“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. “He was right. No one would believe me. Especially not the sheriff. He hated us and was good friends with your grandfather. He asked me what he thought would happen to Sylvie if I wasn’t around? How long it would take before Child Protection Services took her away? I couldn’t let that happen to Sylvie. You know about the last time we were taken in by CPS.”
He tightened his hold on her. Yeah, he fucking knew. And he couldn’t believe his grandfather would pull that on her. He had to know she would do whatever was needed to keep Sylvie out of care. When she was fourteen, she’d stolen some food because they hadn’t eaten for days. Unfortunately, she’d been caught. The sheriff had called in Child Protection Services, they’d found her mom two towns over, stoned. And they’d taken all three kids into care.
“Sylvie didn’t speak for two months after we got her back,” she whispered. “Brad, he came back with bruises everywhere. I couldn’t let that happen to them again. I had to protect them.”
“I know you did, baby.” He hated that all of that had been on her slim shoulders. That she’d had to make that choice. Had been forced to make it.
“I asked him what he wanted. He told me it was simple. He wanted me gone. Out of your life. That I was going to leave and I was never to contact you again. That if I did that, he’d make sure that nothing came back on Brad and me.”
The anger was so huge his insides were burning.
“I told him you’d try to follow me. Find me. He just smiled. Then he said I was going to leave a note, telling you I’d fallen in love with Bobby and that I never wanted to see you. Then I was to pack up everything, including my family, and go. That if I stayed away forever, then my brother would be protected and those photos would never be leaked. If I tried to contact you, he’d have no choice but to have Bobby change his statement.”
“I cannot fucking believe it.”
She tried to pull away from him, but he held her tight. “It’s true!” There was a hint of hysteria in her voice as she pushed at his chest.
“Baby, I didn’t mean I didn’t believe you. Hush. Calm down before you hurt yourself. I believe you. Every word. I just cannot believe he would do this. To me. To you.”
She slumped. As though all her energy had drained out of her. “He hated me. He said that he’d waited for you to tire of me. That he would never accept some white trash, worthless, daughter of a whore into his family.”
He gathered her tight, rocked her. “Baby. Baby.”
“I knew he didn’t like me. . .but I never realized. . .I don’t even know why he suddenly decided I had to go then. . .I’ve never understood.”
“I asked for my grandmother’s ring.”
“What?”
He stared into the distance. “I called him and asked for her ring and he knew I was going to propose to you when I got back. He pretended to be happy. He must have got desperate. Concocted this fucking scheme to get you out of my life. And I fucking fell for it. He even offered to send a PI after you. To find you. I told him no. Wonder what he would have done if I’d said yes. No doubt he had a plan.”
“What happened to Bobby?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I never saw him again after that night.”
&nb
sp; “Bobby’s old man owed my grandfather something. I never knew what, but my grandfather would talk about the debt sometimes. Bobby was used to pay for it.” Didn’t excuse what he’d done in any way.
They were silent for a long time while he processed this.
“I thought about contacting you. All the time. About calling you and telling you the truth. But I was scared. I had to protect Brad and Sylvie. I used the money you left me to get us out of there. We were gone less than a week when Mom found some man and left us.”
That bitch.
“I was all they had.”
“I know, baby.”
“When they were older, out of reach of CPS, I looked you up. Couldn’t help myself. That’s when I saw you were engaged and I knew that I’d do more damage than good with the truth.”
They were both silent, thinking.
“Part of me thought he was right.”
He stiffened. “What?”
“I wasn’t ever good enough for you, Jed. I was a criminal. A thief. I lived in a trailer—”