Page 75 of Fractured Constellations
After a deep inhale, she takes a step inside, closing the door behind her. “How is she?”
“Do you care?” Blade snaps, and she flinches, her blue eyes that same shade as Luna’s filling with tears.
“I’ve not been the best mom recently, but I do still care about Luna. So much,” she replies in a small voice, Luna not even stirring as Lorelei takes another step forward. “And I’m so grateful that she has you all. You’ve all helped her so much, andnow…” she trails off as she glances down at the tubes taking my blood away for her daughter. “Thank you.”
“We love her, so this is the least we could do,” I tell her honestly, and she nods her head.
“I’ve left Richard,” she announces, taking another step closer to Luna, and my eyebrows rise to my hairline. “I got the email you sent me, and I, well.” She stops, swallowing hard. “It was wrong, him using her like that. Using me like that.”
“But?” I ask, hearing it in her voice. She looks at Luna, her face softening.
“But then she wouldn’t have met you, and wouldn’t be getting this treatment which may save her, so I guess in that way, I’m glad. I don’t know.” She heaves a sigh, closing the gap between herself and the bed. Reaching out, she gently strokes Luna’s foot over the top of the sheet. “Sometimes out of terrible things, good things come.” She gazes at Luna, and I wait to see what she says next. “Luna’s dad, he was a mean son of a bitch, one of those charming ones who show their true colours when it’s far too late. I almost lost her the last time he beat me, I was midway through a pregnancy that he forced on me.” I take in a sharp breath, realising that she means Luna was a product of rape. “So I left, and when she came, I fell so deeply in love I knew that regardless of the circumstances of her conception, there was no way I could give her up. That I would fight for her as no one had ever done for me.”
“Does she know?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“How could I tell her? She feels so much, she’d somehow feel guilty for something she had no part in.” She brings her fingers to her lips, pressing a kiss onto them and then brushing them back over Luna’s blanket-clad foot. “I’m staying nearby, call me if you need anything, but if it’s okay, I’d like to come back and visit when she’s up for it?”
“Of course. I’m sure she’d be glad to see you,” I reply, and she gives me a grateful smile before one final glance at Luna. With another sigh, she turns and leaves the room.
“Shit, that’s fucked up,” Thorn rasps from his bed, and I twist to glance at him.
“You heard?”
“Yeah. Poor Goldie. And Lorelei.” He looks at our sleeping beauty in bed, none the wiser to the bombs that her mom just dropped on us. “I think she should know. She’s never mentioned her dad, but she should know what an asshole he is so she never tries to find him.”
“Agreed,” Blade rumbles, and I look at him to see his face set in a deep frown. “But maybe one day we can pay him a visit.”
There’s that glint of violence in his eyes that I’ve seen peek out over the years. My brother wants to heal the world, but he also isn’t afraid to take out the trash.
“I’ll add it to our list of things to do once this is all over,” I say, not even joking as I open up Notes on my MacBook and add it to my list.
Get Luna better
Take Luna to see the world
Cancel her dad’s membership on earth
“TETHER ME - ACOUSTIC” BY GALLEAUX
LUNA
I wake up full of pain and feeling like shit which has died and then been warmed up only to die again.
“Happy transplant day!” Thorn croons, holding a bunch of balloons and wearing a party hat, the room covered in streamers and more balloons.
I rasp a chuckle, then wince when it hurts my mouth. Fucking sores.
