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Now it was my face breaking out into an ear-to-ear grin. “Okay.”
***
The days that followed went surprisingly quickly and before I knew it, it was Thursday night. I spent most of the day getting ready for the Wrights, Caden and Sophia. Poppy, Sophia and Caden were staying with Bastian and me and Mr. and Dr. Wright were staying at the lighthouse. I made sure to stock the refrigerator with all of Bastian and Caden's favorite foods. I had the chocolate and ice cream that Poppy and Sophia adored and I even purchased a few movies for us to watch late at night. I was so excited about seeing them, because though it had only been a month, it had been a month too long. I wished I hadn't told Bastian to wait until the morning to come back, because I really, really wanted to see him too.
It was just after eight in the evening when Reaper started to growl seconds before there was a knock at the door. Checking the peephole, I couldn't say what emotion I felt more, surprise or dread, seeing Aunt Kim standing there. Why was she in Maine and more, how did she know where I was staying? The call from my uncle popped into my head and though I wanted to phone him and share that she was here, because apprehension filled me at the sight of her, it was the sadness in her expression that had me opening the door.
“Aunt Kim. Is everything okay? Why are you in Maine?”
“I don't even know. I got in the car and started to drive. I messed up, I really messed up.”
She sounded so devastated. How could I turn her away? I pulled the door open wider. “Come in.”
Reaper was just behind me, still growling low in his throat. I couldn't blame him since I wasn't a fan of hers either.
She stepped into the foyer, her eyes moving around the house almost nervously. I sensed the sadness, it practically wrapped around her like a blanket, but there was another emotion coming off her that had the hair on my arms standing on end. Devastated or not, suddenly I wished my phone wasn't across the room because my instinct was to not be alone with her. If only Bastian had ignored me and had come home tonight.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Your uncle is divorcing me.”
I knew this was coming, but I could still empathize. “I'm sorry to hear that.”
She turned and speared me with a look that had chills shooting down my arms. “Are you? Isn't it a fitting end for me, the wicked woman who was so cruel to you: the poor, little orphan. It's like a fucking fairytale.”
I was apprehensive, absolutely, but she pricked my temper; the next words sort of just tumbled out. “My mother died and left me an orphan, but how you chose to treat me falls squarely on your shoulders. Our relationship could have been so much more, I'd have liked it to have been so much more because you were my only link to my mom.”
“And it always comes back to her.”
“Sorry?”
She dismissed my confusion with a wave of her hand but what she said next left me even more confused. “You stole them away from me, the twins and Eddie, just like I knew you would. I tried to appeal to your compassion, but you're just as selfish as your bitch mother.”
A warning lit down my spine. My aunt had always been hostile toward me but I was sensing something more, like she was dangerously close to losing her shit. As hard as it was for me to keep my mouth shut, I did because I didn't want to engage her and risk provoking her. If there was ever a woman on the edge, I was looking at her.
“My sister was a selfish bitch. I hated her. Beautiful girls suck. You get whatever you want and have men fawning all over you. I wasn't going to let her have him. He was mine. I love Eddie, loved him from the moment I first saw him, but all it took was one look and he was under her spell. She had half of the guys in town following after her, and she took my man. I had always hated her, but in that moment I felt more than hatred.”
She started to pace the room and I used the opportunity to move toward my cell. If I could just dial my dad, he'd get that something was wrong.
Aunt Kim continued on, as if she wasn't really speaking to me, just remembering out loud. “I remember the day when that all changed. She had caught Bradley Franklin’seye, but of course she paid him as much attention as Eddie paid to me. Unlike me, when Bradley wanted something, he took it. His son, Brad, didn't fall too far from that tree.”
Dread twisted painfully in my gut as she callously continued.
“She came to me after Bradley had his way with her. I told her it wasn't rape because she'd been asking for it, walking around looking the way she did. He was the first but he wouldn't be the last. And then I simply pointed out that she was probably carrying his bastard and how could she expect a man like Eddie to want her when she was used goods.”
I wanted to press my hands to my ears as bile surged up my throat. I couldn't really believe what I was hearing. I had feared that my mom might have been raped but for her sister to use that rape against her…no wonder she became a shell of a person. I understood how my mom felt: the self-doubt and shame and how destructive those negative feelings could be if left to fester. My mom actually sought out help. For Aunt Kim to use my mom's nightmare against her, made my aunt a monster.
And Brad—was that what he had been alluding to when he said we were fated? How had the father spun that story to his son? Based on how Brad turned out, I didn't think I really wanted to know the answer to that.
“Dylan tried to stay after the incident but her self-loathing got the better of her. Eventually she just left town. Her leaving was the best thing that ever happened to me.” Her laugh was not pleasant. “But my bitch of a sister got the last laugh, because eight years later I get you. A daily reminder for Eddie of the woman he loved and lost.”
Tears of fury were rolling down my cheeks. No wonder my aunt hated me so much, even though it wasn't me specifically she hated. I was a daily reminder for her too: a reminder of what she had done to her sister. She had stolen her sister's life.
I was so livid that I said exactly what I was thinking. “She came to you for help and you used her pain to destroy her. You're responsible for her death.”
“Doesn't matter now, nothing does. He hates me. He'll never take me back.”
“What are you talking about?”
