Page 25 of Pieces into Place
“I’m so sorry, Vera,” Isla cried. “I hate myself for how I’ve been acting recently. You didn’t deserve that. Our kids didn’t deserve that. I’m so sorry. I’m going to work on this. I promise. I’m going to fix it.”
“I know, baby. I know you will.” Tenderly, Vera kissed the top of her head. “We’re going to get through this together.”
“Together,” Isla repeated.
“And, for what it’s worth.” Vera paused for a moment as she looked into Isla’s eyes. “I have a feeling a very similar conversation is happening at the Holland house tonight.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Just something in Alexis’s eyes tonight. When I walked back into the dining room after our fight, I locked eyes with Alexis and saw how hurt she was. Because Blake isn’t just hurting you, just like you’re not just hurting Blake. And I think Alexis is just as tired of being hurt by her wife as I am by mine.”
“Like mother, like daughter, huh?”
“Totally,” Vera laughed, kissing Isla’s cheek. “But I love both mother and daughter very, very much.”
“I love you, too.” Kissing Vera, Isla wrapped her arms around her neck. “I’m so sorry for the bitch I’ve been.”
“Hey, we got through menopause without killing each other. We’ll make it through this, too.” Vera winked at her, making Isla laugh. It felt so good to laugh with her wife again. “Come on, let’s go to bed. I’m exhausted. You can call Mason in the morning and apologize to her.”
“Maybe I should call her tonight.”
“It’s after ten. Better not to risk waking Silas.”
Even though Isla wanted to make things right with Mason sooner rather than later, she knew Vera was right.
They got ready for bed together, brushing their teeth and washing their face side by side as they did every night. Isla couldn’t help but feel as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She knew it was because Vera had helped her discard it, and she’d be eternally grateful to her wife for that. As they snuggled up in bed together, Isla kissed Vera’s nose as she giggled.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
Putting her leg over Vera’s, Isla pulled her body into her as their kissing intensified. Isla would have stayed locked with Vera’s lips and in her embrace all night, but a soft knock on their bedroom door startled them apart. She assumed it was Everleigh or Ellie coming to snuggle with them.
But Isla also wasn’t surprised when she clicked on the lamp by the bed and saw Mason peeking around the door.
“Can I come in?”
“Of course, Mace.”
Isla knew better than to get out of bed. She knew exactly what Mason wanted. Lifting the sheets, Isla let Mason crawl into bed between them. Vera kissed her cheek, putting her arm around Mason’s waist as Isla sat up on her elbow. Gently touching Mason’s face, she caught a single tear that fell from her eyes with her thumb.
“I’m so sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You didn’t deserve that, and I am so, so sorry.”
“I forgive you, Mom.”
No matter how old her babies got, Isla would always savor when they would crawl into their bed with her and Vera. Especially when it was Mason. For years, Mason seemed to have spent more nights in their bed than her own when they had first moved in together. Vera and Isla lovedit, though. She was their baby girl; the first child they raised together as a family of three.
“And Mom?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry for leaving without saying goodbye. I was mad, and I didn’t know what to say. But once I got home, I kept thinking about how you and Mama always say not to go to bed mad and well. I couldn’t go to bed mad.”
Isla couldn’t contain her tears again as she pulled Mason close to her. She held her as tightly as she could as she stroked her back with her hand. Mason has always had a different connection to her and Vera than any of their other kids, and Isla had never fully understood that until now. It had been Mason and Vera that pulled her out of her dark times. Even when Mason was too young to know how much she was helping, she’d never left Isla’s side. At the end of the day, she always climbed into bed with her and reminded her that things were going to be okay. Just like she was doing now.
“Oh, Mace. Thank you for coming over. I was going to call you in the morning so I didn’t accidentally wake Silas.”
“Thank you for that. I would have been over sooner, but Silas tookforeverto get to sleep. I guess he just wanted his mommy too.”
