Page 118 - The Letter By Ann Newhouse

‘I have to be very careful with it’, he said taken it carefully out of the wallet, ‘my mum kept it in her purse and took it out every day, she kissed it saying I love you every time’, he smiled at the memory.
‘It’s very worn and difficult to see but they look so good together’, he said with pride handing me the photo.
I stared at the photo in my hand and suddenly felt sick Is this a cruel joke I thought ‘Tony!’, I mumbled in disbelieve I felt dizzy.
Then everything went black.
I opened my eyes to Rex calling me, ‘Amber it’s alright, I’m here, are you ok?’ he was patting my forehead with a damp cloth. He sat me up and handed me a glass of water.
‘You just said the name Tony and collapsed, did you know him?’ he asked excited ‘No of course not’, I lied, ‘I didn’t say anything you must have misheard me’, I was stumbling now, ‘I’m sorry I wasn’t feeling well earlier I should have said something’ ‘Do you want me to stay tonight?’ he asked concerned.
‘No, I’ll go up to bed now and rest, I’ll be fine I’ll call you tomorrow’.
‘You go up, I’ll clear up and then let myself out’, he left an hour later checking on me before he left, I pretended to be asleep.
A soon as he left I sat up in bed trying to make sense of what had happened. How could it be real? How was I going to tell him that I lived with his father for 10 years, that I was his lover for 10 years! That he died almost 2 years ago.
My mind was in a spin.