Page 63 of Willow Vale

She hesitated, her eyes clearly telling me how worried she was about my mother’s sudden appearance, but she nodded.

“I’ll be right here. Watching.” That last part was punctuated by sending a glance toward Irene. Despite the obvious disaster that was about to unfold, I gave Desi a smile.

Irene and I stepped out onto the sidewalk after that, the door closing behind us muffling the many overlapping voices in the bar. The air around us felt charged and heavy as I stood in front of her, watching Irene bite one of her fingers as she waited for me to speak.

I steadied myself for what was about to happen.

“I already told you I don’t have any money to give you. You wasted your time coming all the way over here.” My heart was pounding heavily in my chest. Panic starting to bubble up in the back of my mind and I had no way of stopping it.

“Delilah, don’t say that to me,” she whined.

“Mom, how many times do we have to keep having these conversations? I already told you, I don’t have the money. What more do you want from me?”

“You’re really being dramatic right now, you know that? Even as a child you were always too sensitive.” She laughed with a hint of condescension. Hearing it made my whole body tense. She used to talk to me like this all the time. Like I was the one who was wrong. Like I was stupid for feeling hurt by her actions. “I knew I should have been tougher on you.”

“Is that what you call it, Mom?” I let out a dry laugh, even though I felt like crying. “Is that what you thought you were doing when you were getting wasted and doing god knows what while you were pregnant with River?”

She blinked. Then looked at me like I was crazy.

“Who?” she had the gall to ask.

For a moment, time seemed to go still. I wondered if I was actually talking to Irene and not a woman who simply looked like her because, what did she mean by that?

“River…”

“I have no idea who that is.”

“Are you kidding me right now?”I lost all control and raised my voice, startling us both. I never yelled, especially at someone else. But this time I couldn’t help it. Not when it came to River. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. “You should go. Get your boyfriend and leave.”

Of course, she’d only contact me because she wanted money. It wouldn’t ever be because she wanted to meet River or because she’d changed in some way. It was foolish to have hoped for that at all in the first place—a damn fool’s dream—but I didn’t want to believe that even after all this time she still had no room in her battered heart for either of us. ForRiver, who’d been abandoned through no fault of his own.

Irene scratched her arm, mumbling something I couldn’t understand. Before I could react, her hand shot out and gripped my elbow hard enough to take me by surprise. I saw it then in her eyes as she leaned forward.

She was desperate.

“Delilah,please. I’m asking you to help me. Mark is pissed, and when he’s mad you have no idea how he can get. You have to help me. We are family, after all.”

“Family,” I scoffed, shutting my eyes to fight off the sting that started. I would not cry in front of her. “Myfamilyis the little boy you abandoned. My family is the Adlers, who have cared for us better than you ever could have.”

“Don’t mention the Adlers to me. I know how much you’ve always loved them more than me. You don’t have to throw them in my face.” She spat, her rage hitting me straight on like an oncoming truck. “I haven’t done anything wrong! I’m sick and I need help, don’t you get that?”

“Yeah, Mom. I get that and I really hope you finally get the help you need. But don’t drag me into your problems until then. I-I’m done. Ineedto be done.” I hated that I sounded like I was begging rather than being strong like I’d initially told myself to be. Just like I hated how helpless I felt when I was around her—like I was a kid all over again desperately trying to appease her so that she wouldn’t lose her temper.

I turned to walk away, wanting to get as far away from her as I could before I did something I’d regret. Said more than I thought I could right now without breaking down into a million pieces. I wasn’t going to hurt her because she hurt me. I learned from a young age what neglect could do to a child. I lived through it, and I was still suffering the consequences of my mother’s actions years later.

I never wanted River to go through the same thing. I worked really hard to control my anger and frustrationsespecially around him. I didn’t want him to get a glimpse into all that I was exposed to growing up. Right now though, I felt like I could hurt someone and, as much as she probably deserved it, I didn’t want to lash out at Irene. She may have given me life. We may look alike in more ways than one. But I didn’t want to be my mother.

I could hear Irene’s footsteps hurrying behind me. She yanked me back this time. “Don’t you walk away from me! I am talking to you, Delilah.”

“Let go of me,” I said as calmly as I could.

Irene’s grip tightened on my arm, and I winced when her nails bit into my skin. “I’m not playing anymore, you ungrateful brat.”

I could only stare at her as she shook me, yelling at me like she had so many times before.

“Get your hands off her, Irene,” A voice suddenly boomed from behind me.

We both froze in place. My mother stiffened before I looked over my shoulder to find Travis shoving the door aside as he stalked toward us. The look on his face was one of pure rage, and a breath of relief escaped my lips.

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