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“Goodbye, Leia, I wish you all the happiness in the world.” I nod my head and watch her get into her crammed-full station wagon and drive away, knowing that all her chances of happiness vanished with her daughter.
“Oh hey, sweetheart,” Teresa greets me when I get home.
I made a decision on the way back here, I decided that I’m gonna listen to Caroline’s advice and I will not allow what my father did to ruin all that me and Wade have to look forward to. I felt a strange stir in my stomach while I was driving that I've never felt before, and I’m convinced it was my baby saying, “Good choice, Mom.”
I’m smiling at that thought when Breanna starts crying and just as I’m heading over to grab her, Teresa beats me to it. She lifts up her granddaughter, cooing over her lovingly and that makes me smile too. Teresa’s really proven herself over the past few months. I know Wade is finding it much easier to be around her these days, and I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for her to be separated from her children for so long. Especially since Breanna was just a baby when she left.
“Where were you?” The question comes right off my lips and when Teresa turns her head and looks at me, I immediately regret it
“I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that. Don’t answer it. It was rude of me.”
“No, it’s fine.” She steps closer to me and takes a seat on the couch, bouncing baby Breanna on her knee.
“When Bill told me I had to leave I realized I had nowhere to go. My entire married life had revolved around this ranch andthis town. I had no friends of my own. So I went to the only man who I figured could help me.”
“Who?” I take a seat beside her, suddenly intrigued.
“You met the boy's uncle when he came for Thanksgiving.” She shrugs.
“Jimmer?” I stare at her in disbelief.
“I’m surprised you didn’t pick up on the tension.” She laughs.
“I did, which is why I’m shocked it was him who you went to,” I admit.
“Like I said, I had little choice. I was very aware of how much Bill’s brother hated me, but I also knew that he knew how much Hank loved me. Jimmer had known about us for years. He didn’t agree with it, of course, but he loved his father very much.”
“So you were in Colorado all that time?” I question her further.
“Oh no, dear. Jimmer couldn’t bear to look at me. He sent me to one of his other Charters, ordered his president there to take care of me until I found myself a job and found my own place. I ended up in Long Beach.”
“Long Beach, California?”
“The very one.” Teresa smiles sadly.
“And where did you go after that?”
“I went nowhere. I stuck it out and became a shell. I’d lost my kids and the man I loved. I’d just learned that the man I was married to and so opposed to violence was capable of killing his own father, and I feared he’d change his mind about letting me live and come for me too. I stayed at the club for its protection and because, like I said, I had nowhere else to go.
“And Jimmer didn’t mind?”
“Jimmer didn’t give two shits. I guess he figured he’d done his duty to his father and offered me somewhere safe. He never forced me to become a whore for the members of that Charter.”
“You were a…” I can’t believe what I’m hearing and I suddenly feel like this is not something we should be discussing in front of these little ones.
“I was a Dirty Soul slut.” She laughs as if what she’s telling me is no big deal.
“Teresa, I’m so sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?” She laughs. “I was the one who made the choices. I couldn’t be the woman I wanted to be anymore. So I just went wherever the journey I was on took me. It was easier to forget what I’d lost when I was drunk every night. Some of the members were good to me, some of ‘em weren’t, but the best part about it was…” She leans in closer. “I didn’t care. I felt like nothing could hurt me anymore. I was free.”
“So what made you come back?” I ask, still perplexed by her revelation.
“I heard that Bill died and figured my kids might need me.”
“And what about Breanna? You must have heard about her too. Didn’t you figure they’d need you then?”
“I couldn’t come back, Leia, not while Bill was alive. He would have killed me just like he promised.”
