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“Jesus, baby.” Gavin rubbed his face and moved to stand in front of her. “I was ready to hold you captive.”
Ginny blinked back tears she hadn’t expected and leaned forward to rest her head on Gavin’s chest. “I was so convinced that you’d be better off without me,” she said, her voice slightly muffled, but by the way Gavin’s hands gripped her sides, he heard every word. “That one day I’d fuck up like Cyrus and hurt you so badly. While I might fuck up, I’d never go out of my way to hurt you. And when I do fuck up, we’d figure it out together, right?”
“Without a doubt. I hate that he could make you ever question how wonderful you are, or how much you deserve to be loved.”
Nodding, Ginny let her tears fall against Gavin’s bare chest. His arms snaked around her waist and he swayed her gently, making her smile. After a long moment, she pulled back to look at him.
“There’s a part of me that feels like this is a dream and you’ll be gone when I wake up.”
Gavin rolled his eyes. “That used to be mynightmare, but now you’re stuck with me. Forever, in case that wasn’t clear yet.”
“Not even going to consult me on this, huh?”
This time his face split into a wide grin as he dropped his forehead to hers. “Ginny Thomas, how do you feel about forever with me?”
She pursed her lips, like she was thinking about it when the opening to “Dancing in the Dark” by Bruce Springsteen suddenly filled the kitchen. Gavin leaned back with a frown and when he reached for his phone, she sawDadon the screen. It was still pretty early to be calling, so Ginny understood Gavin’s concern. He stepped away from her to answer the phone and almost instantly turned to look at her.
“Yeah, Ginny’s with me.” Frowning slightly, Ginny watched him. “Okay, yeah, we can be there in thirty.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked as he lowered his phone, face leached of color.
“Your mom showed up at my parents house this morning in pretty bad shape.”
CHAPTER35
Her head was spinningwith all the possibilities of what Gavin’s words meant. It was clear that Elijah hadn’t told his son anything more than that, so she quickly pulled on a pair of pants as Gavin got dressed and they were out the door. A distant part of her brain registered that maybe they should have taken Cedar and Copper with them, but she wanted to believe that they wouldn’t be gone that long.
Ginny couldn’t even begin to imagine what happened, but maybe she should have taken some cues from the texts Cyrus had sent. With shaky hands, she scrolled through the long list of ugly words her sperm donor had typed out, but nothing stood out. He was angry, he was disappointed, he was disgusted, he wasCyrus. But he had her mother’s phone, which meant that whatever had happened to her mother she got herself to Middletown without telling anybody. And that also meant Cyrus had no idea where her mother was.
The panic in her chest built up and it got really hard to breathe. Ginny blinked through her tears and rubbed a hand against her chest, trying to ease her breathing. She closed her eyes and felt a tear roll down her cheek at the same time something warm and heavy settled on her knee.
“I’ve got you, Nia,” Gavin whispered and Ginny nodded, eyes still pressed shut as she forced air in and out of her lungs. “Breathe with me.” The sounds of him inhaling and exhaling filled the cab of the truck, and Ginny did what he was doing. It took a while, but focusing on Gavin and not her own thoughts helped.
When she opened her eyes, Ginny was looking at the Rhodes house. The front door opened and Elijah stepped out, his face drawn but a small smile on his lips. Ginny glanced at Gavin before carefully getting out of the truck and walked up the driveway into Elijah’s open arms. He held her tight and kissed the top of her head.
“She’ll be glad to see you,” Elijah said and then pulled back to look into her eyes. “But I also want you to be aware that seeing her might be jarring.”
Words were useless, so Ginny just nodded and then let Elijah guide her into the house with one arm around her shoulders. Keeping her eyes forward, Ginny saw the silhouette of her mother through the windows in the kitchen and then Elijah stepped aside as Gavin took his place.
“I’ll be right here with you.”
“Okay,” she whispered, the word coming out scratchy and she cleared her throat as Gavin pushed the screen door open and stepped out onto the back porch. Ginny followed him out and then froze. Elijah’s words and whatever warnings had played in her head didn’t really prepare her for the sight of her mother.
Her usually shiny salt and pepper hair was pulled back tightly in a bun at the nape of her neck, clearly showing her bruised and injured face. She looked thinner and smaller than the last time Ginny had seen her, the clothes she was wearing hung off her body like it wasn’t meant for her. Maybe it was Juniper’s clothes, maybe her mother had actually lost all that weight. Even her bare arms were covered in bruises as she wrung her hands in front of her.
Elsa Thomas looked broken and Ginny hated it.
A sob escaped her lips and she finally moved, taking a few steps forward before coming to a halt because she didn’t know how to handle what was happening. Her back hit a warm body as she took a step backwards and she heard Gavin whisper that it was okay and he was there for her. Nodding slowly, she let his strong hands slide up hers and then together they moved to the cane couch.
Her mother sat down in a single seater, knees pressed together and hands resting on her thighs. Ginny’s heart beat unsteadily as she slowly lowered herself to the couch. She felt the loss of Gavin’s touch as her ass hit the cushion, so she blindly swung her hands out to grab him. It was the only time she looked away from her mother, to silently plead with him to stay. Gavin searched her eyes for a split second and then sat down beside her, their hands still linked.
“I’m sorry, ponne,” Elsa said with a wince, her voice slightly hoarse. “But I’m so happy to see you.”
Ginny nodded, eyes tracking the genuine smile on her mother’s face. Then over the bruises and marks, down to the discoloration on her arms. She squeezed Gavin’s hand, almost like she wanted to make sure this was real and when he squeezed back, she swallowed down a sob and looked at her mother’s face again.
“I’msorry I wasn’t there for you, Amma.”
Elsa shook her head, eyes dropping to her lap. “You’re here now, that’s what matters. I should be the one apologizing because I didn’t listen to you, when you were just looking out for me.”
