Chapter 13 #3
“When they married me, an outsider, it didn’t go over well within their community.
For the most part, though, they just hated us silently.
I thought I hid it from them, that they didn’t know, but it took me too long to realize they knew all along.
We visited once a year and that was it. We checked on their mama, then we went back home and back to our lives.
I remember it as a happy time. We started to make money, lots of it.
We worked and worked, but we liked to play, too.
It was wonderful to see our work pay off—and a great distraction, since I wasn’t getting pregnant. ”
The door opened and closed behind her, then Stephen entered the room. His face lit up when he spotted his sons. “Boys! I didn’t know you were here. I planned to come see you tomorrow.”
Four different versions of hello sounded, but only Dina hugged Stephen. “Having a board game night?” he asked Dina.
“It started with that, but now I’m telling them who they are and where they came from. Frankly, I was about to tell them their mother’s story.”
Stephen’s smile vanished, stark pain entering his gaze as if it hid there all along. “Mom, really? Don’t. Let their mother tell them, if she wants. She gets to tell her own story. It’s hers to tell.”
“No,” Phoenix said and stood up so fast, the board game went flying. “It’s my story, right? Your secrets almost killed me and it did kill the others. I may not remember what happened, but they died, and I didn’t, and I have a right to know why.”
Stephen grabbed him, tugging him into a hug.
“You’re right, but it goes deeper than just you and your brothers.
I’m only really learning what happened that night myself.
For years, I honestly didn’t care about the details.
They took our baby. You’re not wrong, when you say it is your story, but you were our baby.
When you went missing, I couldn’t see straight past my fears.
Only Granny knew and at the time, I thought she’d lost it. ”
Dina patted her son on the arm. “I do so love being discounted.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “I know. Phoenix, your mother is coming home soon. Can you wait for her? I personally will ensure she talks about it, finally. Can you wait?”
If he expected Phoenix to agree, he grossly misunderstood his son.
He shoved out of Stephen’s hold, anger distorting his features.
“You all threatened to send me away if I screw up again. You take as little interest in all of us as you can yet still pretend to give a shit. My own mother hasn’t looked me in the eyes for years.
If you think I will just sit around and wait for you because I trust you, then you’re being ridiculous.
” He looked away, adding, “I’m not even sure you would tell me the truth. ”
Stephen visibly paled, as if his son had hit him. “I will always tell you the truth.”
“You haven’t so far,” Julian said as he rose. “He wants answers, and we have a right to ask for them. Enough already.” He pounded on his chest. “I think I already know what happened, and I have for years, based on things I heard.”
I wondered if he faked it, but something about his expression said he might know more than the rest of us, and I could tell Stephen saw it.
Jeremy gasped. “Really?”
Should I leave? I didn’t belong here if they intended to discuss a personal family matter.
Still, Dina had opened her journals to me, and the guys had said they loved me.
My heart beat in my throat, and I clenched my fists, but I stayed like I had a right to be there.
Even if I probably should’ve run while I could.
Julian continued. “They want the money, right? Mom’s family. I figured it had something to do with them. Did they take the kids to try to force the issue?”
Stephen sank into a seat, his gaze distant, as if he peered into the past. “I wish it was about money. We would’ve paid them any amount they asked.
No, I think it was payback for a slight.
If Kit’s instincts are right, that’s what it was.
But I don’t even know what the slight is and I didn’t see any of it, at the time. ”
Dina leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. “Some of it was about money, Stephen. Don’t fool yourself. If you were poor and unimportant, they wouldn’t have bothered.”
My chin jerked in surprise, but then again, Dina usually cut to the chase.
Phoenix focused on the important part, asking, “What resentment? Who took me?”
Jeremy hugged Phoenix and Barrett rose, saying, “Get to it.”
Stephen shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know.
Truly. If I did, they would be dead. We only know your mother ran for her life, and she arrived at our door.
We didn’t give her back, we married her.
We took her away. They saw it as one more way we tried to get over them, to pretend they didn’t matter.
They don’t like it, and they didn’t at the time.
To this day, some men down there think we should give her back to them, as if she were property. ”
Her safety immediately pressed itself to the forefront of my concern, so I asked, “Then why would you take her back there for treatment or whatever?”
It was the first time I said anything, and I panicked and looked at my fists. Jeremy laughed, adding, “What she said.”
“Not everyone down there is evil, and we can’t just paint them all with one broad brush.
We have very close friends there, ones who also live the Life.
Some are very good doctors, and one of them is working with your mom.
You have friends there, too, boys. We took you there when you were young.
You know this. We avoid your mom’s family and their people ever since you were kidnapped, Phoenix.
We might not have proof, but we knew. It took us longer than Granny to figure it out, but we caught up eventually. ”
Barrett shook his head. “I think we’ve all had enough fun. I don’t know is not the answer any of us wanted.”
“It’s the only one I can give you.” Stephen sank deeper into his chair, rubbing his face. “I know we’re shitty parents. We had good ones, so I can tell the difference. I’m sorry about that, since it feels too late to fix it now.”
Silence descended on the room, and I glanced around at each of the brothers. None of them seemed to know what to say, either.
He wasn’t finished, though. “And I am sorry, Alatheia, for the role I played in you getting sent away from the Hamptons. It was my fault, and I’m sorry.”
I cleared my throat. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” Jeremy shook his head. “It really wasn’t.”
Finally, Dina cleared her throat. “I would be happy to continue my story, if you like. Doesn’t anyone want to hear how I couldn’t have a baby until I turned thirty-eight?”
“No,” Every male voice in the room said at once.
I smirked, sharing a secret grin with Dina. At least they all agree on that.