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She stops talking again. I’m sitting still, riveted. This woman has been on the inside of a powerful family for so long, and she’s talking like it corrupted her.
“You don’t mind then?” I ask, probing. “That my relationship with Nolan is only temporary?”
“Mind?” She shakes her head. “Not at all. If anything, I’mrelieved.”
“But, you’re Nolan’s mother. I mean, you don’t think—” I can’t bring myself to say the words.
She understands. “Nolan’s a good man, Keely. If he weren’t a Crowley, you’d be lucky to have him. But don’t misunderstand what he is. Nolan will never change, none of them ever will, and if you stay with him for any length of time then you will start to become like him. You’ll become like me. Hardened, callused against the world, wrapped in a shell. That’s your fate. That’s all our fates, we Crowley women, and if you have a way out—” She stops and silence descends.
I sit there, trying to digest, but I feel like someone kicked me in the teeth.
Nolan’s own mother, the matriarch of the family, is telling me to get away.
Not because Nolan’s bad, but because the Crowley family itself is toxic.
But I don’t see that in Ash. She’s not corrupted, not hardened. Ash is still the kind, selfless, hard-working woman she’s always been, and I wonder if it’s possible to love a Crowley man without turning into whatever Molly fears.
“I’m sorry,” I say finally, just to keep myself from spiraling further. “I didn’t mean to—” I stop, not even sure what I mean.
Molly only smiles at me. “It’s okay, dear, don’t you worry.” She stands, finishes her wine, and looks down. “Only when your time is up, you should run away. Run far, far away from the Crowley family, and never look back. If you were smart, you’d escape the first chance you get.”
Then she walks away, back into the house. I watch her through the back window, laughing at something Nolan says, hugging him briefly before he refills her glass.
I feel stuck. Rooted to the ground. My head’s a blur. Nolan seems so happy, but he doesn’t know.
His own mother thinks I should leave him.
And I’m afraid she’s right.
Chapter27
Nolan
Idrive Keely to the donut shop the next morning myself. I’m still happy from the dinner, and even though Keely turned her back the moment we got into bed last night and fell asleep quickly, at least she got along with my mother.
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” she says after we stop for coffee. “I can make it there just fine.”
“I like to be a part of my wife’s life.”
She doesn’t look at me. “Fake wife. Temporary wife.”
“Just wife.” I glance at her. “Something’s the matter.”
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just married to a crazy guy and met his mother for the first time last night.”
“Didn’t it go well?”
“It did,” she admits, looking uncomfortable. “I really liked your mother.”
“She seems to have liked you too, although my mother can get along with just about anyone. It’s one of her super powers.”
“Don’t you think she seemed a little—” Keely hesitates, clearly wanting to say something, but she stops herself. “Never mind. I think I’m just a little tired.”
“Go on, say it.” I park out front of the shop and kill the engine.
She turns to face me. “Don’t you think she seems a little sad?”
My eyebrows raise. “Absolutely.”
