The last time we spoke on the phone, she thanked me. “I needed to know,” she said sadly but firmly. “Even if it hurt, I deserved the truth.” My disgraced Uncle Russell was left alone. In one stroke, he lost his wife, the respect of the family, and everything that had mattered to him.
He made a few clumsy attempts to build a relationship with Katie now that the truth was out. Maybe he genuinely wanted to know his daughter. The daughter he had spent twenty years pretending was only his godchild.
And to my surprise, Katie welcomed him with open arms. Of course she did. He was one more guilty man with money. Russell was consumed with guilt for being an absent father, so he gave her whatever she asked for. And my mother? Well, she and Russell eventually got together openly.
Apparently they rekindled their old love, if it had ever gone away. It’s impossible to know whether they had kept seeing each other over the years behind Vera’s back. But once everything was exposed and Vera was gone, they decided to stop hiding. Russell moved into my mother’s house. And do you know who hated that?
Mike. Because yes, he was still living there too. Russell and Mike had very different ideas about who should be in charge. Russell wanted to be the man of the house. He gave orders, moved furniture, complained about the television, and criticized Mike constantly.
Mike hated being treated like an unwanted guest in a house where he had once imagined himself the main man. The irony was delicious. He had moved in with his future mother-in-law thinking that was the worst possible outcome. Instead, he also got a domineering would-be father-in-law. Karma can be wonderfully efficient.
Several months after the wedding that never really happened, my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number. It was Katie. She had sent me a photo….
