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Patrick wasn’t the one holding my nephew.
I looked back at my sister.
“Holt . . .” Remorse filled her eyes, though I wasn’t sure if it was only because she’d gotten caught.
“How could you?”
I stared in disbelief at our mother sitting in a chair like she was right at home.
“It’s not what you think.”
I spun on Marlow. “No? Then what exactly is this? Because it sure as hell looks like you’ve been hiding something from yourfamily.”
Her face turned red.
I steamed ahead. “What does Dad think?” And then I turned back around. “What are you up to? Nearly forty years of radio silence and now you’re everywhere.” I glared at the woman who gave me life.
She looked at me with the confidence of a person who held all the cards.
“I’ve been here the whole time.”
My mouth gaped open as I stared at my sister. “What does she mean?”
Marlow fumbled as she tried to speak and came up short.
“Answer me.”
“If you want answers, ask me.” My mother was a different woman than the one who had showed up at the shop only a few days ago. This one was less demure, more in command. Like placating me was no longer important. Like . . . she’d won the battle to tear us apart, just in a different way. What was Marlow doing?
I pointed at her. “Stay out of this.”
My sister placed a hand on my shoulder. “Holt. Please.”
My head was literally about to explode. “Please what? I know I’ve been a stranger, but I have no idea who you are. You’ve been lying to all of us.” I sniffed and looked away in disgust. “Except on Sunday. Guess you knew what you were talking about after all.”
I marched over to my nephew and kissed the top of his head, careful to avoid touching my mother. “Love you, little man.”
“HOLT.”
I blinked at him in surprise. “That’s right, buddy.”
“Holt. Holt. Holt.”
I gently pinched his chubby cheek. “Blake. Blake. Blake.”
Reluctantly, I pulled away from him. I ignored my mother and frowned at my sister as I moved toward the door.
Without a word, I brushed past her. She grabbed my shirt as I stormed down her hallway.
“Wait. Holt.”
“I don’t know how you can do this to Dad. He’s been a rock for you. For Blake. But this? I can’t hide this from him. It’s not right,” I said without stopping.
She pulled harder and followed me out the front door. “Don’t. It’ll kill him.”
I spun on the front stoop. “You should have thought about that before you betrayed him.”
“We shouldn’t have to choose between them.”
