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It was ironic, really, that although Mom ran away to be with my dad, she had, in some ways, clung to her past. To her family. It was the reason I had my uncle’s name and not my father’s. I think it was her attempt at giving me a chance in life, hoping that one day, Anthony might find us.
Me.
Or, at least, that was what I told myself when I agreed to start dating Brittany.
Uncle Anthony moved toward me, his tailored suit hugging his frame. “What is it about the Wilson girl, Blake? You were just children.”
He wanted to understand?
Now?
After everything?
I dropped my head and thrust a hand into my hair, dragging my fingernails over my scalp, frustration boiling under the surface. “You wouldn’t understand what Penny and I have.”
“Explain it to me. Miss Wil— Penny, she said some things when I visited her.”
My head whipped up. “What things?”
“You never talked much about what it was like in the Freeman group home.”
“You never asked.” I moved over to one of the chairs, and my uncle took the seat opposite me.
He inhaled deeply as if undecided about what to say next. The three words that rolled off his tongue were not the ones I ever expected to hear.
“I’m asking now.”
The words were on the tip of my tongue. It wasn’t my story to tell, but I was desperate for him to understand how deeply Penny’s life was entwined with mine. Maybe if we’d spoken up sooner—when we were just kids—we wouldn’t be here now.
Maybe things would have been different.
Before I could stop myself, I rushed out, “Derek was a sick bastard.”
Something flashed in my uncle’s eyes, and he loosened his tie. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. That sick fuck had a thing for young girls. Penny, in particular.”
The blood drained from his face. A man who rarely lost his cool looked ready to hurl onto the floor. “Did he...” The words almost choked him.
I’d felt the same when Penny had revealed to me what Derek tried to do to her.
“Rape her?” I said. “No, but he tried. He abused her. Abused his position. They neglected us, hated us. You were right.” I looked him straight in the eye. “You did save me. You saved me from hell, but you also left the only person I’d ever cared about in there.”
“I—” he stuttered. “Blake, I didn’t know. You didn’t say anything.”
“I tried, but you didn’t hear me. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be in foster care? A strange home with strange adults and strange kids? That was my life for four years before Penny arrived at the Freemans’. And then things were better. She was a ray of light in the darkness.” I stopped, overcome with emotion.
Uncle Anthony had a point. I hadn’t opened up since he took me away from Lancaster.
I rebelled at first, sure, but after the fake card from Penny, I stopped fighting.
If she had set me free, what else did I have left to fight for?
I became compliant. Weak. And I had to carry that with me for the rest of my life. But I wasn’t about to make the same mistakes twice.
“I love Penny,” I said. “I have always loved her, and I will not lose her again, even if it means walking away. I left her once, but it willneverhappen again.”
Anthony rose from his chair and moved back to the window as if the view held the answers to the universe. I knew that look etched on his face. He was considering my argument, weighing all sides of the case, and preparing to give his verdict.
