Page 19 of Hearts Don't Lie
Taurus Range, Colorado Rockies…
Periodic sharp winds buffeted the tent, whistling along the slopes above them. When the wind died down, the gushing and splashing of the water over the rocks resurfaced. The power of the water thrummed through the ground, having the effect of a soft massage under her sleeping bag.
Mac pulled her small tablet from her pack and turned it on. After staring at the words for some ten minutes without absorbing them, she finally admitted that reading wasn’t in the cards. Hardin’s appearance had cracked the layers of emotional armor around her heart, which she’d long believed impenetrable. She scrubbed at her wet cheeks, then covered her mouth to silence a choking sob. That didn’t work so well. Rather than alert him, she grabbed her light fleece and flipped over, burying her face in it and letting the sobs wrack her body as emotions and memories assaulted her.
Illinois, December, Twelve Years Earlier…
“McKenna, wake up.” Alicia shook her shoulder roughly.
She blinked slowly and rolled over, sitting up carefully, making sure her growing bump was concealed under the roomy flannel pajamas she’d worn every winter since sixth grade. “What? I was sound asleep.” She had told Alicia she didn’t feel good last night, when in fact she felt great physically since the nausea had passed, other than being tired. The baby exhausted her. Alicia had left her undisturbed when she went to work. “What time is it?”
“It’s after lunch. So you’ve slept all morning?”
Mac let that go. “What’re you doing home?” she asked instead, sitting up straighter.
“I thought you should know I’m celebrating getting you through high school. I packed while you slept like a princess. I’m leaving, McKenna.”
“Where are you going?”
“On a long-overdue, well-deserved vacation. Somewhere warm. By myself. I’ll contact you.”
“You’re just up and leaving? Christmas is in a few days.” She took in their meager, dark space, noting again that there weren’t any Christmas decorations. The responsibility had always fallen to her, but she had been so busy with finals that the few ornaments and trimmings they had remained in one of the bottom drawers of the kitchen. Because they had no room, and no money, Mac recycled the decorations she had made throughout grade school, having fewer to put up over the years as they fell apart or got damaged beyond hope and weren’t replaced.
“We’ve never really celebrated anyway. It won’t be much different for you. I’d be at work if I were here.”
“How? How are you going to contact me,Mother?” Mac seethed. “You destroyed my phone in August.”
Alicia’s eyes flashed at her. “Do not call me that. I did. I expect you’ve learned your lesson by now.”
“What would that be?”
“Never to see that boy again.”
A tsunami of powerful longing came over Mac. She started crying. The phone. Then the restraining orders. A double whammy she had been unable to crawl out from under.
“Knock it off,” Alicia said impatiently. “He only wanted in your pants. I did you a favor, McKenna. So did his parents.”
“Your concern warms the cockles of my heart,” Mac said scornfully through her sniffles.
Alicia’s face contorted into an ugly mask before she grabbed Mac’s cheek and pinched hard. “I’ve given you everything, you ungrateful girl.”
“Ow!” Mac held her cheek, another wave of tears coming in from a different kind of pain. She was going to have a bruise.
“Shut up!”
Enraged, Mac jumped from the bench that had served as her bed for her entire life. “What do you mean, you did me a favor? And Hardin’s parents did too?” she shouted, backing up as her mother came toward her.
“I kept you from being in a position to get into trouble, like I did. His parents made doubly sure both of you didn’t make any stupid mistakes by serving you with restraining orders here and in North Carolina and making sure your admission was rescinded by the school. I’m sure that cost them some money, but shit, they have plenty of that.” Alicia laughed meanly. She glanced at the new watch on her wrist. “Lucky you. You get to go to college, all expenses paid. Only in Illinois. Your second choice is just as good.”
Mac couldn’t speak. She was too stunned. Until this very moment, she’d had no idea why her offer to North Carolina University had been rescinded.She had been devastated, and yet when she realized she was pregnant, it was a moot point. She had never accepted the offer in Illinois.You have no idea, Alicia. Too late.
“The Illinois restraining order named both of us. I saw it. What did you do?” Mac asked, shouting again, not caring that their fight was probably being heard in other trailers. “My full ride is my doing.” Mac jabbed her finger in the air at her mother, hating like hell that she had stooped to Alicia’s low, that she was sobbing uncontrollably. Shame for revealing her weakness to Alicia coursed through her. “I earned that. You c-could be… pr-proud of me.”
“I am proud. I’m proud you don’t need me. I’m relieved my job is done, that I’m no longer saddled with you. I have to go, but before I do”—she had handed Mac a crisp, new hundred-dollar bill—“here’s your combined graduation and Christmas present. Treat yourself to something special for Christmas. I’ll send a postcard.”
“Wow. A hundred dollars,” she said neutrally. “Alicia, I need more. Please. I need to pack for school, get some things.”
“You’ll figure it out. You’ve always been a smart, resourceful girl,” Alicia said, nodding at the money in Mac’s hand. She pivoted and opened the door, pausing, half in and half out. Her green eyes, shaped the same as Mac’s chestnut-colored ones, washed over her daughter. Quietly she said, “The rent is paid through the end of the month. Then stay with someone until you go to college. I did my best, McKenna. I hope you recognize that down the road. Maybe you’ll forgive me for being imperfect and for not loving you as a mother should. I’m still young. I still want the chance to do the things I want to do, things for myself. Things that make me happy. Take care of yourself.” Gusting wind slammed the thin door behind Alicia, rattling the trailer.
