Chapter 4
Gail was struggling, if that was even the accurate word for it.
As a matter of fact, she was stunned at the revelations Riley had provided.
The thought that her father would have interfered to that extent absolutely blew her away, and yet it shouldn’t have surprised her at all.
Her father was all about control, something that she knew well and understood.
The fact that he had gone as far as that to make sure Riley disappeared, preferably for good, hurt her on levels that she couldn’t begin to even understand because she was as much responsible for that as her father was.
Back then she had been so angry, so betrayed, and so full of hate and a need for revenge that she hadn’t held back sharing her criticisms with her family.
If her father had asked her if she wanted him to take care of it, she would have agreed absolutely, not knowing to what extent her father would have gone to with Riley.
What her father had done had also been unforgivable.
The consequences for Riley and his body were also unforgivable, and yet now she realized how much she herself was responsible.
It was not only heartbreaking, but it too was unforgiveable.
She’d never really taken a hard look at herself in terms of who she was as a person.
She’d always thought she was doing fine.
She was learning, growing, and being as good a person as she could be, recovering from the shock and devastation her sister had brought on her family. Still, Riley was right.
It had also been a devastating shock for him, even more so because her family had made sure there was absolutely no coming back from it. Honest to God, looking at what her father had done, she realized the plan was that Riley never comes back at all. And it almost worked.
She sat at home, unable to move, unable to even think of what her next move would be or how to even handle the revelations Riley had shared with her.
She was not accustomed to dealing with this level of hatred, and yet she was no longer the young woman her sister had tried to destroy.
Yet she already knew that her sister hadn’t set out to destroy her exactly.
Debbie’s lies had been a last-ditch effort to get out of her father’s control, after realizing that her real boyfriend, the man she loved, would pay a penalty he shouldn’t have to pay, all because both he and she had been equally irresponsible adults in the process of getting pregnant before marriage.
Yet Gail also knew her father had no give for any of that.
It was a hard lesson in Montoya family life.
It was a hard lesson in how life worked and in how the words that you said—in anger and in pain—had consequences that went way beyond what they should have.
Riley should not have had to pay anything.
He was innocent in all this. Yet he paid the dearest price.
It was all a setup, and yet Gail hadn’t trusted him, and she sure as hell hadn’t been a big-enough person to get past it very quickly. If she had anything to do with her father sending Riley out of the country, dear God, how was she supposed to come back from that?
As she sat here, her phone rang several times. She didn’t answer them. When a knock came on her door, and her mother called out anxiously, Gail sighed, got up, walked over to the door, and opened it. Her mom stared at her and asked, “Are you all right? You haven’t been answering your phone.”
She shrugged. “I’m all right. I’m fine.”
Her mom, obviously not expecting such a cryptic response, stepped over the threshold into the living room and asked, “What’s going on, and why are you like this? I don’t understand. What happened?”
“Yeah.” Gail gave a broken laugh. “You don’t understand, and yet I wonder how much any of us ever understand.”
Concerned now, her mom just stared at her. “You’re scaring me.”
She sighed. “Maybe, maybe not.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a minute. Obviously, something has happened, and whatever it is has upset you in a way that I really need to hear about because I don’t understand what you’re saying here right now.” Looking at her daughter, she opened her arms to bring her into a hug.
However, Gail stepped back. Even the thought of her mother’s hug was far too much to deal with at the moment.
Her mom immediately frowned. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but obviously we need to get to the bottom of it. You have a fitting this afternoon.”
She looked at her mother and gave half a laugh. “Right. That’s so very important, isn’t it?”
“Of course it’s important.” Her mother frowned. “You and I both know it’s important.” She stared at her daughter. “Right?” she asked.
Gail shrugged. “It’s only important because it’s all about impressing the right people, correct?”
“Hey, hey, hey, what is this? You really need to tell me what’s going on.” Her mother eyed her daughter in concern. “I don’t know what has you all upset, but we need to talk it out.”
Gail nodded and then collapsed back down on the couch. “So, you remember when Debbie created such chaos in my world?”
“Yes, of course,” she declared, “and obviously none of us want to revisit that time in our lives.”
Gail noted almost a warning tone in her mother’s voice. “Of course not, as we’ll see ourselves at our worst, won’t we?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, eyeing her strangely. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No, of course not,” she quipped. “That could not be so, correct?”
“Hang on a minute here. Who have you been talking to? I don’t understand what brought all this on, and why now? What’s going on?”
“No, I’m sure you don’t understand,” she agreed, considering her mother for several long moments. “I’m really not in the mood for this right now. I think you should leave.”
Her mom stared at her oddly, shaking her head. “I don’t think I should leave at all because I don’t know what’s happening here, but obviously it’s a concern.”
“No, it’s not a concern for you at all. I mean, you chose this to be your life, right? Everything he does is perfect, and you just follow along, and it doesn’t matter who he ruins in the process because you get to have everything you want.”
Her mom blinked at her, but also an element of temper showed up. “I don’t know what’s got you into such a mood, but it’s not acceptable to speak to me that way.” Her tone was stiff, not quite angry, but maybe a little more worried.
Gail stared at her and smiled. “No excuses this time, Mom. And I’m not going to this … fitting. You can tell Dad whatever you want to tell him.”
“I’m not telling him anything,” she declared. “If you’re bailing on your father, you’ll tell him that yourself.”
“Oh, don’t you worry. Dad and I, we’ll have a talk all right,” Gail vowed, a note of finality in her tone. “Don’t you worry about that.”
Her mother looked at her in alarm and exclaimed, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a minute here.”
“No, I think the time has passed for any of that,” Gail stated, standing up and facing her mother, as if truly seeing her for the first time.
“It’s really hard when you realize just who your parents actually are.
” She walked over to the front door, opened it, and nodded her head toward the outside. “I’m ready for you to leave.”
Her mother went stiff, angry, even confused.
Gail wanted to think even a little bit of fear resided in her mother’s gaze as she took one tentative step, but Gail wasn’t sure she could count on it. If it was fear, it probably wasn’t for Gail’s reasons. Self-preservation was very high on her mother’s list of personal priorities.
Her mother stepped closer to the door, then turned and added, “We just got your sister through everything. I would hope that we aren’t heading for another scenario,” she said. “I never would have had children if I thought they would be such—”
“What? Such work?” Gail stared at the woman in front of her.
Did she even know her? Had she ever known her?
“People come with their own rights, their own beliefs, their own needs, and their own wants that have nothing to do with what you may want. If you just wanted little soldiers to follow the dynasty, then I guess you didn’t put your order in quite right, did you? ”
Her mom glared at her and shook her head. “I don’t know what this is,” she snapped. “Yet I’m not standing here to be insulted.”
“I already told you to leave,” she reminded her. “The door is right here.”
Her mom stormed out, and, even as she pivoted to have the last word, Gail shut the door in her face.
Then she locked it so that her mom could hear the distinctive click of the lock against the door.
By rights, considering all the horrid events her family members had done, Gail didn’t have any top five reasons to get angry at her mother, except that her mother chose to be a wife who backed absolutely everything her husband did, no matter what, and she went into it whole hog.
No matter what it was, her mother followed the family line. Maybe she didn’t have a choice. Maybe she didn’t care. But right now, none of it mattered to Gail.
She was dealing with a level of pain that she hadn’t expected, hadn’t realized could even exist. She didn’t know how to handle it and didn’t have a clue what she was supposed to do about it.
She collapsed once more onto the couch. When her phone buzzed again, she checked it this time. It was her girlfriend.
She answered it, trying for a normal tone of voice, when Selene asked, “I haven’t heard back from them. Have you?”
“No, I haven’t heard anything, I don’t really expect to either,” she added. “I’m hoping they can find the dog.”
Selene sighed. “I shouldn’t even be calling you because Riley wouldn’t have called you first, would he?” Curiosity filled her tone.
“No, I don’t imagine so.”
“I was really surprised that he was there at the coffee shop with you.”
“Well, I told you that I was meeting him,” she reminded her.
“Yes, but that was quite a bit earlier. I didn’t expect you to be so long.”