Darryl

I called Darryl and tried to have a heart-to-heart and, he lied. He said the affair had never happened. He said Cindy was making it up. He said she was crazy.

Looking back I can see that he was afraid. He had a wife and a family. The truth did not come out of his mouth until after Cindy was dead.

Of course when I told Cindy what Darryl said, she was even more livid than I was. I was angry with my brother and still processing that the affair had even happened. Cindy, in her mind, had to confess because of her guilt. Now she also felt betrayed by my brother, her former lover. Considering how she had cared after his and my father, this was especially searing for her. I told her I believe her and was there for her as she and I processed a raw bundle of emotions.

We went through a difficult period. As for me it took me over a decade and a half before I would have anything to do with my brother. Cindy never did. There was a permanent rent in our family that has never fully healed. That decade and a half later, when I decided to forgive my brother even though he had never asked for it, my forgiveness of him helped drive Cindy and I apart.