“Is this Roman Wells’ house?”
Instead of confirming, I asked, “Who’s asking?”
She straightened her spine and raised her chin in a tired show of dignity. “I’m his mother.”
A beat of silence stretched between us. A hundred reactions flashed through my mind. Slam the door. Curse her out. Demand to know where the hell she’d been. I never got the chance to pick one.
Adrian’s presence filled the space behind me. He stepped around me, gaze sharp, face already gone cold.
“You have no right to be at this house, Louise,” he intoned.
“Adrian.” Her voice quivered, shoving every ounce of emotion his words lacked into his name. “You’re here. Oh, it’s so good to see you, darling.”
His fingers dug into the edge of the door so hard the wood creaked. “What are you doing here?”
She placed her foot in the doorway, desperation pouring out of her. “I had to see you. My boys. I’m—” Her eyes shone wild as they bounced from her youngest son to me then further into the house. “I’m dying.”
I sucked in a sharp breath and took this woman in fully. Her sallow skin and sunken eyes. The pleading behind them. The way her knees flexed, like they were barely able to hold her up. I believed she was telling the truth, but Adrian’s balled fist and the fury emanating from him like heat waves was all that was needed to say it didn’t matter to him if she was or not.
It took moments for the other two Wells brothers to show up in the foyer. Adrian and his mother simply stared at one another, locked in a silent, awful standoff. She looked at him like she was memorizing every detail.
Roman took charge as soon as he saw what was happening, gently moving Adrian back a pace.
“Ben!” his mother cried, blinking hard.
She couldn’t tell her own sons apart? It shouldn’t have surprised me. It had been years since they’d been in the same room, but she was their mom. Sheesh.
“Wrong kid,” Roman said.
Her shoulders slumped, but her smile slid higher. “Of course you’re Roman. I knew that. It’s just, you’re all grown up.” Her gaze swung to the others. “There’s Roman and Nate. Sweet Nate. I’m so happy you’re together. Just as close as ever. Is Ben here too?”
Adrian’s jaw flickered with tension. “Now you’ve seen us, you can go.”
Her foot was still wedged in the doorway, and Adrian’s stance screamed he would not hesitate to slam the door shut, taking her toes with it. Roman clearly caught the same thought. He shifted in front of Adrian, shielding both him and her from that choice.
Roman crossed his arms. “Showing up at my home is completely inappropriate. If you have something you need to say to us, you’re welcome to make an appointment with me. Otherwise, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
“I understand.” She reached for him. When he flinched, she let her hand drop. “I would have gone through formal channels, but you see, time is of the essence.”
Adrian let out a humorless, broken laugh. “You’ve had our whole lives, but now time’s important? Fuck off.”
He turned on his heel and marched off without giving her a second glance.
She took a deep breath, gathering herself. “I deserve that. There were circumstances…” Her watery eyes found Nate. “You might understand. I’m afraid you inherited my…affliction, which I regret so much.”
Nate shook his head, staring at the ground. “Only thing you ever gave me was brown eyes and a chemical imbalance.”
“I’m so sorry, darling.” She raised a shaking hand to her mouth. “I know you all think it’s too late for me to show up here. Maybe it is. But I’ve nearly run out of time, and if I don’t try to make things right with what I have left, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Not our problem,” Roman bit out.
I wished I could send all the brothers away and handle this myself. They didn’t deserve this. Not any day, and especially not today, when they were meant to be celebrating Ben and his team. We’d all been so happy a few minutes ago. Her showing up was like dropping a bomb right in the middle of it.
Their long-lost mother nodded solemnly. “I know you might think that, but one day, you might wish you had closure. If I could give you that, I—”
“We closed the book on you two decades ago,” Roman stated, ever the protector. “None of us is interested in knowing you. I’m sorry you’re unwell, but frankly, that’s not any of our problem. We don’t know you, and we don’t want to know you. Now this is the last time I say it, get off my porch and don’t come back.”
Carefully, arguably far more gently than she deserved, he used the toe of his shoe to nudge her foot away from the threshold before pushing the door shut with a solid, echoing thud.
