HIDDEN VOWS

Chapter 09

“They say there are two types of grievers; those who prefer to grieve among others and those who prefer to grieve alone.” Emery replied to his earlier question, glancing his way briefly.

Miles nodded. “It's hard, Emery, I would know. But sometimes you need to open up and talk to someone. Believe me, talking about it eases the pain. I'm not asking you to bare your heart out to me, though I will gladly listen if you do... but you need to open up to someone you trust.” 

Emery looked away, clearly uncomfortable by this turn of conversation. A few others including her ex-boyfriend had suggested therapy or a support group but her answer had always been a no. Not because she was being difficult but heartfelt conversations were something she found very hard to do.

This was the sole reason why she never got past two dates with a guy back in college. High School was nothing to write home about. But being in a relationship with Nicholas had been easier than Emery thought it would be.

Maybe it was due to the fact that they were in a distant relationship and Nicholas wasn't the talking type. 

Funny Miles would talk about opening up when he always wore a blank look, obviously trying to hide his emotions from the rest of the world. The man didn't even want to go into details about why they were in this situation.

But when Miles left her house yesterday after his lame response to her questions, Emery did her own homework on the man.

With Natalia's skills in internet stalking, they had gone on a truth hunt. 

There was this news article on his supposed secret life that got Emery's attention. But after further investigations, she came to know that the girl in the newspaper was not Miles's biological child or his brother's kid for that matter. Aston Dekker's kids were blondes and much younger than the girl in the papers. 

There was no information on this mystery little girl. Until Emery chanced on a childhood picture of Miles and his sister as the caption indicated. Initially, she had thought the girl in the photo was the same girl in the newspapers due to their striking resemblance. But that picture was posted on Facebook somewhere in 2001 by one Ashley Dekker, Miles's mom as she came to find out. And the news article was published earlier this month so she knew the same girl. 

Oddly enough, that was the only picture of his sister. Emery did not find any picture of the girl in the papers on any of Miles' social media pages either. If she was truly a Dekker then she would have been in the spotlight like the other Dekkers who were all over the place. 

This revelation piqued Emery's curiosity but she knew the man would not talk.

“It would be hard to bare my heart to someone who always hides his feelings from me,” Emery mumbled.

“What do you want to know?” Miles's question took her off guard. 

For a moment there she had thought he would give her one of his infamous stares or another lame response. His features were taut while he awaited her reply but she knew he was willing to talk. 

“Who is the little girl in the news?” his mask was slipping on again, his jaws locked into place. “It's okay if you don't want to talk about her-”

“She is my niece.” Miles intoned. 

That made sense but still didn't answer her question. “Why would the media think she is your daughter?”

“Because they don't know who she is.” His tone was back to distant.

Emery sighed and left it at that. She did not have the energy to go down the vague route with him again. And his monosyllabic responses were not telling her anything so she ended the conversation about his niece.