Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Gah!
I dumped the bags on the island and said to Liam, “There’s more in the trunk.”
Liam glanced at his grandfather, got a nod, then took off to the garage.
I started to pull out groceries.
“Darlin’, we gotta talk,” Dad announced.
Feeling a lot, too much, having just struggled all the way to the grocery store, and all the way home with not pointing my car in the direction of the hospital so I could check on Darius, managing to best that herculean task, I’d had enough.
And for some reason, I aimed my ire at the person who I felt betrayed me the most.
Darius’s mother.
“I didn’t expect this from you,” I stated.
She stared right into my eyes, and sweet, quiet Miss Dorothea didn’t back down. “I didn’t expect it from you either.”
“I was doing what your son wanted.”
“You got a mind of your own, child,” she retorted.
“So you thought the last sixteen years has been easy? All the decisions that needed to be made a breeze?”
“I didn’t say that. In fact, since I hope you’re listening, I’ll say I know it was hard, terribly hard, for you, for my son, for my grandson, for all of us. We did the best we could with the lot we were cast. And now, praise the good Lord, it’s over and we can heal.”
I pulled out some bananas. “It doesn’t feel over.”
“That’s because you’re determined to hang on to hurt when the time for hurting is passed,” Mom chimed in. “I get it. It’s habit. But for everyone concerned, you gotta let it go.”
I pinned her with a glare. “That’s it? You all hiding secret visits with Darius and Liam from me for years, and I have to let it go?”
“He saw Liam at Toni and Tony’s wedding,” Lena put in.
“I know that,” I snapped at my sister.
“Girl, it wrecked him,” she whispered.
The tear in my heart from that time hadn’t mended, so I felt that.
I felt it.
“He couldn’t stay away,” she said.
“Your mother and me already figured out you were getting money from somewhere, it didn’t take Sherlock Holmes wading in to know where you were getting it,” Dad shared (totally should have lied about winning the lottery, I was seeing that now). “Your mom dropped by Lena’s place once when Darius and Liam were visiting. She wasn’t expected. But we knew then, and we’d heard some things. We understood what he was about. But a boy needs his father. We did what we had to do to make that happen.”
“A mother needs a partner,” I returned.
“Now, baby,” Dad said in his disappointed voice. “I know you’re hurt, and I understand why you got that feeling. But you did not go this alone. Not even close. We had you. And Darius had you too.”
Damn it.
I couldn’t argue that.
I went to the fridge to put away the milk and cheese.
When I closed the door, I let out a squeak as I jumped back half a step, because Dorothea was right there.
“He’s loved you since high school,” she said.
I shook my head to shake her words out of my ears and rounded her to get to the groceries.
“Where’s that boy with the bags?” I muttered.
“He’s staying out there until we hash this out,” Dad told me.
I looked to him. “Then he can put them away.”
I turned to walk out of the room.
“Don’t be stubborn,” Mom called after me.
Right.
Enough.
I whirled on her.
On all of them.
“I know Darius gave me money. I know Darius bought us our furniture. I know Darius pretty much bought this house. I know he looked out for us. What you don’t know is, it hasn’t been over with him and me. It was stops and starts, and the last few years, he kept his distance. But in the beginning, when I moved back to Denver, he and I were together for years.”
I could tell by the looks on their faces they didn’t know that last part. Lena’s expression, particularly, was hard to witness considering her shock was liberally mixed with hurt, as I knew it would be.
Even so, I lowered the boom.
“He could have told me. He had ample opportunity. He didn’t tell me. He didn’t tell me about the business he was in. He didn’t tell me he was spending time with me and other times with his son. He didn’t let me in. He didn’t let me be a part of the conversation. Of the decision making. He didn’t let me decide if I was willing to take the chances he wasn’t willing to take so we could have a family. He kept us apart for his own reasons, and they might have been good ones, but he didn’t give me a say.”
I focused on my mom and kept going.
“I tried patience. Years of it. Years. He took my time and our boy’s time, and he gave, but he didn’t give enough.”