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“There’s not much to tell, really. It’s not something I like talking about.”
“I want to know you, Melanie. I already know that I love you more than anything, but I need to know you, everything about you. Beginning with your childhood.”
She heaved a sigh and then gave me a kiss on the cheek. “It’s not a happy story, but it’s not horrible either. My parents gave me everything I wanted or needed…except their love and affection.”
I looked at her beautiful face. She must’ve been a gorgeous child. How could her parents not have loved her? “I’m sorry, baby.”
“I’ve long since gotten past it. At least I like to think I have. It has come back to me a little since Gina’s death. I think part of the reason I wanted to help Gina so much was because my own parents were a lot like hers. She sought love and affection from someone else because her parents weren’t giving it to her. That someone else turned out to be her uncle, and you know where that led.”
“Did you seek love and affection from anyone else?”
She shook her head. “No. I threw myself into school. I was a basic nerd, always had my nose in a book, always made straight As. I ended up getting scholarships for most of my college and medical school, and for what didn’t get paid for, I took out student loans. My parents could’ve helped me, but I didn’t want to take their money. That was all I ever had from them, and I vowed, at that time, that I was done taking it. That I would make it on my own. So far I have. I’ve never asked them for a penny since I left for college.”
“I’ve said this before, Melanie. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known.”
She bit her lip. “I’m stronger now than I was mere weeks ago. It’s funny how things get put into perspective. Even with all my successes, I always thought of myself as average. If I’d been anything great, my parents would’ve loved me, so I must not have been anything great. The truth is that no matter how old a child gets, somewhere in the back of his mind—it can be fully subconscious—he always longs for his parents’ approval and affection.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but she placed two fingers over my lips.
“You’re going to tell me how wonderful I am.” She smiled. “I can see it in your eyes. Every time you look at me, Jonah, I can tell how much you love me, and that means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
“Are your parents still around?”
She nodded. “But we don’t talk much. There’s no reason to.”
“I’d like to meet them,” he said.
“There’s no reason for you to meet them.”
“Melanie, if you and I are going to have a future together, which I hope we will, I do need to meet your parents.”
She let out a sigh. “All right. We’ll drive to Denver to meet them sometime. But not anytime soon, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I never thought I’d have kids. I didn’t want to make the same mistakes my parents did.”
“I never thought I’d have kids either, Melanie. But now that I’ve met you, I think I might want to try.”
She smiled, shaking her head. “I may be too old for that.”
“I doubt it. Lots of women are having kids in their forties.”
She laughed. “Someone just told me that same thing.”
“Oh? Who?”
“Ruby Lee. She and I had quite a talk the other day.”
“She’s another one we probably need to talk to further,” I said. “After all, her father was one of Talon’s abusers. A member of that ‘future lawmakers club,’ whatever that could mean.”
“I think Ruby will be cooperative,” Melanie said. “She wants to see her father behind bars. She told me so.”
“Damn it, so do I. I want to see my brother avenged.”
She touched my cheek. “We will, my love. I know we will.”
Chapter Twenty–Seven
