Chapter Fifteen
While driving back to the funeral home, I found myself melancholy. There was a sense of peace, but there was also leftover turmoil deep down that I knew would surface someday. I was going to ignore it until Chaz spoke.
“You really didn’t know about any of this, did you?” Chaz looked sympathetic.
“No, I didn’t, but a lot of it makes sense now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I believed Matthew loved his parents, but he never did seem that close to them, especially his mom, who now I found out is his stepmom. I don’t even know what happened to his real mom.” That thought made me stop. There still were questions. “Matthew and Kathi always had a close relationship but now I find out she’s his stepsister. What else didn’t he tell me?”
“Why do you think he didn’t tell you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because of the dispute with all the money. That’s the only reason I can think of.”
“Are you hurt by it?”
“By what?”
“By Matthew not sharing any of this with you.”
I was quiet for a few moments as I mulled the question over in my mind, the turmoil I wanted to ignore. A lot of thoughts went through my head, like didn’t he trust me, was he ashamed of his family, did he think I was a gold digger? Harris said he was waiting for me to prove to him who I really was and why I was really with him. I shook my head to force all those thoughts out of my mind and answered Chaz’s question. “You know what Chaz?”
“What?”
“None of it really matters anymore. What I know, and what I truly believe, is Matthew loved me. Me. And I loved him. We had a good life together. We built a wonderful life without any of that money or drama. That’s what matters.”
“You don’t think you built it under false pretenses?”
I gave Chaz an angry look. “Chaz. You knew Matthew. He loved me. That was not false pretenses. Besides, he took care of me even without that money. He thought of me right to the end, and by all accounts, beyond. You can’t find any truer love than that.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He grinned at me. “But you sure had to jump through hoops to find all that out.”
“You know,” I said softly. “I think he did try to tell me before he died. He said he had something he wanted to share with me on our anniversary, then he slipped into that coma without warning. Remember?”
“How can I forget?”
“Chaz, he wanted to tell me, and he was going to tell me on our anniversary, just like Harris said.” I fought to hold back the tears that were forming in the corner of my eyes. “But he never got the chance.”
“Must have been some kind of love to fight his way back from the greater beyond to make sure you knew.”
“It was.” I smiled while still looking ahead. “It was.”