Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 196(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 196(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
I squeezed Elaina’s hand in mine when I felt her tremble. Probably thinks we’re going to blame her for the bitch’s actions again. “Mom, do you blame Elaina for what Lisa did?”
“What? What kind of question is that? Of course not; Luke Carstairs you know better than that.” Now I’ve gone and pissed her off, but it was for a good cause.
“When I marry her, are you going to resent her because she reminds you of her mom?”
“Same answer. I never knew you thought of your mother as a stupid person. And that’s a slick way of telling me you’re getting married. To answer your question, Elaina and I will be handling all the wedding arrangements as I don’t trust your taste.”
“Hey, I have impeccable taste.” I was so proud of her in that moment of both my girls. Because when mom left her seat and came over to hug her, there was no hesitance in her acceptance of that hug. It’s weird that the two of them were more alike than her and her own mother.
“I’ll go check on your dad, he’s taking this really hard. I keep trying to convince him that if he really was drugged then he can’t be held responsible for the affair and the divorce, the whole mess. But he’s not having it. I think he might do something to that woman.”
“Let him!” She looked at Elaina and shook her head at my outburst. “No, we can’t not if you’re going to marry Elaina. She’s still her mother after all and no matter what, we have to think of her now too.” I let her walk away to go see to her husband believing that I was gonna go along with that. Like fuck!
“Do you think we should let Lisa off the hook? Before you answer, even if we let her off for what she did to mom and dad, I won’t let her slide for what she did to you.”
“To me?” She looked up at me questioningly. “That’s right; locking you away in that school without looking back and all the other shit I’m sure she’s guilty of. Don’t ask me to just let her walk on all of it…”
“I won’t.” I grinned at the look on her face. The little lamb had some fire in her after all. “That’s my baby.” I hugged her just because I could and stole a kiss or two.
“I’m starved. For food and for you!” I kissed her mouth that had fallen open in surprise. “Food first, then I’ll take you home and have you.” I love the way she looks at me like she’s lost for words with that blush on her cheeks. Had I really thought my innocent little lamb to be a seductive siren?
I took her hand in mine and went in search of something to eat. I’m sure she hadn’t had anything because mom hadn’t reached the eating stage of their shopping marathon.
I know this from the many times she’d dragged me off somewhere with her just to pick up one thing and ended up in every damn store in the area.
“Maybe I should make dinner for everyone, it’s already getting late.”
“You cook?” I pulled my head back out of the refrigerator where I was looking for something for us to eat. She nodded her head and shrugged.
“I learned when I was thirteen, my first summer at the school. And I’ve been doing it pretty much ever since.” She didn’t need to say any more for me to get the picture and I could’ve killed her mother if she were standing in front of me.
Instead I swallowed the sadness I felt for the little girl who’d been so neglected and unloved, and offered to help. I know I can give her all of me, but how the hell can I make up for the loss of a mother’s love? I know; I’ll share mine with her.
Luke
No one mentioned Lisa or the fact that she was molting away in a jail cell, still waiting for dad to come get her out. Since I don’t trust her not to have a backup plan, I’d called the D.A. and made sure there was no way she could bail out.
I was pretty sure she was going to be charged with drugging dad and who knows what else. I was also sure that after all this time she knew dad wasn’t coming to get her out, so she might be aware that the jig was up. I didn’t want her calling someone else to come bail her ass out.
Once I got dad settled, (he’d decided to stay with mom for the night), I left to take her home with me. It was on the way there that I got the call from my security team, telling me how Lisa had found mom and Elaina. She’d had someone on my mother.