Page 92 of Forbidden

Mum wasn’t the same after that. She would make up any excuse not to be in the same room as Dad and I was only a teenager and I noticed. The girls’ memory isn’t as clear on it now. But I remember that solid year of Mum ignoring Dad.

Dad ended up taking a break from the club to focus on mum. But even then she didn’t want to be near him. I remember her ignoring him when he spoke. I remember her rejecting his calls. And what I remember really clearly was the way she acted like everything was fine when someone was watching and then when she thought they weren’t watching she would turn distant and numb.

Still, even when things got that bad, Mum never left Dad permanently. Whatever he did clearly hurt her but she never said she was walking away from their marriage.

Every time she pushed Dad away he would just go back for more. It didn’t matter how many times she just flat-out ignored him, Mum wouldn’t even put in enough effort to fight with him.

But he just kept going back to her. Waiting and hoping for the day to come when she would let him back in her life. And the day did come. Mum did let him back in her life. And I couldn’t say her blocking him out of her life affected us kids. She made sure to never show it in front of us.

I just knew because I was older and ended up spending a lot more time at home because I was always being suspended from school.

Mum started to get less distant and stopped being withdrawn when someone wasn’t watching her. She started to smile again; it was even a bigger deal when she smiled when Dad was in the room.

I don’t think I remember Dad ever being as happy as when Mum started yelling at him, because for once in nearly a year, she wasn’t ignoring him.

Mum slowly started to show him other emotions than just anger. I was only young and even I saw Mum slowly start to let Dad back in her life.

Whatever Dad had done was bad enough for her to ignore him for a year. But whatever it was didn’t come close to Dad losing Hannah.

Mum didn’t talk about divorce and ending their marriage even when he had ‘broken her again’.

I had to do something before Mum left. We all knew that when Mum said something, she fucking did it.

“I’m going to get Hannah. You all need to calm down. Maybe she has just gone to get something to eat with him. Fuck, she said she was fine here. So you all need to calm the fuck down.” I was shouting at them, trying to put a blanket on a house fire.

I could repair this. I could get Hannah back.

I pointed at Mum. “You aren’t leaving Dad. Also, no more shooting him.” I then pointed my finger at Dad. “Don’t even think about fucking leaving because you get some deluded idea it would be best for all of us.” Then I pointed at Eve. “Stop blaming Mum and Dad. You and I sure as fuck had noticed Hannah had stopped eating. You aren’t leaving either.”

Then my eyes went to Brad. “And you aren’t walking from the club because right now you are needed the most. Dad isn’t going to be in a fit state to be the head of anything till Hannah calms down.”

I let out a sharp breath. “So everyone stop panicking. I’m going to get Hannah and bring her back. And we can talk it out. We aren’t letting her leave without fighting for her just because Dad made a promise to her when she was fucking six!”

Everyone was looking at me in slight disbelief. Yeah, I usually wasn’t great in a crisis. I was normally too drunk to do anything or too furious to think straight. I couldn’t find my bike keys but I saw Dad’s on the coffee table.

“Everyone stay here till I get back with Hannah.” I said it like it was law and I waited for them to say they weren’t leaving. “So no one with the last name Wilson will be leaving this house?” I made sure to make my point.

My eyes were on Mum. She was one I had to worry about. She knew I was watching her, and she finally looked me in the eye and nodded her head.

Great. At least now I knew she wouldn’t be divorcing Dad while I was gone.

“I’ll be back.” I pulled out my phone. I hadn’t planned on the first time I used Layla’s number to be asking where Tatz lived, but I was going to do it anyway. I just hoped Hannah hadn’t reached out to her yet.

I opened the front door and my eyes were on my phone, scrolling through to find Layla’s number.

Then I did a fucking double take when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I accidentally tripped down the porch steps because I was too busy not believing what I saw.

Hannah was on one of the porch chairs.

She hadn’t left.

I saw her run her fingers under her eyes. She was out here crying all along. I didn’t say anything; I just stood there, stunned to see her still here.

“You going somewhere on Dad’s bike?” she spoke but her voice broke. Clearly she had been crying out here for a while. I saw her eyes on the keys in my hand.

“Um, yeah, I was.” I walked up the steps. I wasn’t sure on what to say to her. Sure, I was telling everyone I was getting Hannah back so we could talk it out. But here she was in front of me, and I didn’t know how to approach the subject.

“Why would you be going on his bike?” Hannah’s words wavered slightly as tears kept falling from her eyes.

---