Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 501(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Dad holding Dani’s face under the faucet because she forgot to feed the chickens.
Dad backhanding me when I was six because I couldn’t finish my dinner.
“Jesus,” I mutter, wiping my hand over my face.
“I’m sorry,” Darby says softly, her eyes full of tears as she watches me. “I know this is hardest on you.”
“I’m fine.” I eye the photo of Mom on her graduation day in Darby’s hands. “Is there anything else you want to grab?”
“Did Mom have any jewelry to speak of?” Charlie asks with a frown.
“Maybe. Let’s go see if there’s a jewelry box upstairs,” Alex says, but Darby’s shaking her head.
“I’m not going upstairs,” Darby informs them. “Never again. You can have the jewelry.”
Darby is the next oldest, after me, younger by two years. The fact that his second child was a girl infuriated Dad, and he took it out on Darby as much as possible, almost on a daily basis.
“Do you want anything else?” I ask her, and she shakes her head no, so I take her hand and lead her outside. “We’ll wait for them out here.”
She takes a long, deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Whenever I’m in that house, it feels like someone is sitting on my chest. The energy in there is just horrible.”
“I know.” I rub a circle on the middle of her back. Before long, the other three come outside, carrying totes they found somewhere in the house full of what they want.
“We found the jewelry,” Alex says. “She had some pretty things, so we just took the whole box and we can go through it later, and I grabbed what I wanted from the kitchen.”
“I found the photos,” Dani adds.
“And I grabbed a folder full of documents. Marriage license, death certificates, that sort of thing. We may never need them, but you never know. And I found Mom’s diaries. I kept them. I don’t know if I can read them, but we have them.” Charlie swallows hard and then turns her eyes up to the house. “You’re going to destroy it?”
“And everything inside of it,” I confirm.
“It’s a hundred years old,” Darby murmurs. “And Dad ruined it for us.”
“He ruined everything,” Alex reminds her.
The farther away from the house we walk, the more relaxed we all become, and we get the things stowed in the back of the SUV.
Dani drives her SUV over to my cabin, and the five of us open the two large boxes of pizza and dig in, quietly chewing as if we’re thinking about what we saw inside the house. Finally, it’s Darby who speaks up.
“Who is she?” Darby asks, her pizza in hand, staring me down.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” I shove my crust into my mouth and reach for another slice. I’m hungrier than I thought.
“Are you embarrassed by her?” Charlie demands, and then her eyes go wide. “Oh, shit, is she a hooker?”
“What? Jesus Christ, no.” I scowl at my sister. “Why the hell would you say that? Are there even hookers in Bitterroot Valley?”
“I mean, maybe you’re paying someone,” Charlie continues. “So it’s more of a business transaction and not so personal.”
“I know he’s gross because he’s our brother,” Dani points out, making me glare at her, “but he’s cute. He doesn’t need a professional for something like this. Most women throw themselves at his feet when he breathes in their direction. Have you seen the reaction he gets when he smiles? It’s kind of appalling.”
I blink at her, stunned.
“I mean, he’s okay,” Alex says with a shrug.
“Gee. Thanks. I shouldn’t have pulled you out of the swimming pond when you were six, saving your life.”
Dani just rolls her eyes.
“She doesn’t deserve you,” Alex says, pressing herself against my side for a hug. “No one in this world is good enough for you.”
The love these girls show me every day is humbling.
But Alex is wrong.
It’s me who doesn’t deserve Millie.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Darby says, shaking her head. “Because this could go really badly for you, brother.”
“It’s going to be fine.” I have to keep telling myself that. “Everything is going to be just fine. Trust me.”
“We trust you,” Charlie reminds me. “That’s not what worries me. It’s the woman. Maybe she’s a gold digger.”
“Just trust me,” I repeat and reach out to tweak her nose.
CHAPTER FIVE
MILLIE
It’s a rainy spring day.
Not just a little sprinkle, either. Huge raindrops fall incessantly, Holden’s wipers moving quickly to keep up as we drive on the freeway, heading to Idaho. The clouds are dark and low, casting everything in shadow. I look over at the man beside me, his hands firm on the wheel and gaze trained on the wet roads, fully alert.
I haven’t been alone with Holden in a truck in the better part of a decade.
And if you’d have told me back then that I’d one day be on my way to marry him, I would have squealed with joy. I wouldn’t have cared about the elopement. I’ve never had dreams of a huge wedding. I just wanted him.