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“But he didn’t?”
“No. He . . . he had this strange look on his face when he studied me and Mom. Really weird. He knew about the cult and I think it intrigued him or something. He said that he wouldn’t call CPS, but that I had to be a good girl and not get into trouble. I had no idea what he was going on about, but I agreed. What was I supposed to do? Then three nights later, I come home from school to find him sitting at the dining table and my mom is fussing over him. Like he was some sort of royalty come to visit.”
“Fuck.”
“After that he just sort of inserted himself in our lives. He moved us into his house. And my mom, she got clean, but she did everything he wanted. She was like a shell, a robot for him to command. And I had to follow all of his rules. I mean, in some ways it wasn’t terrible. There was plenty of food. I had better clothes. And the kids weren’t as mean to me. I still had no friends and there were always rumors. It wasn’t . . . it wasn’t until I went to college that things got strange.”
“Strange how?”
“I don’t think he liked me being away. He always insisted I come home for the holidays. And since he was helping to pay for college, I went home when I had to. God, it felt good to go to college, though. And I could see my friends whenever I could get away. It was hard for us to ever see each other when we were living so far apart and didn’t have the means to travel. We all had our own lives and I didn’t want to tell them how odd Anson was acting. I mean . . . I figured that maybe it was normal. I mean, the Deity had always been controlling. And it wasn’t like Anson ever hurt me. Not until . . .”
“Not until when?” His voice was dark and low. A cold demand. But she knew he wasn’t upset with her.
“College graduation. I was planning on moving to Nashville to be with the others. Anson insisted I come home for a few weeks before I headed out. When I got there . . . I knew there was something wrong with him. And mom . . . she was even more of a shell than usual. Thin and worn-out. She had this bad cough. I wanted to take her to the doctor, but he wouldn’t let me. He kept talking to himself. And he’d get violent when I would try to leave the house or talk to him about Mom. My phone disappeared and I knew he’d taken it. There was no landline. I thought about trying to run over to the neighbor’s, but everyone thought Anson was amazing. That he was so kind, taking us in. And I wasn’t sure they’d believe me.”
“Was he having some sort of psychotic episode?” he asked.
“I think so. He kept talking about his dead wife. How she was haunting him. I didn’t know what to do. Mom was getting more ill. She needed help. I knew my friends would come searching for me after not hearing from me after a while, but I didn’t know how long that would take. When I talked about leaving the house, he’d get mad. He’d say weird thing like how I had to replace my mom.”
She took a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm.
“So I tried to sneak out in the middle of the night. I don’t know how he knew. . . he wasn’t sleeping I guess. I think he was taking something that kept him awake. He discovered me trying to leave and he dragged me back. He started hitting me. He hurt me so much that I could barely move for days. By the time . . . by the time I was able to function, my mom . . . she was dead. Pneumonia.”
“Oh, baby.” He undid both of their belts then lifted her onto his lap, holding her tight.
She probably should have waited until they got to the hotel to tell him all this.
“Anson went crazy, he started smashing up the house. Somehow, I managed to get away. I started walking until . . . until someone spotted me and pulled over. It was that old teacher. The one who betrayed me all those years ago. I wouldn’t get in the car with her. But she called the police. When they arrived, they all seemed to think that I was the one who’d lost it. When one of them went to our house, Anson was gone, and Mom was dead. And they . . .”
“They what?”
“They thought I had something to do with it. They took me to the hospital, but that same teacher. She . . . she seemed to be on my side. She got hold of a lawyer for me. The lawyer managed to get my phone from the cops. Or at least the numbers off it. The police found it at the house. They rang Cat for me. And she and Alejandro, they swooped into town to fix it all. Alejandro brought in this really good lawyer, he was a bit of an asshole but he knew what he was doing. He ran rings around the local cops and in the end they all apologized to me. Me. The girl from the cult that everyone bullied.”
“So they fucking should.”
“We buried Mom. I know . . . I know I should have felt sadder that she was gone. Especially under those circumstances. But it was almost a relief. Do you think I’m a terrible person?”
“You listen to me,” he said fiercely. “You know I don’t think anything of the sort. I’m also going to tan your hide if I hear that coming from your lips again.”
“You really do have a way with words.”
He grunted, making her giggle. Something she never thought she’d do while relaying what had happened to her.
“What happened to Anson?”
“Ah, well, officially he’s missing.”
“Unofficially?”
“Alejandro found him. He was spouting off all this stuff about how both mom and I were meant to be his. Alejandro thought he was a risk to me, so he took care of him.”
“Good. While I’d like to make him suffer for what he did, I’m glad he’s gone and can’t hurt you anymore.”
So was she.
“I wasn’t doing well. I was having nightmares and probably suffering from PTSD. So I moved in with Jenner and the others. But after a while, I realized I was never going to figure my life out if I stayed with them. So I left to do some traveling and to try and spread some kindness and love around. I know it might sound silly, but I thought I could make a difference.”
“It’s not silly. And you’ve definitely made a difference in a lot of people’s lives. Mine especially.”
