Cash was in church, and I was sitting here with my brother and some of the old ladies. I couldn’t help but wonder if they were talking about me in there.
Looking around the room, I noticed Dr. Jefferson wasn’t here. Maybe I scared her off. If not, I’d have to try harder.
Ellie wasn’t here, either. Though she was here last night for Thorne’s birthday.
Our birthday.
“I’m sorry I ruined your party last night.”
“Stop apologizing. You walking through those doors didn’t ruin anything. It was the best birthday I ever had,” Thorne said.
It was the best birthday I ever had, too. But I didn’t tell him that. I just smiled.
“Happy birthday, Kytten. I didn’t get a chance to tell you that last night,” Sam said as she waddled toward us.
“Thank you.” My voice was quiet, but my smile was firmly in place. This woman was important to my brother. He told me about her when we took a walk.
“Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything. But I can’t tell you about club business,” he said.
“No, I know. This isn’t club business.” I stopped walking. “At least I don’t think it is.”
Thorne turned to look at me. “What is it?”
“Why do you call that woman Momma?”
He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. “Because that’s who she is.”
“She’s not your mom,” I said, scrunching my nose.
“She’s the only one I’ve got.”
“Thorne—”
“Listen, Rosebud. That woman has been more of a mom to me in the months I’ve known her than Mom ever was. She isn’t ashamed of me. Her little girl, Charlie, is my little sister. And those twins she’s carrying, they will be my little sisters too.”
“So, you replaced me,” I murmured as I turned away.
Story of my fucking life.
“No, I didn’t replace you,” he said as he tugged me close. “I never stopped looking for you. But Sam came into my life at a time when I needed someone I could talk to. Someone I could finally tell everything to.”
“You told her everything?” I stared at my brother, shocked he had opened up at all, let alone to a stranger. I hadn’t told Val everything. I hadn’t really told Val anything.
“Yea. That’s how she knew who you were. I talked about you all the time.”
“Mom said we were never supposed to tell anyone who we were.”
“Mom left us.”
“She didn’t,” I began, but he grabbed my hand and started walking again.
He didn’t want to talk about Mom and what had happened that day. But I needed to talk about it.
You can talk to Dr. Jefferson.
No.
