AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mrs. Meadows, how about we just…sit down?” Emersyn offered, looking like she was struggling as much as I was.
My mother blinked at Emersyn, her mouth turning down into a sharp frown. “My name is Winnie.” She narrowed her eyes. “Who are you?”
“She’s a friend of mine, Mom.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s a good idea. Let’s sit, Mom.”
Maybe if we got her off her feet, we could get her to calm down enough for her to leave.
Mom seemed to ponder that thought, utterly slowly, but she eventually nodded. “Okay. Fine.”
The three of us shuffled into the nearest open booth, Emersyn on one side of the table and Mom and me on the other. I threw Emersyn an apologetic look. I was sure this wasn’t how she expected to spend her night. She gave me an encouraging smile.
As soon as we sat, Mom turned to me, her fingers curling into my jacket as fresh tears filled her eyes. “You know I love you, right? I’ve always loved you.”
My throat tightened. If she really loved me all that much, she probably shouldn’t have been lying to me. I bit back that retort, though, and managed a nod. “I know.”
She sniffed loudly. Her eyes were bloodshot and bleary. I had never seen her like this before and it turned my stomach.
“You’re my baby, Lark. My sweet baby girl. I have loved you since the day you were born. It never mattered to me how you were made.” Her hands fisted tighter into my jacket, her knuckles whitening. “I swear it didn’t, because from the very first moment I found out about you, you were only mine. You were never his.”
The room seemed to shift beneath me, as if someone had knocked me off-kilter and I was gradually falling. My eyes locked onto my mother’s tear-streaked face as the words she’d said processed in my brain.
It never mattered to me how you were made.
“Mom,” I rasped, finally finding the words. “What are you talking about?”
A sob bubbled up from her as fresh tears welled in her eyes. “You have to know how much I love you, Lark. How much I fought for you.”
A numbness seeped through my veins, my arms going limp at my sides. “Who would have fought you for me?”
We had never spoken much about my father. She told me that he had died a long time ago and that he wasn’t anyone worth knowing anyways. That’s what she’d told me, that he was nothing but a loser who overdosed on drugs.
But what she was saying now didn’t fit that narrative.
My mother continued to cry and blubber about how much she loved me, but it was too late. She had opened this can of worms, and she needed to give me answers. My hands shot up, and I clutched her upper arms.
“Mom,” I said, voice sharp and stern as I gently shook her. “What else have you been lying to me about?”
The venom in my voice had her jerking back. Her eyes rounded and her tears stalled. “What?”
I leaned in, my stare hard as she focused on me. “My father didn’t die a drug addict on the streets, did he?”
Something seemed to dawn on her. Her face drained of all color; even the drunk flush on her neck went white. Her mouth dropped open, and she pulled her hands back from me and covered her mouth. Her whole body started to tremble.
Sweat prickled on my skin. I’d never seen that look on her face before…the look of utter terror.
I tried not to let that distract me. She was my mother, but she was also a damn liar. I needed to know the truth. I set my jaw.
“Mom, you need to tell me. Now.”
Her chest hitched as she drew in a breath. Her hands fell from her mouth and onto the table, where she twisted her fingers together nervously. “I never wanted anyone to know,” she said after a moment, her voice so soft it was barely audible.
The way she was acting still wasn’t making sense. She suddenly seemed so…broken. “You never wanted anyone to know what, Mom?”
She fixed her eyes onto her hands. “I was…” Her voice faltered, as if it had been stolen from her. She coughed, her face pinching with pain. “I was taken once. Back in college. I managed to get away, but not before—not before things happened.”
My whole body locked up, my mind trying to make sense of what she was trying to say. She seemed so small. So frail. It shook me to my core.
“When you say you were taken, what do you mean?” It was Emersyn’s voice that brought me out of my panicked spiral. My eyes shifted to where she was seated across the table. Her mouth was pressed into a hard line, her eyes bright with anger behind her green-rimmed glasses.
