Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
She hated that we weren’t married yet.
Though, that was just one of many complaints she had at the time.
“How long are we giving her?” I teased.
“About ten minutes max.”
She got back to the house in seven.
Black came in through the back door a couple of minutes later, having taken the back way through the woods to get to my house.
“She back?” he grumbled as he walked to my fridge and pulled out a beer like he owned the place.
“Just pulled in.” Nettie narrowed her eyes at him. “Your boots are filthy.”
Black looked at his muddy boots and his boot prints.
“Take them off,” she ordered.
Black took a swig of beer before slipping them off using the zipper on the side. “I’ll have to borrow some shoes to put her ass in the cruiser, though.”
I shrugged and pointed at the pile of shoes by the back door.
Just as he directed his gaze toward the shoes, the pounding started. “Bartholomew Windsor, you open this door right now!”
“Scary.” Nettie wiggled her fingers.
I walked to the door and opened it, fully expecting Black to protect Nettie if the need arose.
“You’re not allowed to be here anymore, Mother,” I said. “I don’t want you here, and Black trespassed you for a reason.”
“And what would be that reason?” She pushed forward, only then realizing that Nettie was in the room, too. Black was still partially hidden in the pantry for now. “I’m your mother.”
“Are you?” I asked. “Because no mother I know would’ve harmed the mother of my child and my child.”
My mother said nothing.
Never admit wrongdoing.
Ever.
“Or how about you tell me about Ida Bell.”
My mother froze. “Who?”
“Cut the shit, Mother,” I said, going over the suggestions that Nettie had come up with for telling my mom how we’d found out about Ida Bell. “Have you ever heard of the DNA testing thing that’s pretty popular right now? I’m sorry if I’m curious about who my father is, seeing as you decided to cheat on Dad with some random man. Color me surprised when I find that I’m genetically half siblings with a woman named Ida Bell who lives two towns over.”
My mother’s mouth thinned.
“Or we could talk about how Felicia isn’t related to me at all,” I said. “Nor is she related to you.”
My mother’s lips were so thin, you could barely tell she’d had any work done on them at all. “Cat got your tongue, Mom?”
Again, silence.
“I don’t think I even know you at this point, Mother.” I paused. “Though, I guess I don’t really have to call you that anymore, do I? Maybe you were never my mother at all. Except for in name. No real mother would do to her children what you’ve done to yours.”
I waited for her to say something, but she didn’t.
Provoking her wasn’t working like Nettie said it wouldn’t.
I’d hoped to keep her out of it.
But for some reason, my mother couldn’t stand Nettie, so she was up next.
I surreptitiously tilted my head, and Nettie came to me, wrapping her arms around my arm and leaning into me.
As she did, her belly pressed against my elbow and I felt the baby kick again.
Pride and excitement rushed through me.
Not even my mother’s presence could kill this high.
My mother’s eyes narrowed on Nettie and said, “You always ruin everything.”
“Do I?” she asked. “I’m not sure how.”
My mother sneered. “You’re not sure how?”
“Nope,” Nettie answered. “I’m really not.”
“He wasn’t like this before he met you,” she spat. “Before Margery brought your white trash, getting pregnant at sixteen ass into my estate and turning him into someone I didn’t know. He was in private school before you. Making great grades. On the fast track to becoming a medical doctor. Then you came around and changed his priorities. Made him go to public school. He joined football, got that head injury, and all of a sudden, he’s acting like he’s not the man I raised!”
I had gotten a head injury, but I hadn’t gotten it so bad that it’d rattled my brain or anything.
“He hates people, Gail,” Nettie pointed out. “He can’t stand them. He played football because he got to hit people. He refused to become a medical doctor because he didn’t want to have to talk to random people on a daily basis. And honestly, you’re lucky he’s a vet doc at all. He wanted to be a park ranger from the time that I’d met him. He was so passionate about wildlife and the land. You were just too stuck up and bitchy to see it.”
It wasn’t surprising that Nettie knew me so well.
I’d been introverted as hell, and so passionate about the area surrounding me that it was a wonder I took the time to notice Nettie in the first place.
But I had noticed her.
It would be impossible not to with those beautiful eyes of hers.