Page 79 of One Breath After Another

Penny learned too young—but also too late—what it meant to be a Dunsworth girl. A pretty, compliant, good Dunsworth girl.

And when she finally gained the courage to tell her mother as a broken teenage girl, that what they did to her wasn’t okay ... Allegra replied that she wasn’t worthy.

Worthy of what?

Clawing depression?

The constant shame?

Knowing what they were doing to others even if she was no longer useable?

That was the last time she spoke or saw her mother in almost two years. Now, sitting on the other side of a long table with lawyers all around them, Penny and Luca on either side of her, and even baby Cross in his mother’s lap babbling on with preciousness like he always did ... the only thing she could see was Allegra.

At the other side.

Staring her down.

Smiling so sweetly.

She heard them talking.

Lawyers doing their ... thing.

Roz telling her, “Nearly done, Penny.”

Even Luca telling his godson, “Nah, buddy—we don’t eat the paper. That shit’s trash.”

She looked just like her mother.

They were also totally different.

Allegra in her white dress, a capped sleeve number that plunged in the front while her white-blonde hair had been let down in soft curves over her shoulders. Penny had opted for skinny jeans and a loose blouse that she let Roz convince her to at least try the last time they went shopping.

During their final conversation, and even before that, Allegra had never seen Penny in anything but clothes she could practically swim in. Her naked body hadn’t been displayed in front of her mother—in the flesh—since she was twelve. Yet, with a table between them, and clothes she knew covered her body, though not comfortable enough to hide her shape—she could feel Allegra’s gaze appraising her.

That was what her mother had meant.

Her worth was always one thing.

“Okay, I’m just gonna run down the hall to the quiet room and feed him really quickly,” Roz said, finally dragging Penny’s stunned attention away from her mother. “And I think someone needs a diaper—fuck.”

All the lawyers quieted at the cuss.

Roz’s cheeks pinked when she muttered to Luca, “I forgot the diaper bag in the car. Naz always grabs it, I wasn’t even thinking and didn’t mention to you to grab it.”

“I can get it.”

“But Penny—”

Their gazes darted to her instantly.

Penny wanted to ask them not to go. Her heart screamed it. Yet, the fear was so overwhelming; the absolute terror of being this close to her mother had been enough of a shock to her system that she had shut down a while ago.

Back when they first entered the room.

“You okay for us to go?” Luca asked. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. The lawyers are all here. Right?”

Her shoulders lifted—something akin to a shrug—but it was all she could manage. Luca and Roz took that as an okay.