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I cleaned up the space so the housekeeper wouldn’t ask too many questions and get my brothers in trouble.
My brothers. I hadn’t accepted those words until now. I might have lost a mother, but I’d gained two brothers. And that was something.
I did my best to ignore what they’d told me about their mom getting letters and pictures over the years, presumingly of me. They said she cried every time.
It was hard to accept when the woman herself denied me like I meant nothing to her.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I was relieved to find my truck where I parked it. I got in and stilled.
A faint scent of perfume I recognized assaulted my nose. My cock involuntarily jerked as it began to harden.
Damn you, Jolie. I remembered that look on her face when she got out of the truck and hesitated. I could have sworn she was waiting for me to make a move. I’d left that danglingorhanging there because I’d been tempted by the temptress herself.
“Today is a new day,” I said to myself again.
I resolved that I would never see her again, until I did.
15
Jolie
My father caughtme before I could race to my grandmother’s bedside.
“She’s sleeping,” he whispered in my ear.
He didn’t let go until I relaxed in his arms. Under my own power, I curled an arm around myself as I took in the sight before me.
“How is she?”
My question didn’t come out as a whisper as I intended. Gran’s eyes fluttered opened. When they landed on me, her mouth curved, or so I thought, under the plastic covering it.
“Her oxygen is low,” Dad was saying as I ignored him.
Gran curled her finger in a gesture for me to come and so I did.
I fell across her chest as tears streamed down my face. Her hand stroked my hair.
“It’s okay, child. I’m not gone yet.”
“Don’t, Mom,” Dad warned. “You need that oxygen.”
I couldn’t see their faces because I enjoyed her soothing touch and I wanted to always remember it.
“I’m not dead yet, Christian. Remember who’s the parent.”
Though she sounded strong, she wheezed between every word.
“Mother.” A woman spoke before she seized my shoulder and yanked me upright. Then I met the eyes of my Aunt Tasha.
“Oh, it’s you,” she said, letting go of me and dusting her hand on her impeccable pantsuit before directing her next statement to my father.
“Why is she here?”
“Tash,” Dad said with all the weariness in the world weighing his shoulders down.
“She’s here because I want her here,” Gran said from behind us.
“Mother, stop with removing the oxygen mask,” my aunt directed, barely glancing at her mother.
