Page 126 of Unexpected Redemption

Folding my arms over my chest, I harrumph. “I hope it was a painful death and his coffin had holes in it so the worms didn’t have to work too hard to feast on his corpse. The vile sumbitch.”

“Boss said his death was fitting of the life he lived.” He narrows his eyes. “Correction. Yourfathersaid that.”

Inching to the edge of my seat, I ask, “Big Al knew him?”

Sawyer lowers his head in a single nod. “He met him around the time he died. From what I heard, it didn’t go well.”

I scoot farther to the edge of the sofa cushion, leaning closer. “What happened?”

His face crinkles. “Not sure it’s my place to tell you.”

“Oh,nowyou get a case of lockjaw?” I roll my eyes. “Ironic, considering you could talk the horns off a billy goat.” I make a pish sound. “I’ll ask Tomer or Boss Dad myself.”

“I like her so damn much.” Grinning like the devil, Sammy tosses her head back. “Seriously, I adore your spunk. It’s been so hard for me to have all the attitude in the family. We needed you. Bless her heart, Sue won’t ever be able to keep up with my sarcasm.”

My cheeks warm at the idea of having a whole ass family down here. “The family, huh? That’s a bit of a stretch.”

“Well, yeah.” Sammy shrugs. “My mother is with Big Al, who is your father. So that basically makes us sisters.”

Sawyer slants his head toward the therapist’s office. “You’re also Redleg family. Plus, Tomer might as well be Boss’s son. And you’re with him, so yeah. Triple the family ties.”

“What is this?Flowers in the Attic?” Sammy mutters quietly, feigning a shudder.

“They aren’t blood siblings, princess,” he clarifies, rolling his eyes and laughing.

Rather than admit her joke went over my head, I’ll Google it later. From the context, it sounds like a movie or something about siblings banging. Leave it to Sammy to make it inappropriate. Just another reason I’m growing to genuinely like her.

Sawyer stops rubbing her feet, then curls up his fingers toward the sky and holds my stare. “Face it, dame. You’re one of us now.” He sounds like an old-timey mob boss from those old movies Papa used to watch. “And no one ever leaves the family. Ever. Period.Capiche?”

Sammy and I cackle at his impression. He eats up the praise eagerly, much like I’ll devour anything Sammy’s mother cooks.

“Speaking of family,” Sammy starts, her lashes fluttering at me. “From the rumors I’ve heard—and pardon us for talking about you behind your back—you didn’t even know your parents weren’t your birth parents until recently. Is that true? Because fuck. I’d need an entire watermelon farm and an industrial-strength sledgehammer to work through that much rage.”

Over the next several minutes, I tell my sordid tale of being lied to by my grandparents, my mother dying after childbirth, and Papa’s deathbed confession. They both listen with fascination. I detect no judgment or pity. Just genuine compassion.

After a while, my story dries up, and their rapid-fire questions slow until only one remains.

Sammy nibbles at her lip and eyes me carefully. “Are you gonna ask your mom why they said Big Al was dead? Or ask your grandma, I mean? Do you think she intentionally kept him out of your life?”

Ain’t thatthequestion.

Instead of rushing out an answer, as I’m known to do, I give it some thought.

A confession eventually passes my grinning lips. “Truth be told, I have this little thing I tend to do about worrisome shit like this.”

Sammy’s exhale hitches a ride on a humorous sigh as if she knows I’m about to make a joke. “What’s the thing?”

“Nothing like this bothers me when I’m in denial, so that’s where I hang out. I also have an inner delulu who encourages me to believe the opposite of what I know to be true. So me, my ADHD squirrel, and good ol’ Delulu Bell make a habit of hanging out in denial, which is our favorite vacation destination. That’s how I keep things peachy keen for sweet little Lettie Bear.”

She stifles a chortle, and the action makes her stomach bounce.

After a laugh of my own, I wrap up my explanation. “And your question, in particular, is one I’ve avoided thinking much about. Thus, I have no idea what I’ll do about my grandmother.”

“Ilovedenial. It’s the freaking best, isn’t it?”

Sammy pats her belly three times, then rubs a big circle around it. Instinctively, my hand cradles mine.

She continues. “I keep pretending the birth of our twins is gonna be a breeze. No pain at all. My body will instantly snap back to prepregnancy weight after delivery. My boobs will still be perky. These stretch marks will disappear. And I’ll sleep through the night.Ah. My little monsters and I love denial.”

---