Brandon and Guya, VENICE

Preface

It was almost like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Guilt had a way of creeping into the secret places of your life and leaving you with emptiness. She knew that everyone had secrets in their lives and had hers been like most people's she might have been able to live with that…except her secret ran much deep then that…it had left her niece and her nephew without a mother…her without a sister…a husband without a wife…how did you wake up every day and live with that…accident or no accident?

She had been seeing her sister's spirit for months now. She couldn't figure out what she wanted from her. Didn't she know that she hadn't meant for any of this to happen? That there wasn't a day that went by that she didn't wish she could turn back the clock and change things… What good would revealing the awful truth do now? It would destroy lives…lives that were already fragile. How could she alleviate her guilt by simply confessing… they were her family…she was terrified of how they would react? And then there was Brandon…her Brandon…the wonderful cop in her life…what would knowing that she had killed her own sister do to him? Would his feelings for her change? Would he understand why she had lied? Would he forgive her? The alternative had been too much for her to comprehend. She couldn't lose any of them. And that included her son Van… who was the reason she had turned away…he was just a child then and now he was already so resentful and bitter of his cousins…no doubt jealous of the care she had given them. What would knowing the truth do to him? She couldn't face that. She couldn't face the lives she would destroy by confessing…so she had omitted.

She had pulled out the journal where she had written it all down and re-read the entry like she had done every day since it happened. She was haunted by guilt and misery and she missed her sister terribly. Her spirit had comforted her as she had cried into the pillow for the millionth time…Only this time Brandon had come in. He had known something had been bothering her for a while now but he hadn't pushed it…and he wasn't going to push it now…she needed comfort. Without saying a word, he took her into his arms and she cried into his strong embrace as he held her tight. He vowed then and there to find a way to heal the demons that haunted her… He just didn't know how to get her to open up.

Did she have any idea how much he loved her, he wondered, unaware that she was thinking the same thing about him.