“Knew it,” Mom mutters, voice laced with plotting and conspiracy. “You’re unraveling at the seams, aren’t you?”
I groan, scrubbing a hand down my face. “No, Ma. It’s not like that.”
Could be,my brain unhelpfully supplies, and I bite my cheek harder—until I taste blood. Icannotthink about her like that anymore. I won’t allow it.
Mom scoffs, almost as if in answer to my internal pep talk. “Please. I see the way you glare at each other. All fire and ice.” She smiles, soft and wistful. “Just like your daddy and me.”
I open my mouth to argue, but all that comes out is a sigh. I can’t debate the right and wrongness of Georgia and me right now. Not with her. Especially not when I don’t even know what the hell is going on…if anything.
Not when I still have more to tell my mom—the reason I’m here in the first palace.
“Forgot about Georgia for now, Ma. There’s more.”
She stills, waiting.
And then I tell her about Aurora.
How Marlee named me guardian.
How a little girl I’ve never met is now counting on me.
Mom’s face crumples and then hardens again, confusion flashing across her features. “But... how? I thought you hadn’t seen Marlee since that summer you went out to Ruthy Hatter’s cabin on leave.”
“Not in over a decade,” I say roughly.
“Then why?”
I shrug. “Dunno. Your guess is as good as mine.”
She stares at me for a long moment, then straightens her spine, nods like it’s already decided.
“Okay. Well.” She claps. “Where’s my grandbaby?”
Just like that. No hesitation. No judgment. Just love.
I blink hard, the tightness in my chest twisting into something damn near unbearable.
“With a temporary foster placement,” I choke out, hating the taste of the admission on my tongue. Her face falls. “That’s one of the reasons I’m here. I need a new place to live, and…” I trail off, shrugging.
Because she’s my mom, and knows my thoughts better than I do, she fills in, “You went home.” I nod and she smiles, squeezing my hand. “He finished it for you, Kade. Wanted you to have something safe and familiar to come back to, no matter how many pieces your soul was in.”
The weight of the truth sucker punches me, and a tear escapes before I can pretend it doesn’t exist.
“From what I saw the last time I checked on it, there’s a few leaks, and a couple rooms need finishing, but nothing your family and friends can’t pull together in time.” Mom smiles, tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, and says, “Since you’re here... you wanna take a ride out to the lake with me? Might help you.”
I shake my head, throat thick. Fuck. The hits just keep coming. “Not today.”
She sighs, kisses my cheek, and pulls back just enough to study me, her blue eyes shining with pride and something even heavier.
“I can’t believe you’re a daddy,” she says softly. “I always knew your dreams would come true.”
“Oh my fucking God!” Hazel yells from somewhere behind the screen door seconds before is smashes open. “You’ve procreated?”
Before I can react, twin screams echo across the porch.
“You have a baby?!”
At the same time, a staticky voice crackles through the chaos. “Who has a baby? Kade?!”
