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Dustin sat, still shooting daggers at his brother.
“Why don’t you bring Rylie by for brunch next Sunday? I’d love to meet her.”
“It’s not like that, Mom. We aren’t dating. It was a one-time thing.”
His mother’s smile faded. “Oh, Dustin.”
“What?”
“Dumbass,” Charlie mumbled.
“Why am I the dumbass? You dumped Kenzie and she is awesome. The best you’re ever going to find.”
Charlie stood up menacingly and his mom shouted, “Now that is enough! Why can’t we get through one meal without someone storming out or wanting to kill each other?”
“I don’t know, Mom,” Dustin said sarcastically. “Maybe because we all have unresolved anger issues from being beaten by Dad for years.”
The words had tumbled out before he could stop them and they hung in the air like poison.
His mother seemed to visibly shake as she stood. “I am sorry that I couldn’t protect you boys. I did the best I could at the time, but I love you with all my heart and I am so sorry.”
“Mom, I—”
She left the room and it was just Charlie glaring at him accusingly.
“What? You’re going to tell me he never hit you?”
“No. He hit me all right. Mom and me letting him wale on us for so long was the only reason he didn’t take the strap to you sooner.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better? Why didn’t we just leave?”
Charlie shook his head. “Because Mom signed a prenup. If they ever divorced, Dad got any kids from their union and if he wasn’t around to parent us, then we went to the next Kent relative. Mom tried to find a lawyer who would take her case, but he had money and power and she was scared that she would lose us if she left. That he would make it look as though she kidnapped us. Our father was a bastard, Dustin, but he was a smart bastard.”
Charlie came around the table and squeezed his shoulder. “I get you’re still angry, but you’ve got to figure out a way to deal with it or it will eat you up inside. You don’t want to end up like him, do you?”
Dustin let that sink in as Charlie left the room.
Dustin headed down the hallway toward his mother’s room, and as he stood outside the door, he could hear her sobbing. Slowly, he turned the knob and found her on the bed with her face in a pillow.
He didn’t say anything until he’d sat down on the bed next to her. “I guess I blamed you more than I thought.”
She sniffled behind him. “You have every right to. I should never have married him.”
Dustin turned her around and smiled sadly at her. “But without him, you wouldn’t have four terrible sons who refuse to give you grandchildren.”
She laughed a little and he put his arms around her, lifting her against him, and for the first time, he realized how slight his mother was. She’d never been particularly strong, but now that he thought about everything she’d endured and how she’d still gotten up and carried on, he realized his mother had done the best she could. Could she have done something different? Maybe, but there was no point in wondering what if. He needed to accept what had happened, to all of them, and move on.
“I’m sorry. I know you lived in hell for years longer than any of us, and I never knew why you stayed.”
“One thing I learned from your father is that money is a terrifying thing if you don’t have it and worse if you do.”
He squeezed her. “I’m okay with never talking about him ever again.”
“I think you should talk about him. And me. Maybe go to therapy.”
“I tried that and it didn’t really work.”
“Then talk t
