Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
They followed me. I scanned the living room for Nova and then my sister.
“They’re napping,” my mother said, as if she knew who I was looking for.
Cutter stood when he saw who was behind me. Flinn was still with him, and even he knew the heaviness of the moment.
“We’re going to be at the table.”
Should I have asked Cutter to go upstairs?
Maybe.
But he was less than two years away from being an adult and deserved to hear what these people had to say.
I sat at the head of the table, and my father sat opposite me, with my mom next to him. Cutter leaned against the wall, with Weston nearby. I didn’t care that Weston was there and appreciated that he’d stayed.
Miri’s parents took the chairs opposite my mom, which put her mother right next to me. I wanted to move, to go stand far away from them, but I stayed and clasped my hands in my lap.
It was hard to think there was ever a time in my life when I knew these people, but now they were nothing but strangers.
“I guess my first question is, Why you didn’t call us?” Kenneth asked. I raised my eyebrow and cocked a look at Victoria.
“As I told your wife, Miri didn’t want me to.”
She made some audible but indecipherable sound and dabbed at her eyes. “Did she leave us a letter or anything?”
“No, why would she?” I asked, looking at them. “What would she say?”
“The last time we saw her, we both said some things—”
My dad interrupted Kenneth. “I believe the last time I saw you, the day I brought her over to pick up what little clothes you allowed her to take, you told her she wasn’t welcome in your home.”
“We only wanted what was best for her,” Victoria said quietly.
“Cutter was best for her,” I said, motioning toward him. “She loved him before he was even here. We all did. He didn’t ruin her life. You did. You were so damn worried about your image, you never stopped to think about what you were doing to your only child. You broke her when you told her she had to choose your path. You also lost everything that day,” I reminded him. “Miri succeeded despite you.”
“Having a child when you’re still a child is hard.”
“How would you know?” my mother asked Victoria. “Did you do it?”
Victoria gasped as if she was offended. Her mouth opened to say something, but I didn’t give her a chance.
“You had years to make amends,” I pointed out. “You could’ve easily gone to my parents and asked them to get word to Miri, but you didn’t.”
“I was ashamed,” Victoria said quietly.
Good. She should’ve been.
Victoria looked at Cutter and offered him a smile, which he didn’t return. I watched him closely to see how he’d react to his other grandparents. He was close with mine, as they were there from the beginning, and my parents doted on him and Nova.
“We’d like to get to know you and your sister,” she said to him. I’d suspected that was why they’d shown up.
Cutter said nothing at first and then blurted out, “What would you like to know?”
“We don’t have a list of questions, son,” Kenneth said.
Cutter turned red. “I’m not your son. Don’t ever call me that.”
I could swear my father smirked.
Victoria cleared her throat. “We don’t live far from the Bernardis. Maybe you could come to our house and get to know us?”
“They’re my grandparents,” Cutter said. “We’re usually pretty busy when we’re at their house.”
Kenneth and Victoria nodded. I didn’t know if they’d expected Miri to keep what they’d done to her a secret or what. One thing was for sure: They’d underestimated Cutter.
“I think you should go.” Cutter stood straight up, put his hands in his pockets, and motioned toward the door. Flinn stood right next to his best friend, as did Weston. Rocco appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. If these people didn’t do as Cutter suggested, his family was going to do it for them.
“My aunt has been gracious by allowing you in our home, but I’d like you to leave,” Cutter added tersely.
Victoria looked at me with pleading eyes.
“It’s his house,” I stated.
“We’d like visitation.”
And there it was, the bomb and the outlandish request. I wanted to laugh but kept my cool.
“Of? Because Cutter’s of age and can decide what he wants to do.”
“Of both, obviously. But clearly, he’s not amenable, so of Nova.”
Nothing but rage coursed through my body as I recalled flashbacks of them yelling, screaming, and throwing things at Miri when she’d told them she was pregnant with Cutter. Their voices, laced with threats, slurs, and nothing but pure hatred for their daughter, echoed through my mind. I remembered it like it was yesterday. They’d kicked her to the curb like yesterday’s trash.