Page 128 of Where Broken Wings Fly

“Lola.”

“Can we talk?” she requests.

“I guess so.”

Gesturing to the handmade wooden bench Killian appeared with last week, we both take a seat and face the memorial across the mowed lawn. I can’t even look at her.

“I’m so sorry, poppet.”

My tears pour soundlessly.

Lola wipes her own wet cheeks. “There’s no pain quite like losing a child. I know I didn’t lose your father until he was a teenager, but I understand what you’re feeling.”

“Do you?” I utter emotionlessly.

Her shrivelled hand clasps mine. “You’re not alone, Willow. I know you don’t want to talk to me, but I’m here for you regardless.”

“I have nothing to say to you. All you’ve done is lie to me.”

“While that may be the case, I have plenty to say to you.”

She won’t release my hand when I try to pull it away. All I want is to run, leave her with her excuses and bullshit lies. I’m furious with her, but I know it’s not all her fault.

The anger pounding through me is a torrid mix of a decade’s suffering. My father’s addiction. His death. Debts. Poverty. Abuse. Violence. Leaving our home. Fear, hope and every shade of confusing agony in between.

“Please,” Lola begs. “Just give me ten minutes, and I’ll go. I want to explain myself.”

“Go ahead.” I sigh in defeat. “Ten minutes.”

She studies the memorial in front of us. “I’m sorry for lying to you. Things are complicated, and I was conscious of not overwhelming you when you first arrived.”

“Spare me the excuses, Lola.”

“Very well. The truth is, I have known your mother for a long time. She tracked me down fifteen years ago and made her way to Briar Valley.”

“Why?”

“She was looking for your father… and for you.”

I stare at her without understanding. “What do you mean she was looking for us? Katie abandoned us both. I barely remember her.”

“But you remember what your father told you about her, right?” Lola’s bittersweet smile is full of devastation. “That she left and never returned?”

I was barely older than Arianna when she left. One day she was there, and the next, she wasn’t. All I had was the word of a drug addict, and I was too young to question him.

“He lied to you, Willow.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She never abandoned you.”

I shake my head. “This is just more of your lies, isn’t it?”

“Your father took you from her. She spent the next decade searching the entire country for you both. That search is what brought Katie into my life.”

“No! I don’t believe you,” I shout at her, drawing to my feet. “You’re still lying. Why would he do that to me?”

“He was unstable,” Lola insists.

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