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“Your dad was a coward, and I’m not afraid of hard work. You don’t abandon the people you love, and it’s a sorry man who would.”
I hold him a little tighter. He didn’t exactly tell me he loved me, but in a way he did. He wouldn’t have to ever say the words, I realize, because he shows me with his actions each and every day.
As passionate as we get when we have sex, it’s the other stuff that tells me how he feels. He’s great with the kids, some days taking on more than his fair share. He spends recess with them every day when he’s home. The one time he had to leave for work and was gone for five days, he called day and night, doing his best to keep up with everyone’s schedules so he could video call to see and speak with all of us.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take for you to understand how much you all mean to me, but I’ll fight every day to prove it. Eventually, there will be no doubt.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, hot tears dripping from my eyes. “I’m sorry for punishing you for what other people have done.”
We’ve had more in-depth conversations about why I didn’t call him when I found out I was pregnant. Even married at the time, my father tried to convince my mother to have an abortion, and he left when she refused, the divorce papers showing up in the mail six months later. She found them the day she brought me home from the hospital. Her being so adamant when I was growing up that I was loved and wanted, and everything turned out the way it was meant to be, is what makes it so hard to reconcile with the woman who didn’t even recognize me today.
“Don’t be sorry. We all have our baggage. Get some sleep, baby.” He presses his lips to the top of my head. “Tomorrow is a brand-new day.”
Chapter 33
Stormy
“I don’t think that’s accurate,” Mrs. Taylor says from the back seat. “As I recall, it was Carlen who broke that window.”
I smile, lifting my eyes to the rearview mirror.
“I could be remembering it wrong,” I say.
Mrs. Taylor came down for breakfast this morning and wrapped her arms around Mila as if she hadn’t seen her in years. She knew exactly who she was. I don’t think there’s a single shadow in my girl’s life right now.
We’ve been on the road for hours today and Mrs. Taylor has maintained her cognizance the entire time.
The trip has been spent with a lot of laughter, recollection, and only a handful of lies.
We haven’t told her about Janet’s death. Causing the woman grief wouldn’t do anyone any good. As hopeful as we’d like to be that she’ll keep her memories, we all know that she won’t. That isn’t how the disease works. All we can do is enjoy the time we have with her right now.
“Explain to me again why my grandkids are in New Mexico?” Mrs. Taylor asks.
“We’ve moved there,” Mila says, a little concern on her face at being asked for the third time about the boys and Sutton.
“I can’t believe Carlen would ever leave St. Louis. He has always been married to the city. Janet wanted to move south a few years ago, and he refused. Don’t know why. The man doesn’t have any connections left there after his daddy passed.”
My jaw clenches. I don’t know if her mind is recalling things correctly, but it kills me to think they might have had a chance to be free before Keres came knocking, and he didn’t take it.
“The dry air is better for Luca’s asthma,” the nurse says to Mrs. Taylor. “Remember?”
Mrs. Taylor nods. “Janet and Carlen would do anything for those boys.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Mila’s jaw flex. I squeeze her hand a little tighter, although I have to release it a second later when my phone rings, the call flashing on the radio screen with the Bluetooth connected.
“Wren,” I say the second the call connects. “You’re connected to Bluetooth.”
“Hey, man. I have bad news. Where are you?”
“We’re about an hour from home. Got a late start this morning.”
Mary left her cell phone in the hotel room, and she didn’t discover that she had until we were already on the road. It was no big deal to go back and get it, but we’d be home now if it hadn’t have happened.
“Oh good,” he says. “Keres is headed that way. I’ve tracked them as far as Pueblo, putting them about four hours behind you.”
“Any idea how they tracked us?”
“Someone had to have tipped them off. I’ll keep you appraised of the situation, but even on their bikes, they won’t be able to catch up with you.”
