Chapter 55
LUNA
“Ishouldn’t be here.” Leo stares around at the gathering in Paige and Dash’s backyard. Everything sparkles with decorations.
“It’s your birthday too. Just shut up and deal with it.”
My brother grimaces down at me while tugging at the collar of his button-up shirt. A nice shirt I did not tell him to wear. Which shows me just how much Leo secretly wants to make a good impression.
“You’re a fucking motivational speaker—you know that?”
I’m just about to snipe back at him when I catch sight of Dash across the yard. His gaze is on us. Part wary. Part hopeful. He might have pretended he gave up on his big brother, but I knew all along that his softy heart still wanted to find the Leo from our younger days.
This Leo is different. But so am I. So is Dash.
We all got tougher over the years with and without each other.
But when the three of us stood outside our childhood home, a united force, I knew I’d been right all along not to give up.
“Let’s mingle. Everyone here is nice, as long as you’re not a dick.
” I quickly scan the party before amending my statement.
“Well, Mr. Herbert will probably try to freak you out with his Grim Reaper stare.” Leo raises his brows at me, and I shrug.
“That’s what Dash calls it. Also, the guy in the black T-shirt and jeans is on duty.
He’s my friend Violet’s bodyguard, so he’s not about to get cozy with anyone. But it’s a good group.”
My brother grunts, but he lets me push him off the back porch. I head Dash’s way first. He watches us approach, his arm loosely around his wife’s waist.
And it fully hits me. Our family is bigger now.
Paige is part of it. Charlie is part of it.
“Leo,” Dash says in greeting. “You made it.”
“I did.”
Their voices are tight. I guess the truce they called when coming to save me is more tender without my life on the line to give it fuel.
“Paige, this is my brother, Leo. Leo, this is my wife, Paige.” Dash waves between the two of them.
I notice a slight wince on my twin’s face at the title. A reminder of the wedding he wasn’t invited to.
Still, Leo doesn’t mouth off something rude like he might have in the past.
“Good to meet you, Paige.” Leo extends his hand.
The blonde grins wide, accepting the shake with enthusiasm. “You slashed my tire one time, remember?”
My twin stiffens as he retracts his hand. “Uh, yeah. Sorry about that.”
Paige shrugs. “I’ll likely seek revenge. Luna already promised to help.”
Leo’s mouth curves up in a hesitant smile. “Oh, really?”
“Yeah. Sorry in advance.”
I groan. “No, Paige. You don’t apologize for taking revenge. You rub it in mercilessly. That way, they know never to mess with you again.”
My sister-in-law’s soft face glows with happiness. “Okay. I’ll try to be more ruthless.” She turns to Leo. “Prepare to suffer, Leo Lamont.” The threat is not in the least bit intimidating and loses every ounce of warning when she smacks her forehead. “Oh crap. I forgot it’s your birthday.”
Then, surprising all three of us, Paige steps forward and wraps Leo in a hearty hug. Dash and I both hold our breath, waiting to see what our brother will do. But we don’t need to worry. After a moment of hesitation, Leo returns the embrace.
Paige steps back, letting her hands rest on his shoulders. “Revenge will come another day. You know you’re my brother now, right? I’ve always wanted a brother.”
Leo’s mouth opens like he’s going to respond, but nothing comes out. He’s saved from coming up with words when our group grows by a member.
“I thought I was your brother.” Charlie slips his hand into mine as he appears at my side.
“You are now! We did it! We’re related.” Paige holds up a hand, and Charlie gives her a high five.
I glare back and forth between the two of them. “That was your game all along? Seduce us innocent Lamonts just so you could have a familial connection?” I jab a finger into Charlie’s belly, and he acts like the attack hit harder than it did. “Divorce! I declare grounds for divorce!”
“Too late. You already fell in love with me.” My husband hugs me tighter to his side.
The tension from bringing Leo into the group fades as we all exchange lighthearted jabs.
Doesn’t hurt that there are plenty of drinks going around.
Then Pig and Pumpkin sprint between us, racing each other around the yard in a game of chase that has everyone laughing.
At one point, Paige’s mom joins our group, and she ropes both of my brothers into a conversation about classic Chevys, which she restores as a career.
I duck away from the gathering to use the bathroom, giving Pig a loving pat on the belly when I pass by the spot where she’s collapsed on the grass.
When I step back outside, I pause, surprised at how much I enjoy the happy buzz of conversation mixing with the occasional dog bark and some gentle music.
Violet must have brought one of her guitars because she’s perched on a lawn chair with the instrument in her lap as Rosa reclines next to her, humming a tune with her eyes closed.
A movement catches my eye, and in the shadows, just beyond the glow of the party, I see her.
My mother.
Vivian makes no move to come closer. She stands just inside the gate opening, arms crossed tight over her chest, her eyes not on the celebration, but on the house itself.
She stares at the little building as if it confuses her.
I don’t know her purpose for coming, but like I’ve done plenty of times in the past, I decide to head her off before she can damage my brothers.
“Vivian,” I say in greeting.
She starts, just realizing I’m only feet away. Then her brows dip, and she reaches into her large purse, focusing on her hands rather than me. “When did I stop being Mom?”
I wonder what she’s looking for. Maybe a birthday gift?
She pulls her hand out, holding a box of cigarettes.
Yeah, no.
“When did you start?”
Her eyes narrow at me, and I brace for the fight.
But then her shoulders sag, and she drops the smokes back into the recesses of her purse.
“I haven’t done what mothers should, I guess.”
Even as she wilts under my scrutiny, my mother is still a gorgeous woman. Her dark hair has a loose curl as the strands fall halfway down her back. The skintight dress she’s wearing shows a body just as in shape as mine. Plenty of people would think we’re sisters.
A connection sparks in my mind then. Thirty years ago today, this woman lay in a hospital bed, screaming her head off as she pushed me and then Leo out into the world.
She was eighteen. Probably terrified.
I could almost feel bad for that young woman, suddenly expected to care for two new lives when she had barely lived any of her own.
But a tough situation doesn’t excuse her neglect.
Someone can be scared and still do the right thing.
“Why are you here?”
Vivian doesn’t answer my question directly. Just goes back to staring at the bungalow.
“My little prince in his little castle. Why is it so small? Her parents have plenty of money. Did they cut her off too?”
My mother says too like she and Paige are the same.
“No. He lives here because he loves it. And he loves Paige. Now why are you here?”
She flicks her eyes back to me, then across the yard. As I follow her stare, I realize it’s landed on Leo. Every one of my protective instincts flares to life.
“Leave him alone.” I step forward, wishing I had Dash’s height, wanting to loom over her. “He’s having a good time, and he doesn’t need you to guilt him into leaving with you.”
Her mouth twists, and she blinks as if I blew dust in her eyes.
“I had two hundred thousand,” she says.
The statement rocks me back on my heels. I never kept precise track of my parents’ income, but I know they don’t have money like that.
“Dollars? How’d you get that much? Even if you pawned everything Dad ever gave you, that still wouldn’t come close.”
Her lips tighten, and she stares behind me. I glance back to see Paige talking animatedly to a bewildered Leo as Dash stands just behind his wife, arms wrapped lovingly around her waist.
“My mother did not forget me.”
The statement has me whirling to meet her eyes. Shockingly enough, there’s a shine to them.
“I received a letter. A check.”
Of course.
“You’re rich now? Great.” I can’t keep the bitterness from my voice.
Vivian probably handed the money over to my father before the envelope hit the table.
“No. I came to tell you to keep your money. Leo’s debt is paid.”
“What?” I shake my head to clear away the fog of confusion.
She couldn’t have just said what I thought she did.
“Your uncle is in some trouble with the law. He trusted the wrong person, and now they’re watching his every move. Apparently, someone in the organization was collecting info on the cars. Like they were going to move against him.”
I keep my face blank, even as a triumphant smirk threatens to curl my lips.
What’s wild is how easy the revenge was.
All I did was print off the pictures of the VINs I’d taken, stick them in an envelope with a note reading Don’t trust Nicky, and then anonymously mail them to my uncle’s home. Mike’s paranoia took care of the rest.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask what happened to the rat my father had brought with him to kidnap me, but I keep the question to myself.
No point in hinting at the truth. Nicky partnered with the wrong Lamont.
He never should’ve broken into my home and bludgeoned me.
He landed squarely on my revenge list that day.
Oblivious to my hand in the events, my mother keeps talking.
“With the way your father treated you … well, Mike doesn’t know who to trust.” She examines her perfectly manicured nails.
“Money is power, and he needed money fast, not over the next year, like you’d planned.
He accepted my payment in place of yours and agreed to cut Leo out of the business.
” She smooths her hands down the front of her dress.
“It’s a mother’s duty to protect her children. ”
When have you ever? the question hisses from a still-bleeding part of my heart, but I keep my mouth closed.
Instead, I let my eyes catch on Charlie as he trots out onto the deck with a pile of wrapped gifts in his arms.
And I think about what he would want me to say.
Damn it. I hate the high road.
“You could get out too. You’ve never been a part of the business. You could leave.”
My mother smiles, but the expression seems to hurt her face. “No. I couldn’t leave your father. Our love is not the fading kind.”
That I believe. Though I’ve often doubted if either of my parents held any affection for their children, I’ve always known they loved each other. Maybe the emotion is a darker one, twisted because both are selfish. But it’s there.
Still.
“Marriage doesn’t have to be like what you have.”
Again, I seek out Charlie and realize he’s found me too. My husband watches me intently. I wave, and he nods back, leaving me to handle this the way I want.
“The years will change that,” my mother says, regaining my attention.
Keeping rash, defensive words from spilling out is a struggle. It’s my natural defense with her. Instead, I let my mind soak in the memories I have of my husband. Of all the mistakes we’ve made, but also the ways we work to fix them.
My dad doesn’t fix things.
My mother doesn’t acknowledge when something is broken.
They never had a chance.
But telling her will only lead further into the darkness, and all I want is to step back into the light.
“We’ll see.” Then I move forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. The gesture is as much as I can give her. There’s no hug in me. “You did right by Leo. This is what Wai Po would have wanted.”
Vivian shrugs away from my palm. “My mother wanted Tsai Mei-ling. A perfect, well-behaved daughter. But that girl never existed.”
I thought my mother’s rejections couldn’t sting me anymore, but I still feel the pinch of her dismissing my touch. Still, I stop myself from snapping back at her.
Wai Po’s memory solidifies in the air between us, the visions we hold of the woman vastly different.
Mine is full of hope and the beginning of acceptance.
My mother’s holds something darker. Another generation of mother-daughter strife. A tradition I hope never to pass on if Charlie and I ever expand our family. My worry of that is small. With a husband like mine, how could a family be anything other than full of love?
“Make sure Leo doesn’t screw this up.” Vivian pushes through the gate and doesn’t look back, strolling out of our lives as easily as she always has.
“You okay?” A familiar, deep voice whispers the question in my ear, and I lean back against Charlie’s chest.
“My mom paid off Leo’s debt.” Best to be blunt.
“Hmm.” A soft kiss drags up my neck. “No need to stay married to me then, huh?”
“Nope.” I tilt my head, giving him better access. Then, in a slow, languid movement, I turn in his arms, reaching to clasp my hands behind his neck. “Charlie Keller, will you stay married to me?”
His heart-melting grin is the only answer I need.