Secrets, Secrets

Paul shuffled his feet nervously. He did not want to tell his girlfriend this, but he loved her and there could be no secrets between them. He took a deep breath and asked the woman sitting on the couch with fearful interest in her big brown eyes, “Can you keep a secret?”

       Marie let out a breath that she had been holding in for almost a minute, “Of course, hun,” she replied to him.

       “Now, I love you and there’s nothing else I want in this world more than you, but I have a dark side,” Paul told his girlfriend, eyes directly at hers.

       The young woman grabbed her stomach. A multitude of what-ifs flashed through her mind. He’s cheating on me was her biggest thought, she remained silent to allow her boyfriend to speak. Her hands quivered slightly.

       “I may-,” he began but cut himself off,” No. I am involved with some other-than-legal activities to make as much money as I do.”

       I know Marie had almost blurted. And she had.

       A distant relative on her mother’s side was a detective on the police force. He knew people involved with the Organized Crime Unit. Paul and he had even had a few run-ins before, but nothing too rough. Marie had noticed how the two greeted each other with a stiff iciness the first time Paul had ever accompanied her to a family function. She had made her cousin spill it as the two swore each other to secrecy. Besides, Paul was only involved in illegal gambling and acted as a strong man for petty debts- nothing like murder as far as they knew.

       “Marie, I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner, but I didn’t want you to think any less of me,” Paul pleaded to his silent girlfriend. There was genuine sorrow in his face.

       Marie remained silent, thinking of how the two met. Her father had introduced them over two years prior, saying that Paul worked at his construction company. Tony Scaletta was a very high-ranking made man for the crime family that ran the town. Her mother and father never admitted it, but Marie knew that police didn’t regularly question men who ran construction and waste management legitimately, she'd also seen the newspapers her mother tried so hard to hideaway. Papers with headlines like, “Mafia Capo Tony Scaletta Found Not Guilty of Murder” and “High-Ranking Mafioso Donates Large Sum to Children’s’ Hospital”. Marie wasn’t dumb, she also realized that the average construction worker couldn’t afford the lavish gifts Paul brought home for her.

       “I promise, though,” Paul attempted again to get his girlfriend to reply, “I’m not involved with anything too bad. No murder, no prostitution, and no drugs.” He looked like a man who was ready to crumble.

       Marie spoke, but chose her words carefully, “Paul, love you too, but you should have told me earlier.”

       “I know, hun, I’m sorry,” the man said, “This isn’t really something I can just go around telling people. Christ, my own mother doesn’t even know.”

       Though Marie knew, she asked Paul what he did for these gangsters and he told her the truth. She understood how these things went. She wasn’t really angry at her boyfriend’s extra activities, but she was scared for him. It was not a life Marie wanted for Paul and herself.

       “I’m glad you told me,” Marie said softly, but hardened her face and metaphorically put her foot down, “However, I do not want you doing this much longer.”

       “But Marie,” Paul quipped, “it allows me to pay for all this.” He waved his hands to indicate the condo filled with pleasant amenities, “It also allows me to pay for your gifts.”

       “Paul, I don’t care about the gifts and the nice things, I don’t want you falling into a hole that you can’t get out of,” Marie didn’t want an argument, but she had to be firm.

       “Marie-,” Paul began again before getting cut off.

       “I want you to tell my father that you’re quitting and going straight,” she said before realizing what she had just admitted to.

       Paul stepped back as if Marie had just slapped his face instead of using her words, “You… you knew?”

       She had nowhere to run now, so she held her ground, “I’m not dumb, Paul,” she didn’t say it rudely, but with gusto to make her point come across, “You don’t think I knew where all my dad’s money came from when I was growing up or how you two seemed so close?”

       “So you kept a secret about my secret this whole time?” Paul asked dumbly.

       “Yes,” she replied with a slight nod.

       Paul raised a hand up with his index finger pointed, biting his lip. He threw his hand down and made a face. Marie grew nervous about what might happen, but the man’s face lit up and he started laughing. Well, howling was more like it.

       Paul fell onto a chair near the couch holding his sides. He was cackling so loud that the neighbor started banging on the wall from the other side to shut them up.

       “That- that’s- wow!” was all Paul could say through tears and the remaining fits of giggles.

       Marie joined Paul in the laughter, she could see the humor in the situation as well, but she straightened her face, “I’m serious, though, Paul. I want you to tell my father that you’re quitting. I refuse to lose you to Prison or murder. My dad will understand, he wants what is best for me, and crime- no matter how petty- will not keep us safe.”

       Paul reluctantly agreed.

----

Twenty-four years later.

       Marie walked out to the patio of her and Paul’s county home, overlooking a field, with a tray of cookies and lemonade. Her friend, Darcy sat on a rocking chair waiting for her. She placed the tray down on a small table and took the other rocking chair to watch the sunset with Darcy.

       “Marie, I have to ask,” Darcy spoke up, “I know that Paul’s job pays well, but how can you afford all this while paying for your son’s and daughter’s college tuition? Not to mention a vacation every summer.”

       Marie smirked and asked her friend, “Can you keep a secret?”