Page 41 of Sterling Stone

Aunt Trudy lets out a deep exhale.

“You and your sisters came to me during some of the darkest days for Carlton and me. And through some truly unsettling circumstances.” Her voice shifts as does her attention, eyes landing on my face and offering me a warm smile. “And yet how blessed was I to have had the sheer pleasure of raising you. All three of you rascals. You were light in those dark times.”

The three of us, but I hadn’t really counted. I wasn’t one of them.

Sedona and Jolene.

Our mother killed their father. They’d lost two parents at once.

For some reason, I think of Stone. He’d lost both his parents when he was young as well. He’d stepped in to raise the younger set.

What a noble man. He’s not a superhero; he’s a goddamn saint.

I fixate on Trudy, finding a resemblance, not in physical appearance but in temperament, to Stone.

Quiet strength.

“And look how you turned out,” Aunt Trudy states, her voice a little louder, a little lighter, intruding on my thoughts of him. “Exactly as you are. Beautiful. Smart. Talented. Successful.”

She claps over my hand once. “Because you are loved.”

Rarely shed tears prickle my eyes. Trudy isn’t taking credit for who I am, but how I was raised. Her compassion and education kept my heart and mind open to differences in people, to acceptance of others. And her love saved me from making bad decisions.

I could have turned out like Mama, chasing after men because I didn’t see the value in myself. I could have been lost like Mama, who thought she needed a man to anchor her, instead of being her own iron-steel. She was an untethered boat, and she took Sedona, Jolene, and me on the ride. But I want to be on the shore.

I crave security despite my wandering soul. And I’ve had some sense of stability, because of me, and my talent, and Trudy and Carlton’s support.

“I don’t mean to be spilling beans, but what I’m about to tell you isn’t a secret. You remember how Judd used to come to the house, hanging out like he was one of you.” She smiles warmly, loving Judd like she loved all the rest of us. “Lost souls have a way of finding me.”

She bumps into my shoulder, teasingly.

“I’m no angel.” She laughs at herself. “But I recognize ones when I see them, and Stone is one of them. He could have turned out like his father. Mean, ornery, hateful. I don’t excuse Flint’s behavior, but that man was hurting. Love of his life gone. Babies to feed. He didn’t know how to love without Violet.”

Aunt Trudy sighs, recalling a woman I’d heard about often as a child. Her best friend, sadly taken from this earth too young and so tragically, although I can’t remember what happened to her.

And it strikes me again that Trudy’s friend is Judd’s mama, Stone’s mother.

He’s felt the pain of a mother’s absence.

Mama’s man?

Once upon a time.

Oh, Stone.

“But Stone’s nature is to protect, and he’s been a rock for his siblings, giving them a soft place to land when they each falter. He isn’t infallible. None of us are, but he’s damn near perfect.”

Her voice is fully restored to light and praising, almost wistful.

“And if a man kissed me well enough to curl my toes, I might want to cling a little.”

I chuckle, the sound watery. “He didn’t curl my toes.”

“Shame. He seems like he might know his way around a woman.”

“Aunt Trudy!” I laugh, the sound a bit choked with the unshed tears in my throat.

She pats my hand again, back to her teasing self.