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The Secrets He Kept

Jackie Walsh
Chapters (59)
  1. Cover
  2. Prologue
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Chapter Forty-Two
  45. Chapter Forty-Three
  46. Chapter Forty-Four
  47. Chapter Forty-Five
  48. Chapter Forty-Six
  49. Chapter Forty-Seven
  50. Chapter Forty-Eight
  51. Chapter Forty-Nine
  52. Chapter Fifty
  53. Chapter Fifty-One
  54. Chapter Fifty-Two
  55. Two Weeks Earlier
  56. A Letter From Jackie
  57. Acknowledgements
  58. About the Author
  59. Also by Jackie Walsh

Cover

The Secrets He Kept

Prologue

Smiles, tears, love, lies, deception. It all ends now. Blood flows from the wound, forming a warm blanket for me to lie in. The room blurs, my eyes flicker to a close.

I knew it would free itself someday. The truth, the one I had imprisoned. It would break loose, and reveal its story. My story… Her story… His story.

The room is soaked in anger. It’s stuck to the walls, the floor, the ceiling, almost visible in its intensity. Thick, dark anger, brought on from years of lying, of playing along with her charade. I should have stopped it. I know that now. But it’s too late. The truth is out there, stirring fear. Nurturing hate in its victims. All three of them.

It came to me, years of thinking the worst before finding out what had really happened. What we had done, how we had lied to her. The pain seeped from her every word. Determined to bring it all out into the open. To fix the unfixable.

Then he came, anger flying out of his mouth. Why had I told her? He didn’t want her to know. I tried to explain it wasn’t me but he wouldn’t listen.

I thought it was all over, that they had left me to cry my tears. When the doorbell rang again.

Chapter One

‘Aaron… Cian,’ Tom calls out from the kitchen, alerting the boys that breakfast is ready. When I enter the room he hands me a cup of coffee, kissing me on the head, filling me with that sense of safety I get every time he’s near.

‘Morning, love, you look great.’ His dark blue eyes stare into mine so I kiss his lips and linger a moment. ‘Are we all set for tomorrow?’ he says, when I pull away.

‘Just about.’

Placing two bowls on the kitchen table, Tom goes to the fridge, takes out a carton of milk and a bottle of water for me.

‘I’m sure it will be a great day tomorrow, Sal. I’m looking forward to it.’

I’m looking forward to it too, looking forward to it all being over. For the crowds to be gone and peace restored, but I don’t want to say this and spoil Tom’s excitement. He loves doing things for the boys, bringing them to swimming classes, taking them to their favourite ice-cream shop and lugging them to football matches in the club, where the boys are still too young to understand what’s going on. But they love standing at the side of the pitch, laughing at their dad shouting at the referee.