saw my father’s car in the drive, he’d be over here fast. I wanted him here. I just wanted Micah to stay

there. She’d given us this house and given Micah that room, but seeing her now and remembering, I

wasn’t ready to forgive her.

“You never called. I had hoped you would call,” she said.

“I know what that feels like. I had hoped you would call once too. Or at least give a shit.”

She flinched. Again, I would not feel guilty. She did this to us. To me.

“The Falcos know about Micah now, I take it? Since Dewayne is with him.”

“Yeah. They missed five years of his life because letters I sent never made it to them. Aunt Cathy

says I need to talk to you about that.”

Mother looked as if that didn’t surprise her. She must have gotten a call from her sister about it.

The door behind her opened, and Dewayne filled the space. A fierce, protective glare was on his

face, and his body was tensed and ready to defend me. He stepped around my mother and stood in

front of me just slightly. “You okay?” he asked, his gaze softening for me.

I nodded, then reached for his hand. His large one engulfed mine.

“I should have figured this would happen. I knew when you came to see her the day before we took

her to Texas that it was more than just checking on her.” Mother’s voice wasn’t condemning or

judgmental. More like relieved.

“You told me she was already gone,” Dewayne said, turning to look back at my mother.

Mother at least looked apologetic. “I had a pregnant sixteen-year-old daughter, and the father of her

child was dead. I didn’t know what to do. I was trying to save her future. She was too young to make

the right decisions.”

The right decisions? Hauling me off and trying to force me to give up my baby was not the right

decision.

“Keeping Micah was the best decision of my life,” I yelled, unable to control the anger burning

inside me at the idea of her not wanting my son.

She nodded. “Yes, it was. You knew better than we did. You knew you could be a good mother. A

better mother than I was to you. You showed us all that you would fight to give him a life. And you’ve

done a wonderful job. I’m proud of you. I didn’t make you the woman you are, but I’m still proud of

you.”

My eyes stung with unshed tears, and I gulped down air to keep from sobbing. “You have no idea

what it was like. Loving him all on my own. Trying to be enough for him. Trying to be mother and

father to him. Telling him how special he was and that he was my world while he asked questions

about not having the family other kids had. You don’t know! You don’t know what it was like! He

needed you. I needed you.” The sobs stopped me from saying any more. Then Dewayne’s arms were

around me, holding me.

I had imagined this moment a million times since the day she drove out of my life. Never had it

been like this. Never had I broken down like this. I was always resolute and strong. I was always proud

of myself and would show her I hadn’t needed them. I hadn’t needed her. But never did I break down

and cry.

The lost girl who didn’t know how she was going to do it alone was back. She hadn’t been gone.

Not really. All along she’d been there underneath the surface. That girl was a fighter, but she was also

hiding so much pain. So much betrayal.

“Your father . . . he was devastated. We had tried so hard to protect you. To keep you safe and away

from bad decisions. We trusted Dustin. We trusted you. But then Dustin was gone, and you were

pregnant. We couldn’t see another way.”

I wiped at my eyes, and Dewayne soothed me with slow strokes down my head and back. I had to

pull it together. I had to get through this. I was strong. I had grown up fast, and for a moment I needed

to be that girl again. I needed to tell her what she had done to me. And tell her what I had done for

myself.

I moved, and Dewayne eased his hold on me but kept his hand on my back, letting me know he was

there. He wasn’t leaving me, and I wasn’t alone. He would have been there back then, too, if he’d only

been given the chance to know. To be there. He would have been. How different Micah’s life would

have been.

My mother and father had taken so much from him. I didn’t know if I was capable of forgiving

that. Hurting me was one thing, but hurting Micah was another.

“Micah deserved to know the Falcos. He was robbed of that. They were robbed of that for five

years. What did you do with the letters, Mother? Where did they go if they didn’t go to the Falcos? I

wrote at least a hundred. I sent photos. For years I tried to reach them. And all along my letters never

got there.”

Mother sighed wearily and crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive posture. Then she looked

up at Dewayne. “I didn’t want them to use you and your baby. They had lost Dustin, and then they’d

suffered the blow of that Bart girl aborting Dustin’s baby. I didn’t want the world to know you were

pregnant with his son too. If they knew, then everyone else would know. You’d not only be a teen

mom, but you’d be one of Dustin Falco’s many. I couldn’t let that happen to you. You deserved

more.”

I heard what she was saying, but . . . it wasn’t sinking in. It didn’t make sense.

“Kimmy?” I asked, trying to understand why she thought Kimmy Bart had aborted Dustin’s baby.

My mother’s eyes flared with something I didn’t understand as she looked at Dewayne. “You didn’t

tell her,” my mother accused.

Dewayne didn’t speak.

He wasn’t talking, and my mother was angry. She was angry at Dewayne.

About Kimmy Bart. And a baby.

“Kimmy was pregnant too?” I asked, still trying to process this.

My mother’s eyes softened with sympathy and something close to sorrow. “I’m sorry, Sienna. I

thought by now you would have heard. I didn’t know they’d kept that from you. You’re old enough

and it’s been long enough that you can handle the truth. Dustin Falco wasn’t sleeping with just you.

Kimmy Bart was pregnant with his baby too. Except she was further along than you, and Dustin knew

about it when he died. Kimmy made sure everyone in town knew he was hiding it from you.”

Something inside me died too at that moment. Something I would never get back.

DEWAYNE

Sienna shut down right in front of my eyes. All emotion left her face, and she just stared straight

ahead. The one thing I never wanted her to know, her fucking useless excuse for a mother just tells her

without warning or preparation. I’d tried to stop her, but the horror of Sienna knowing robbed me of

words. I’d been frozen in this awful reality.

“Baby, look at me,” I said, reaching for her, but she stepped back. She didn’t look at me, and

instead she moved away. That was worse than someone slicing me open with a blade.

“You were better than Dustin. He was weak—” her mother started, but I turned and glared at her.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I roared. She’d said enough. I never wanted to hear her speak again.

“Don’t defend him. He used her,” she said.

“I’m not defending him! I am protecting her. Shut up! She didn’t need to hear it this way. She

never needed to fucking know. He’s gone. That’s over. She had her memories, and she was happy.

Don’t you see that? What is your problem, woman? Do you enjoy seeing her in pain?”

At least she had the decency to flinch.

“Stop,” Sienna said, drawing my attention back to her. “She was right. I should know. That’s

something I should have been told a long time ago. I don’t crumble. I’ve proved that. It makes sense,

really. He was always near her. She was always around. I trusted him. I did. But it makes sense.”