AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No. He ran to the hardware store. But he’s been gone a while. I’m getting worried.” Her mom’s voice shook with the truth of her words.
Poor guy was probably sitting in the parking lot, enjoying a few moments of solitude.
“Well, how about I call back later when he’s home and fill you both in then?”
“No!” Her mom screamed into the phone as though Hannah had just ripped Kayla from her arms and ran off with her. “Tell me now, Hannah. Please tell me now.” She started to cry. “That baby belongs with us. Not with that trash. Please, it’s what your sister wanted.”
Wow. This was going to go over even worse than she’d expected. Mary Anne wanted JP to raise their daughter, hence putting him on the birth certificate and explicitly stating so in her will. No way would she say that to her mom, though. It never failed to send her into a rage.
What now? Hang up or keep talking? Screw it, might as well get it over with. There wasn’t any point in sugar-coating it. She’d learned when it came to her mother, giving the information in a neutral tone without excitement or emotion was best. Dealing with the fallout in the same unaffected manner worked as well. Or, at least, worked better. If Hannah cried and let her mom know how destroyed she felt inside, it would only fuel the drama to come.
After clearing her throat and straightening her spine as though that would steel her against the impending outburst, she said, “Mom, I told JP who I am. I told him I’m Kayla’s aunt.”
Crickets.
“Mom?”
“Hannah Lauren, this better be some kind of sick joke.”
Rubbing a hand across her forehead, Hannah said, “No, Mom. It was time. Things got…complicated. They are an incredible family who love Kayla and take wonderful care of her. Lying to them isn’t right.” It had never been right.
“He is covered in tattoos, Hannah.”
“Yes, Mom, I know. And you know that doesn’t speak anything to his character at all. It’s ink on his body.” She picked at a stray thread on the comforter. It was either that or pull her hair out.
A disbelieving sniff met her ears.
“Kayla’s grandfather is in jail.”
“I know, Mom. It has nothing to do with JP or any of them. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know about Kayla’s existence.”
“And that sleazy actress Scarlett has influence over my grandbaby,” she said as though Mickie was the devil instead of a thinking, feeling woman.
Same drama, different day.
“Her name is Michaela, Mom, but everyone calls her Mickie. And you’d like her if you gave her a chance. She has worked extremely hard to turn her life around. She’s down-to-earth, warm, and loves Kayla to pieces. Mickie is nothing like what you see of Scarlett in the media.”
Another sniff or maybe more of a snort of derision. “Please don’t tell me you’re falling in with these people. Don’t break my heart like that, Hannah. They took my grandbaby.”
“Mom, you know that’s not tru—”
“I will not let them take you, too. My heart cannot take another tragedy.”
Because becoming friendly with the other side of her niece’s family would be tragic? Her mother’s performance was getting out of control. The theatrics had been compounding since Mary Anne revealed her diagnosis.
Now came the part that made Hannah apprehensive. “Listen, Mom, what I’m about to tell you might be a little difficult to hear. I think it’d be best if we wait until Dad is there with you.” Someone to absorb the blow and provide the comfort and attention her mom would require.
“I know you’re an adult, but I’m still your mother, and you will treat me as such. Tell me now.”
Her head began to throb between her eyes. Coffee would have been a smart idea before this conversation, but then she’d made plenty of stupid decisions lately, what was one more?
“All right, as I expected, the Bensons were extremely upset to find out I’d been lying to them. JP is rightfully worried about our intentions toward Kayla. I—”
“Good. Let him worry. He should be worried. I will be the one to raise that baby no matter what I must do. I’ll call our attorney as soon as we’re done. Wait, why aren’t you with her right now? You need to be around her as much as possible, Hannah. You’re the only one I trust to keep her safe.” The tears were gone, and her mom’s voice hit the high notes she reached when frantic.
Hannah closed her eyes. “Mom, they kicked me out of their house and won’t let me see Kayla right now. I’m sure, with time, they’ll—”
“What?” her mother screeched so loud Hannah yanked the phone from her ear with a wince. Her mother railed and wept. “Something bad is going to happen to her, Hannah. I can feel it. Please go back. Please go back to her.”
