“It sure is too bad his angel mom wasn’t around to see how it all played out,” he says before releasing me.
I nod, jumping from the chair. My feet hurry me to the bathroom, and I lock the door. My hands shake as I lower myself to the floor. Lily is with Jackson. My parents are with Jackson!
Every person I’ve ever loved is together. They’re all together.
My fingers clench the front of my shirt as I struggle to draw in a breath. The way my heart aches to be with them is a pain I’ll never be able to describe, but it can’t be. It just can’t be.
Thirty minutes later, Bill knocks on the door. “I wrestled up some grub if you’re hungry. Hope you don’t mind; I did a little harvesting in your garden. You sure do have some nice-looking tomatoes this year.”
It makes me chuckle sadly. He is literally the sweetest man I’ve ever met … next to Raffe … but he was just a boy the last time I saw him.
I pause my story, waiting for a response from my mom or her friend.
Ray is rubbing his temple. “So, both Rachel and Bill knew. I can’t believe they kept this from you and Jackson,” he says to my mother.
“They did it for me,” I tell him.
“Bill may not have had ulterior motives, but my niece, Rachel …” He shakes his head. “If she loved Jackson, how could she ...”
I jump from my chair, slamming my hand on the table. “Stop. I will not have anyone thinking or speaking badly of the woman who saved my life. She loved Jackson. Do not let this taint the image you have of her. She is nothing less than a saint.”
My mother stands. “Jenny.”
“No. I need to say this. I would be dead if it wasn’t for her keeping my secret. If she would have gone back to the club and sent Raffe up here, I would have ended my life immediately.” I turn away from them. “Rachel talked me into staying for Jackson. In case he ever needed me,” I finish quietly.
“What about me and your father?” my mother asks, not hiding the pain in her voice. “We needed you. I needed you.”
Holding my stomach, I face her. “Don’t make me tell you the things that they did to me, Mama.”
Her face falls.
“I stayed in this world for Jackson and Jackson alone. I will not apologize for that. That one thing took everything in me. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”
When she doesn’t say anything, I wave for them to follow me outside. “I want to show you something.”
Ray takes her hand, encouraging her to follow me. I walk through my gardens and then into the woods. I’ve come out here so often my feet have beaten a path. It ends at my favorite tree.
I walk up to it and place my hands on his trunk. “Hello, my friend,” I say before wrapping my arms around as far as they’ll go and holding on tight.
My mom steps up beside me, and she too places her hands on it. Her eyes fall closed.
“This is my mama,” I say, introducing her to the tree. “You probably already feel like you know her, huh?”
The wind blows, wrestling the leaves above our heads.
“He says it’s nice to meet you,” I tell her.
Her eyes open, and she smiles. “It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Tree.”
It makes me giggle.
My cheek rests against the rough bark as we stare at each other. “The first time I came out here, I tied a rope to his branches.”
She turns her attention to the branch above us, the color draining from her face.
“I may have stayed for Jackson, but it was your voice that got me through.” I push away from the tree and take her hand, pulling her back out of the woods. Ray follows quietly behind us.
As we step out, I recite a line from her favorite poem. She used to tell it to me every night before bed. “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.”
