HOW THREE PEOPLE CAN KEEP A SECRET
ALM No.95, November 2026
SHORT STORIES
He saw her coming and he knew why. He kicked himself for having come here to the visitation at the funeral home but he knew he had to do it. He owed her that much.
“Hello Philip.” He was always Philip to her, never Phil, even when they were kids. “Nice to see you again.”
“Nice to see you too, Therese.” He forced himself to say the word nice.
“So you came all the way from New York City to pay your respects to Mary did you?”
“No, I just came home to see my family. That’s all. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them and as you know things are coming to an end for all of us now.”
Therese knew he was lying. She knew why he was here.
“Say where’s your wife anyway? How come she isn’t here with you?”
Philip said nothing. He wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of an answer.
But Therese was one not to be denied. “Don’t tell me. She couldn’t get away from her busy obstetrics practice could she. Of course you could tear yourself away from your busy psychiatry practice now couldn't you since you and Mary were so ‘close’. She finger quoted the air.
“My whole family was close with your whole family back then. You know that Therese.”
Truth of the Matter: Their families were close. The Anselmi kids moved into the neighborhood when their mother died and their father, who couldn't handle six kids, one day out of the blue just dumped them all off at their Grandma Wilson’s around the corner. The Anselmis, being Italian, were Catholic. The DeSmets being Belgian were Catholic. Grandma Wilson, being whatever, wasn’t Catholic. She was overwhelmed. So the DeSmets took upon themselves to help her out. They fed the Anselmi kids on numerous occasions, watched the little ones for her every now and then to give her a break, took the kids to mass with them every Sunday, made sure they did their catechism lessons, and got their church to pitch in and help her out too since she got absolutely no money at all from that worthless son in law of hers.
Yet despite all that closeness Therese believed that Mary and Philip had been more than just close in their own special sort of way. That they had in fact been intimate in their youth and the two of them had kept it a secret from everyone all these years. But she knew there had been something between them back then because when Philip came home from college his first year she saw the two of them all googly eyes, holding hands, acting goofy like, and then all of a sudden they disappeared. Later when Mary got home that night Therese could see that her face was all aglow. Therese at the coming of age twelve knew that something had gone on between those two but her sister never told her anything. Don’t tell. Don’t ask. And they both knew enough to keep her mouths shut. Then every time after that whenever Philip came home from college and medical school, they always got together and disappeared.
“Well the real reason your wife isn't here with you is because you didn’t want her to find out the truth about you and Mary did you?”
Philip fumbled that one.
“No, that's not the reason.
“What’s the reason then if it isn’t to keep your dirty little secret little, dirty, and secret.”
Philip wanted this conversation over with and out of here. He’d had more than enough of her already. So he thought that maybe if he just told her the truth, she’d feel sorry for him and go away.
“I had to put her in a home, Therese. She has Alzheimers. She has dementia. I go see her but she doesn’t know who I am. She’s confined to her bed now and can’t talk. The doctors say it's only a matter of time.”
“Well isn't that ever so convenient for you now Philip. She’ll never know about you and Mary, will she?”
“That’s enough Therese.”
But Therese wasn’t one to be denied and went back at him.
“The day before she died Mary told me that you had called her and told her that you were coming to pay her a visit. She didn’t say anything about you seeing your family or anything like that. It must have been quite a shock when you got here and found out that she was dead.”
It was all coming together for her now as to why Philip was here. He was wife hunting. His wife was on her last legs. He was looking for a replacement. Mary was the logical quick choice and she had already been prequalified, so to speak that is.
She went for the jugular.
“Too bad you two didn’t get to reminisce about old times. She never married you know. She always carried a torch for you Philip. You were the only one she ever was intimate with.
She always thought that the two of you would get married once your practice took off. She died of a broken heart, you know.”
“Cut the crap Therese. She had a heart attack."
Truth of the Matter: It was all a bluff on Therese’s part hoping to get a confession out of him. As said Mary had never told her that they were intimate and never ever even once discussed her relationship with Philip with her.
Truth of the Matter: They never were intimate. Necking, heavy petting but that’s all. No premarital sex. They were both good Catholics and they knew if they did it, they’d have to confess to it, and that was one confession they both didn’t want to have to make. As to marriage, oh there were times when Mary hinted, ever so gently at marriage. But Philip always brushed her off and deflected those inferences away and Mary was always too timid, too shy to continue in that vein. So she would drop the subject. But all that aside, the real truth of the matter here was that he really did feel guilty about leading her on all those years and he was going to atone for it all now by marrying her once his wife died. But there was a proviso first. He had to check her out and find out if she had any kind of a debilitating mental or physical condition that he couldn’t live with. He didn’t want to be burdened down again with another spouse with an incurable disease who would eventually die on him. He knew that was pretty crass of him but on the other hand he thought it was the quite sensible thing to do in light of all that he was going through. After all, his whole life had been guided by doing the sensible thing provided it was in his best interests.
“So tell me the truth now Philip, my sister wasn’t good enough for you was she. After all she was just a union assembly line worker in a candy factory of all places, not a doctor like your wife. You couldn’t marry a commoner like Mary now could you. That would be below your dignity now wouldn’t it and furthermore you didn’t even have the decency, or should I say the guts, to tell her that you got married did you? She found that out from your brother.
“That’s quite enough Therese.”
“Oh no it's not. I know what went on between you two. She told me all about it. She said you always wore protection since if you didn’t, she might get pregnant and then being a good Catholic you’d have to marry her wouldn’t you.”
This was another bluff. Her sister had said no such thing.
But Philip stood his ground and kept quiet.
Therese’s frustration was off the charts now. But she just couldn't just let it die. Oh no she had to stick it to him one last time.
“Think you can keep it a secret and take it to the grave with you do you? Well maybe you can. You know what they say about how three people can keep a secret, don't you Philip.”
Philip knew that one but he played the dumb card.
“No I don’t.”
“Good I won’t have to kill you then.”
B. Craig Grafton is a retired attorney. His legal fiction western novels and short stories are published by Two Gun Publishing and his modern day fairy tales by the Scarlet Leaf Review. He has had a number of stories published in online magazines and anthologies. The latest of which is The Thing About Ingrid in issue #87 of this magazine.
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