I figured he was right. He knew the judges, and with social mores being what they are in the Bible Belt, the deck would’ve been stacked against me.” She sighed. “So I stayed until my younger son left for college.”
    Dana wondered if Reece compared her to the unfaithful woman who’d turned his life upside down. But he wanted to know everything about her, and she told him the truth.
    “Did he physically abuse you?”
    She didn’t answer.
    “Did he?”
    “Yes.”
    His hold tightened. “Prison is relative, isn’t it?”
    “Yes, it is.”
    “What happened to your lover?”
    “Robert made sure she lost her job. I hated him for that. She didn’t deserve it. Fortunately, she landed a better position at a bigger, more liberal university. We still keep in touch, but as friends only. She helped me through a difficult time. I owe her a lot.” Dana felt the warmth of Reece’s lips on her neck, easing the tenseness that had built up. “No one but Harris knew about that part of my life. I wasn’t ashamed of it, but it wasn’t anyone else’s business. I never felt that way about a woman again and didn’t consider it a permanent change in the way I loved. So know that.”
    “Love takes many different forms. I saw enough of it in prison. Some ugly, some not. I don’t judge. What you told me doesn’t change anything between us. So know that too.”
    Tears stung Dana’s eyes. She let his words resonate before she continued. “I’d been trying to get an agent to represent my books, and I finally did. Last fall, she sold the second book I wrote, and a production company bought it to make a television movie. The income and a small inheritance my father left provided enough independence to move out.”
    “And your sons?”
    “As expected, Robert hit the roof when I left. For revenge, he told the boys I had been unfaithful and with whom. I remember feeling my blood boil inside me. After all the years I’d protected them, and Robert destroyed everything in one awful moment. I didn’t deny it, but they were angrier at Robert for telling than for my indiscretion. What is it kids say? Too much information? They’re mature young men who knew all was not well in the Minette household. They’ve been supportive of me and hold no animosity. I never spoke ill of their father, didn’t tell them what Robert had done to me. That would have turned me into a vengeful Robert, and the thought sickened me. Whatever they think of him they’ve