fourteen. He had just hit puberty and was brooding and sullen.â
Ray had been angry himself at that age. Angry because his father had cheated on his mother. And because his mother was gone. Killed by a drunk driver. But he hadnât set fire to things.
âWere my father and Barbara still involved then?â
Her eyes flickered with uncertainty. âAre you sure you want to hear this?â
âMy mother was dead by then, Scarlet. Iâm surprised he didnât marry Barbara after that.â
âI think the guilt ate at him,â Scarlet said. âJoe once told me your mother was the only woman he ever loved.â
Emotions crowded Rayâs chest, but he cleared his throat, determined not to let them show. Anger had been his best friend for so long that he didnât know what heâd do without it. It kept him strong.
âThen why did he keep seeing Barbara?â
Scarlet shrugged. âBarbara was in love with Joe,â Scarlet said. âShe could be charming and hard to resist. I think she met Joe in a weak moment, maybe when he and your mother were having some trouble, and he slept with her. When she gave birth to Bobby, he felt tied to her.â
âBut he kept coming back,â Ray said, his voice hard.
âI canât explain, Ray. I donât understand myself. There was something there. Joe cared about Barbara. After all, she had his child. And he couldnât just desert her.â
But he couldnât bring her into his family, either. Heâd kept them separate, a secret from Maddox and Brett.
God , Ray dreaded telling them. Had hoped heâd at least understand the problem more when he did.
âDid Barbara pressure Dad to marry her?â
Scarlet massaged her temple. âMaybe before I came along. As I grew older, I realized that she took me in to please Joe. That she thought he might marry her if she did.â
âBut then he didnât marry her,â Ray said. âDid she resent you for that?â
Scarlet closed her eyes on a sigh. âSome, I think. Honestly, Iâd been shuffled through so many foster homes before I wound up in the group home that I was simply glad to have a home without an abusive man in it.â
Ray gripped his coffee cup so hard he thought he might break it. He didnât know if he wanted to hear the rest of her story, at least not that part.
âBut then Bobby turned out to be just as bad.â
He sat up straighter. âWhat do you mean?â
âHe used to taunt me when no one was around. Play mean tricks on me. Put snakes in my bed. Lock me in the closet.â She hesitated. âHis animosity escalated when he started drinking, and he got rough.â
He sucked in a breath. âHow rough?â
âHe knocked me around a few times, but usually the bruises werenât visible.â
âWhat about Barbara? Didnât she do anything?â
Scarlet made a sarcastic sound in her throat. âShe didnât know. As far as she was concerned, Bobby hung the moon. He was like a chameleonâhe could put on an act when she was around that made him look like a saint.â
Ray gripped his hands by his sides. Damn, he was beginning to detest his half brother.
âDid my father spend time with Bobby?â
âHe tried,â Scarlet said. âBut Bobby was difficult. He was always getting in trouble, and he was belligerent with Joe.â
So he and Bobby had both given his father hell.
âDid he get in trouble with the law?â
Scarlet nodded. âI think Joe paid someone to seal his juvenile record.â
âWhat was he arrested for?â
âVandalism, carrying a weapon to school, breaking and entering, DUI.â
âGood grief,â Ray muttered.
She fiddled with her hair. âI think he pulled a knife on a guy in a bar one night, too.â
Ray contemplated all sheâd said. âYou said Bobby smokes and that he likes to burn