She gives a soft smile, but it wobbles, and she shakes her head. “Not good, sweetheart.”
My chest caves in, eyes squeezing shut as pain assaults me. “Oh.”
“Kade’s been... lost. He was doing so well, coming back to life, spending time with the family again. But now? He hasn’t run, but he’s not himself. He’s just… a shell of who he was becoming.”
“And Aurora?” I whisper, my throat closing.
Bea reaches across the table, squeezes my shaking hand. “She misses her mama, Georgia. She misses you.”
“I’m not—” The words catch in my throat. “I’m not her mother.”
“You are,” Bea cuts in, firm and sharp. “You are that girl’s mother. The one who feeds her, holds her, bathes her, and sings her to sleep. The only one who knows her lullabies. The one she looks for first thing in the morning. You’re the one who calms her nightmares and dries her tears. That makes you her mama.”
“But Marlee…”
“Marlee,” Bea says gently, “is gone. And you? You’re still here. You have a choice, Georgia. You can let the ghost of a woman scare you away, or you can cowboy up and be there for your child the way you wish someone had been there for you.”
My lungs seize.
“Wh—what?” I gasp.
Bea smiles sadly. “I knew your family, sweetheart. Your mama, Lorna Walker? She and I were in the same grade.”
My heart stops.
“You’ve known who I am this whole time?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to deceive you. But yes, I knew. The day I met you, I recognized her in you.” She clicks her tongue, smiling softly as her eyes trail over me. “You’re her spitting image.”
“Then…” I wipe away tears. “Why didn’t—”
“Because you weren’t ready,” she interrupts, nodding gently. “I didn’t want to weigh you down with a past before you had a chance to build your own future. And I knew you’d ask when you were ready.”
My breath catches and I look away, sorting through her words.
“Did I make a mistake, sweetheart?” Her brows furrow, and she looks truly worried. “I’m so sorry. It wasn’t my call to make.”
“No,” I whisper, clearing my throat. “Thank you. I’m glad I got this time. To explore. To fall in love with Heart Springs.”
Her brows arch. “And did you? Fall in love, that is.”
I nod, a shaky breath leaving me. “So much.”
Another sob slips from her, but she stifles it and grabs my hand. “So did he.”
“I haven’t heard from him. Not since…”
“Sweetheart, you ran. You needed space. He knew that. He gave it to you.”
Guilt clogs my throat, making it hard to breathe.
“Did he talk to you?” I choke out. “Did he… is he talking to you about what happened?”
As much as I hate the idea of her knowing how epically I fucked up, all the ways I failed her son, he deserves to talk it out with his mother. To lay his burdens at her feet. For so long, he kept everything bottled up. I don’t want that for Kade. I don’t want him to lose his family, or go back on all the progress he’s made.
She reaches into her bag and pulls out an old phone, the screen scratched, the case worn down with time. She lays it on the table and taps a yellow Post-it stuck to the back. A four-digit code is written in neat, slanted handwriting.
“This was William’s phone,” she whispers, swallowing repeatedly like the words hurt. “Not sure why I kept it in service. At first, it was because all the business contacts would reach out to his number. Took over a year to get them all sorted. And for a while, I used to call just to hear his voicemail.” Bea bats at relentless tears that match my own. “But then, one day,it rang.”
