Page 1 of The Moment They Can Never Forgive
Chapter 1
Leah Reynolds looked at the little boy seated beside her. His face was pressed to the glass, taking in everything he saw. She turned into the driveway as the sun started to rise and stopped at the mailbox with the wordReynoldsin faded white lettering.
It had been seven years since she’d set foot in this place. Seven years since anyone had. She’d left that day, telling her friends she was following her dreams, but what she’d actually been doing was running away from everything… from him. Life had imploded, and there had been nothing left for her in Lyntacky, so she’d gone.
Leah felt the anxiety creeping over her, the same kind that used to accompany walks back up the long driveway on her way home from school or, in later years, from work.Had she done the right thing coming back?
You’re an adult now, and there is nothing here for you to fear.
“Hudson, this place was where me and your mom grew up. Not sure what we’re going to find when we arrive, but we’ll fix it up and make it ours, okay?” The words came out a little high andtight, but just saying them aloud eased some of the pain in her chest.
He looked at her then, through his mother’s eyes, which never failed to make a lump form in Leah’s throat. Cassie had been gone for two months, her younger sister now the legal guardian to her six-year-old son. Leah, who could barely look after herself, was now his sole caregiver. Not Hudson’s father, who was a low-life loser and had run as fast as he could in the opposite direction the day he’d been told Cassie was carrying his child.
“Okay.”
It was Leah who had been there when Hudson was born, and Leah who had spent hours with Cassie and Hudson after moving into the same apartment complex to help her sister navigate being a single mom.
At six, he’d had attitude and challenged his mom constantly, but that had vanished with her death. He was now serious and sad. It took a lot to get two words out of him when one would do. Hudson missed his mom desperately, as did Leah.
Unlike Leah and Cassie’s own upbringing, she’d vowed as her sister lay dying to raise him with love and happiness. Money was tight right now, but she was going to do everything she could to turn that around, and coming back here, to the place she’d been raised and had run from years ago after her life had imploded, was the start of that.
I will make it work.
They would both be safe here for now, but if it didn’t work out in Lyntacky, she’d leave and find somewhere else. Leah would go wherever she needed to for Hudson and his future happiness. She’d promised Cassie that. Made it a vow just before her sister slipped away from her.
Exhaling, she pressed down on the gas, and the old van she’d traded her sedan for rolled down the long driveway she’d walkedup and down twice a day for many years with Cassie. When it was wet, they’d had to jump the potholes.
“I’ll tell you right off, Hudson, your granddaddy wasn’t big on maintenance of any kind, but we’re not going to be like that. We’re getting this place in shape. It will be awesome.”
“Can I ride a tractor?”
He rarely spoke without her prompting him, so it was a surprise to hear the words.
“If it’s still working, I don’t see why not,” Leah said, trying to tamp down the fears clawing their way up her throat. What would she find? Was she an idiot to bring Hudson here to a place no one had set foot in for seven years?
What was I thinking?
It had seemed like a good idea when she’d woken in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. The wail of sirens screaming outside her window and Hudson nestled into her side had told her it was time to leave Philadelphia. That, plus the dream she’d always had. Here was the place she could finally try to make them happen.
She’d worried about keeping Hudson safe and decided this was her best chance.
And what? Now you’re regretting uprooting him from the only life he’s ever known and coming back to your demons?
“Can I ride a horse?”
“There’s nothing eating our grass right now, so I think we can arrange that in the future. Your mom and I used to have a horse. I’d be happy to get back on one too.”
The fact that he was talking about something like horses or tractors was a win as far as Leah was concerned. He’d been so quiet since Cassie died.
She thought about the letter in her handbag from the Lyntacky Town Council, telling her this house was empty and needed attention, and as she was the owner, it was up to her tosee to that. So here she was. If things didn’t work out, she’d sell the place and use the money to set them up somewhere else.
Paddocks lay on either side of the drive, the land flat and running to the boundary fences. The Reynolds acreage was rectangular with a creek at the back—one she would be schooling her nephew to stay away from until he could swim well. As they reached a fork in the driveway, tall trees started to the left. Her father hadn’t wanted anyone seeing what went on in the outbuildings, so he’d planted them for privacy. To the right was the house, and behind it the shade houses he’d put up to earn money… and then had done nothing with them. Which was pretty much the story of his life. Leah turned right.
“My mom was born here?”
“She was, buddy.” Leah swallowed down the tears. “Shall we go inside and investigate? We have a van full of stuff to unload, and then we’ll head into town for some supplies. I think tonight might be a take-out night.”
He shot her a wide-eyed look of disbelief, and Leah understood why. She always cooked for him—not very well, but she was getting better.
