Page 177 of Unexpected Redemption

“You’ll find out when I do, babe. And not a second before,” I admit.

Mama’s planted herself on an empty bench under a shade tree. She pulls out her fan, snapping it in a flourish and waving it under her chin. It’ll be a struggle for me to avoid telling her she’d be cooler if she lost the suit jacket. This is an outdoor festival, and she’s dressed like she needs to appear before Judge Wendy Simek—the toughest judge in town. She’s been known to give speeders a night in the slammer if they don’t appear remorseful.

Tomer squeezes my hand before releasing it to gesture to the open spot on the bench beside Mama. “Why don’t you talk to her first, sugar? I can wait a few feet away. Okay?”

I nod and pucker my lips at him for a kiss. He doesn’t deny me. I’m more than half-tempted to slip him the tongue just to piss off Prudence Prudson.

Miraculously, I resist. I’msoself-disciplined.

She’s the first to speak. “Violet, why did you send that brash woman to accost me?”

Off to a great start, tripping out of the gate.

“Mama, I didn’t know she was coming. In fact, I never told her anything about you. No clue why she was here.” After rolling my eyes, I add, “And she’s an old woman. I doubt sheaccostedyou.”

She places her flattened hand on her chest. “She ambushed me in the church parking lot.”

“With what? Water balloons? Pie to the face?”

“Very funny, young lady. I was mortified.”

“I’d like to say I feel bad for you, but I don’t. Imagine howmortifiedI was when I learned you weren’t my real mother. And that my birth father was very much alive.”

Her eyes flit above us, where the wind whistles through the leaves and moss hanging on the tree. “Who told you?”

Of all the things to say,that’show she responds.

“Before he died, Papa told me he was my grandfather and that my mother died after childbirth.”

I force air into my lungs before the grief makes it hard to breathe.

“Dammit, Lionel,” she utters under her breath. Making a fist, she presses it into her thigh. “Should have known. Is that why you went to Florida? To find your sperm donor?”

I’m not a violent woman, but I’m itching to smack her for saying that. “He wouldn’t have been merely a sperm donor if you’d had the decency to tell him I existed.” My voice breaks. “He could’ve been my daddy.”

“You had parents, Violet. Don’t carry on like you were an orphan. We saw to your every need. You wanted for nothin’.” Through her anger, sadness cuts through. “Why did you need to go find him?”

“I didn’t move to Florida to find my father. I had no idea he was still alive until a few months ago.”

Confusion deepens the wrinkles that surround her mouth and eyes. “Then why?”

“I needed a fresh start. Away from you, the church, and Papa’s memory hiding around every corner.” I raise my chin. “I wanted to make it on my own.”

She purses her lips like she doesn’t believe me. “If you didn’t know about Alan, why did you end up in his hometown?”

His name. She knows it and probably knew who he was this whole time. And where he was located, to boot. Unbelievable.

“I went there because I wanted to recapture the happiness of the vacation we had down there when I was a kid.” Blinking, I stave off the brewing tears. “Something inside me told me to go there. I can’t explain why.”

Perhaps I have my father’s trusty gut instinct, after all.

For the first time, her mask fades, revealing the woman inside.

Warmly, she asks, “Do you know why we went there? Why that trip?”

I shake my head no.

“Through the years, I had a friend at the Army base keep an eye on your real father for me. When I learned he would be down there on an extended leave, I brought you to Florida with the intention of introducing you. I was gonna come clean.”

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