His admission had stunned her so severely that she couldn’t remember if she needed to chew her food or just swallow it. Of all the things Jermaine could have said, she hadn’t expected him to say that. Discussions about his mother, Andrea Shelton, had always been a sore spot. When Jermaine did speak of her, he’d use soft phrases like “passed away”, “died suddenly”, or “went home to Heaven” to describe her death.

Because of his choice of words, she assumed Andrea died from either Cancer or natural causes. Worst case scenario, a car accident. Murder by the hands of her husband, his father, never once crossed her mind, especially since Jermaine claimed he never knew who his father was.

“Are you okay? Go get some water.” Jermaine suggested. The violent coughing coming from his wife had him concerned.

Clearing her throat and wiping the tears from her eyes, Eden began her follow-up questioning.

“I’m sorry, what you said caught me off guard. What do you mean your mom was murdered by your father? I thought you said you didn’t know your father. I’m your wife Jermaine. Why would you keep that part of your life from me?”

Jermaine sighed.

He knew he’d have to explain his family dynamics one day. He just wished he had made better choices and wasn’t sharing the most painful moment of his life as a way to save his marriage.

CHAPTER 9

“Edy, I love you. But love was not enough for me to share the worst part of my life. That tragedy happened twenty-two years ago; I still wasn’t ready to talk about it. I’m not ready to talk about it now, but you deserve the truth,” Jermaine admitted.

“I’m not trying to make you relive any childhood trauma. But as your wife, I’d like to help you heal from some of the hurt, or at least help you find the resources, if I can,” Eden said sounding as sincere as a nun feeding the less fortunate.

Jermaine could feel his eyes water. For years he had kept the horrors of his childhood locked away in hopes of forgetting the worst day of his life. But he knew, even though he had done her wrong, Eden would do her part in helping him heal. Swallowing his emotion, Jermaine cleared his throat and began to speak.

“I know that I told you I never knew my father. That was a lie. Lying about not knowing him was the only way I could erase his trifling ass from my life. It was the only way that he’d never be brought up in conversation. My father, Jerry Shelton, was an evil son of a bitch. But he wasn’t always that way. He used to be a great hands-on father. Then he changed. After my brother was born, he was in a car accident, and when he came back, he was different.