Page 80 of Late Nights & Love Lines
“You were a child.”
Rowan shrugs as though that one very important fact doesn’t matter.
“When we knew that the chemo wasn’t working, he wanted to spend all his time with us. She resented that I was there and that he always included me. She hated that I was always his priority.”
“That’s what parents are supposed to do,” I mutter. She shrugs again as if it doesn’t matter then reaches for her wrist, probably searching for the bracelets she always wears. But her wrist is bare, and her thumb just taps against the tattoo.
Whether she admits it or not, she seeks comfort from me, or at least the memory of me.
“After he died, she became…indifferent. When she remarried, I quickly learned that it made her happy to see me punished for everything and nothing. My stepsister was the golden child, and since she never stole my father’s time, my mother decided Haley was worthy of her time and attention.” She curls in on herself.
“My stepfather was a cruel, cruel man. He hated my existence—said I was a constant reminder that someone else had been with his wife, even though he happily lived in a house that my father paid for.”
Rowan peers over at me but doesn’t hold eye contact.
“They were happy when I left home—all of them were. I ran into my mom once, and I panicked. I thought for sure she’d attempt to drag me home. Instead, she simply told me good luck. That she wouldn’t be looking for me, and that as far as she was concerned, I’d died right along with my father.”
“Jesus Christ.” My stomach revolts. Sixteen is too young for those words not to cut. Not that they’d hurt any less at sixty, but teenagers still need their parents. “Maybe I should be grateful Mya left without a word.”
“Maybe,” she says absently. “Seeing you tonight, with all those people at Beck and Stella’s house, it made me happy for you and the kids. I’m glad you’ll have that kind of family—the kind that chooses you. It’ll be good for the kids to have that stability and love too.”
She’s pulling away again. I saw it in her eyes at Beck’s. It’s always one step forward and two steps back with her. How do I get her to believe I’m willing to perform that dance with her for eternity though?
Her phone vibrates on the table, and anger crawls up my spine. If that’s fucking Thane interrupting us again, I’m going to lose it.
Picking it up, I sigh with relief when Lottie’s name lights up the screen.
I hand it to Rowan, and she answers as my mind whirls with ways to prove to her that there’s a place for her and it’s by my side.
“Oh no,” she groans, putting me instantly on alert. “Have you checked in on Seren tonight?”
I go lightheaded. My blood pressure has probably spiked dangerously high. “She went to bed around nine, right when we got home.”
“We need to have a talk with her. Leo just found a walkie-talkie strapped to a beam in the nanny cabin. Apparently,someonewas talking in it, scaring the crap out of the nannies and making them think someone was watching them.”
What the hell am I going to do with my daughter?
“And…Lottie wants to meet with us first thing in the morning.”
“What in the actual fuck?” I grumble.
We’re both climbing out of her bed when Miles screams. Rowan’s terrified expression matches mine before we both burst from her room, down the hallway, and up the stairs to the bunk room.
Miles is in the middle of the floor, writhing in pain and clutching his side. He’s panting and covered in sweat, while Kade is curled up in the bottom bunk with tears streaming down his face.
The world turns upside down and everything is wrong.
I’m momentarily frozen to the spot. I’ve never seen any of my children this way, and my body constricts as though his pain attacks my own flesh. Fear pushes the air from my lungs and twists my insides. For the first time as a parent, I don’t know what to do.
Rowan rushes past me and drops to my little boy’s side. “Miles, buddy. Where does it hurt?”
He can’t talk through the violent sobs that wrack his little body. Instead, he clutches his right side, then chokes as vomit spills from his mouth. It spurs me into motion, and I drop to his other side.
Rowan’s hands roam his body. “He’s burning up,” she says with a shaky voice.
Pappy and Seren enter the large room and both rush to Kade’s side.
“It might be his appendix,” Rowan says in a rush. “He’s holding his right side. I don’t know what else it could be. We need to get him to the hospital.”
