Surprisingly, there was no password. Although, however, Brandon never set passwords on his phones. Immediately messages about missed calls poured in.
Most of all 27 were signed Nicky. Emily went to the gallery, started looking at the photos. Here a young woman stands by a blooming tree and waves her hand.
Here a girl about 5 on a carousel. Here this girl with a ginger cat, and photos of her, Brandon, with this woman, with this girl and even with this cat. Emily immediately turned off the phone and threw it away.
As if it was burning her hands with fire. Emily didn’t sleep all night. She either cried or fell into rage.
Scoundrel, villain! She trusted him so much! And he deceived for so many years! How could he betray her like that? How could he betray his son? He went with Joey to the park on carousels, and then went supposedly on a business trip, but actually went to another family to ride some girl on carousels. And this, what’s her name Nicole, seems like a decent bitch. She grabbed someone else’s man.
And she gave birth to a girl on purpose to tie him to herself. You can see right away, a fraudster. I need to meet this villain and sort it out.
“I’ll tell her everything to her face, who she is,” Emily decided. The next day Emily resolutely dialed that number signed Nicky. She didn’t explain anything, just said “We need to talk” and appointed a meeting place in a cafe.
The town where her husband’s mistress lived was only about twenty miles from their home. By the way, in the same town was the transportation company owned by Brandon. All the way Emily imagined what she would say to this floozy, how she would tell her everything she thinks about her.
She recognized Nicole right away. The woman was sitting at a table in the cafe and nervously twirling a coffee spoon in her hands. A cup of coffee stood in front of her, but it seemed she wasn’t drinking it.
In simple jeans and a sweater. Hair tied in a ponytail. Nicole was the same as in the photos.
Only in the photos she was smiling, but now her look was confused, anxious and frightened. Emily sat down next to her, introduced herself, then said “Brandon is no more. He died”.
Nicole covered her mouth with her hands, as if wanting to stop the involuntarily escaped cry. Then she quietly cried. And Emily… Emily hugged her, and they cried together.
Why did Emily do that with the cunning intriguer? Before meeting with Nicole, Emily stopped by Brandon’s transportation company. Upon learning who she was, she was immediately taken to the manager’s office. Kevin, just Kevin, he introduced himself.
Kevin was an old friend of Brandon. Then their paths diverged, and they lost sight of each other. And seven years ago Kevin was looking for a job and saw an ad for hiring employees in a new company.
In the owner of this company he recognized his old friend Brandon. So he found not only a job, but also his friend. The firm grew and expanded.
Soon Kevin became the director, Brandon fully trusted him and allowed him to decide any questions himself. And he also shared his personal problems with his friend. Kevin was aware of this whole story.
How Brandon met Nicole and couldn’t resist the overwhelming feelings. How he loved his little daughter. Kevin told Emily how Brandon suffered for a long time, not knowing what to do, how he asked his friend for advice.
“You see, Emily, he was torn apart. He didn’t want to cause you pain, so he didn’t say anything about Nicole. He loved you and his son just as before.
But he also loved Nicole and his daughter. He couldn’t choose one. You both were equally dear to him.
And he suffered a lot from this. Once Brandon told me. Here I have two hands.
How can I decide which one is dearer to me? It will be equally bad for me without the right and without the left. Try to forgive him,” Kevin finished his story. A year passed.
At the cemetery near the granite monument stood two women. They placed two bouquets of carnations on the slab. It seemed that the man in the portrait was smiling at both of them.
Emily and Nicole over this year became, if not friends, then good acquaintances. At first they communicated out of necessity, because Brandon left an inheritance to both his children. Therefore, at first warily, but they had to solve many questions jointly.
Gradually it turned out that they have many common interests and tastes coincide in many ways. And the children, they are brother and sister, it would be wrong to forbid them to communicate. Joseph surprisingly calmly accepted the news that he has a sister.
With age, he became more and more like his father. The same calm and at the same time firm character. He decided that as the older brother he should take care of Ava and protect her.
And the girl gave her brother her drawings. She still loved to draw. On one of them was depicted a fat ginger cat with a funny name Baton.
Dad brought Ava’s little kitten when she was sick, and the girl quickly recovered. Life is not always simple and unambiguous. Brandon lied to his wife and suffered from guilt himself.
He didn’t know how to act correctly and decided to leave everything as it is. Emily and Nicole met under not the most pleasant circumstances. But now they had no one to divide.
Two women who loved one man did not become enemies. Brandon’s death tore apart that tangle of unsaid and lies that he couldn’t untangle. Only Victoria, Emily’s mother, didn’t think so.
She was sure that her daughter should not communicate with this woman. She constantly told Emily that she needs to have pride and put this swindler in her place. Emily didn’t argue with her mother, but did as she pleased.