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I didn’t want to feel the hurt that moved its way through me. But it was there.
I will never do this to my children.
This time when I turned around, there was an air of finality. It weighed heavily, but with time, I was confident it would be lighter.
“I loved her.”
His voice held the most wretched quality.
I held tight to Cal. I couldn’t fall for this. Wouldn’t succumb to one of his tactics.
“The day you were born, she made me promise to teach you how to take care of yourself. To always be there. And I kept that promise.”
My eyes flooded to the point I couldn’t see. Why hadn’t he ever told me that before?
“She was the only thing that ever made me a decent man until she gave me the three of you.”
My shoulders shook as a sob escaped. Truth and lies. This was what he did. I believed him but I didn’t.
Garrett put an arm around me. There was so much noise in my head I couldn’t think straight.
Mind games.
My father lost me, so he had to try to gain the upper hand again.
Brutus licked my hand at the same time Garrett kissed the top of my head.
I was loved. So much so that it was bursting from the seams.
And I believed with all my heart my mother had given me that gift.
And that was why I didn’t need any of the lies Samuel Hollingsworth would spout off at me. Perhaps that was true freedom.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Cal
“What was he talking about?”
Beau drew circles on my stomach.
I held her close as we lay in the dark, still shell-shocked from the entire encounter with her father. As much as I despised the man, I’d heard the torment in his voice.
I didn’t want to, but I believed him.
That he’d loved his wife. That he realized what good kids he had.
I didn’t want to answer her question.
One more shift.
Then I was taking Beau to meet Ma. Neither of them knew it yet, but it was past time. I’d been working hard, even managed to save a little.
It might not be much, but maybe it was enough for a bigger apartment.
Or a ring.
She deserved more than what I could give her, more than being the wife of a fireman. But I couldn’t let her go. Didn’t want to.
