Rebecca lay in the antique four-poster bed she shared with her husband, staring out at the Atlanta skyline from the floor-to-ceiling windows of their midtown Atlanta condo. She loved the view, and everything about the condo, which had been a gift from Isaac’s parents. On any other night she’d lose herself in the starry sky and her concerns would fade away.
Not tonight. Her mind was too crowded, her heart too anxious. She loved Isaac more than she thought she could love a man, and she knew he loved her. She just hoped he loved her enough to forgive her.
“Well, I did try,” Isaac said, flicking off the light to the master bathroom. He yawned as he headed toward the bed. “That’s all I can do. Maybe Michael will change his mind.”
Rebecca pulled back the duvet bedcover so he could join her. He’d had a long, stressful day, and she knew he needed to rest. “Don’t count on it,” she said. “Michael’s deep-seated resentment toward your father is not going to change overnight.”
He sank down in the bed and pulled her close to him. “Maybe you’re right, but it means so much to Dad. Maybe I should try harder with Michael.”
She wrapped her arms around his middle, needing a greater connection with him. “I think you should stay as far away from Michael as possible. He’s not to be trusted.”
He kissed her forehead. “You’re starting to sound like my mother.”
“Well, I agree with her on some things. For one, I think you should go back to MEEG, especially now that your father is ill. We still don’t know how long he’s going to be out of commission.”
“Mom’s there,” Isaac said. “And you’re there. Certainly MEEG can get along with one missing Martin.”
“But you need to be there, too,” she said. “Your mother’s right. MEEG is your birthright. You can’t just give it up.”
He rubbed his temples, a sure sign that he was stressed out. “Using that logic, it’s as much Michael’s and Deborah’s birthright as it is mine.”
Rebecca thought about the anniversary gifts Michael had sent them over the years. Though she hadn’t known it at the time, those gifts had been nothing but jabs at Isaac. “Michael wants to hurt you, Isaac. He wants you to pay for being the cherished son of Abraham Martin.”
He kissed her softly on her lips. “Where do you get that from? From where I sit, all he’s done is tell Dad to stay out of his life. I can’t much blame him for that. Besides, things have changed now. Dad’s sick. The family needs to rally around him. Whether we like it or not, that family includes Michael.”
Michael’s threats when she visited his office played in Rebecca’s mind. She didn’t want Isaac to let down his guard where Michael was concerned, and only knew of one way to convince him that present circumstances demanded he take charge. “Do you love me, Isaac?” she asked, knowing she was about to put that love to the test.
He brushed a kiss on the top of her head. “You know I do.”
She looked up into his face, needing reassurance of his answer. “I mean really love me?”
“What’s this about?” he asked, his brow lined with concern.
She turned away from him, unsure she could say the words she needed to say. “When you found out your father had been lying to you for years, you turned your back on him. And you’re only turning back to him now that he’s ill. What if I did something you didn’t like? Would you turn your back on me?”
He tightened his arms around her. “Okay, these hypothetical questions aren’t helping. You’re not going to do anything that will make me turn away from you.”
“What if I already have?”
He tipped her chin up. “What have you done?”
“It’s not what I’ve done. It’s what I’ve haven’t told you.” She took a deep breath. “Michael sent us a wedding gift, and he’s been sending us a gift on our anniversary every year.”
His eyes widened and he pulled back from her. “What? Why would he do that?”
She bit down on her lower lip. “I think he did it as some secret joke on us. Michael and I were in a relationship a couple of years before I met you, though it wasn’t anything serious. I think he sent the gifts because he knew something that neither of us knew at the time: that you and he were half brothers.”
Her heart ached at the confusion in his eyes. “That’s sick.”
She shook her head. “That’s Michael. And that’s why you have to be careful of him. He wants to hurt you Isaac. That’s why—”
He didn’t let her finish. “Why didn’t you tell me about these gifts?”
He looked at her as if he didn’t know who she was. “There was nothing to tell,” she said. “Michael was an old boyfriend trying to reach into my current life. I didn’t want him to, so I sent the gifts back unopened.”
“You still should have told me,” he said, shaking his head.
She sat on her knees on the bed and pleaded with him. “I know that now.”
He rubbed his hand across his head. “Do you still have feelings for him?”
She looked down at her hands and then back up at him. “No way. As I said, it was never serious. I was young and thought I was the next Mary J. Blige. He thought he was the next Sean Combs. We both were looking for something other than love in the relationship. It ended when we realized we couldn’t advance each other’s careers.”
Isaac rolled away from her and got up from the bed. He looked down at her. “You slept with him to advance your career? Is that why you slept with me?”
Rebecca’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t believe that. I love you, Isaac. What was between Michael and me was nothing compared to what we have. I love you.”
“So you say,” he said. “Your words would be easier to believe if you’d told me about Michael and the gifts from the start. Now they sound like an excuse, a weak excuse.”
“You have to believe me,” she said.
Isaac’s mouth opened but no words came out. He turned, then, and stormed out of their bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Rebecca folded over and began to weep. She prayed she hadn’t ruined her marriage, but somewhere deep inside, she knew she had.