Page 133 of A Captive Situation

No one said anything at first.

The sisters all shared a look except for Bess. She was staring right at Maude’s bent head and after she pressed her lips together in a flat line, she said loudly, “You damn well will work on that.”

Maude’s head jerked up.

Bess motioned to herself and Clara. “Tough shit if you think we’re going to let you stay away now. Bad habit is what your son said, but our habit is to get involved. We’re not great with boundaries. We’ll work on that, but knowing now what happened to you, good luck keeping us away. We bulldoze over the ones we love with our love.” She paused, frowning. “That doesn’t sound right. You know what I mean.”

Clara said to Graham, “You don’t need to worry about your mom staying away. She’s a few hours away. We’ll make it a weekly thing, just show up at her house with our suitcases. I have good people skills. I’ll make friends with her neighbors, have them report to me how she’s doing if she stops taking my calls. I ain’t above using trackers on vehicles. We got your mom.”

Graham’s arm tightened around me. His chest rose. “I love hearing everything about that.”

Bess was just as sharp, saying, “You shouldn’t, because we’re nosy. Said it once, but it bears saying again.”

“Yep.” Clara nodded.

“You’re in the fold now, Graham. You and Oliver.” Bess wasn’t done. “You’re going to look back on these past years with fondness because you’ll miss the lovely boundaries and privacy you had. We don’t operate like that.”

“Not one bit.” Clara had gotten a drink somehow and held her glass up.

“And we do it because we love you, but—uh—we’re going to smother you with our aunt love.”

“Prepare for that shit.” Clara tipped her head back and guzzled half her drink.

Oliver’s eyes went so wide. “No—I—oh dear.”

My mom burst into tears, and she headed right for me. “You did this.” She burrowed into me. I wrapped my arms around her, and Graham put a hand on her back. She choked out, “Thank you for coming here and doing this and bringing Graham back into the family, and my sister. I—”

She couldn’t breathe. She was crying so hard.

It’s where I got that too. I patted her back, saying, “Pull back some of those emotions, Mom. You can’t breathe and cry. The universe wanted you to pick a lane and keep with it.” And since we always needed to breathe, the decision was forced. I was giving the universe a side-eye. Just a little one, because I still needed some help from it.

My mom softened on her sniffles, but stayed burrowing into my chest.

I looked around the room.

Maude was smiling, faintly. She’d migrated closer to Clara and Bess.

I wasn’t so worried about the family anymore.

“Sawsaw.”

I glanced in Bess’s direction.

“When your man shows up, you’ll need to get that Blake girl’s information. The sooner she realizes she’s been unofficially adopted into the family, the better. We’re not letting that one go, despite the lunatic attached to her hip. If she’s worried about him, we’ll handle him just fine. He can’t push his way around Bear Creek.”

Lunatic. Jake. Blake.

I pulled Mom back to me and tightened my hold. This time, I burrowed my head into her neck.

Please, Universe. Bring me back my man, breathing and all in one piece.

I needed to tell him that I loved him too.

Chapter Forty-Six

Sawyer

He never showed. There were no calls. No texts.

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