“It’s not the truth.” He comes to me. “I’ve loved you my whole life. I’ve loved you when I didn’t know what love was. I wish I could make it all go away. But …”
I raise my head. “I know, and I would never let you put Ethan in that position or take you away from him.”
“Now with regard to my mother, she will never ever say those words again. I promise you that,” he takes me in his arms. “I agree with your mother. I’m going to tell her to come here. No way will you walk.”
“No,” I say loudly, “she will not make me walk with my head down.”
He smiles. “Okay, but I want her to come here. I want her to be the one walking with her head down.”
“Okay, fine,” I say softly. “I didn’t think of it like that, but yeah.”
There is a knock on the door, and we both look over as the door creaks open. “Hey,” Olivia says softly, “so no pressure or anything, but Casey is foaming at the mouth, and I think he said something about fixin’ to and a hill of beans, and I swear I have no idea what he’s saying.”
Laughing now, I look over at her. “It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans?”
“Yes.” She points at me. “That’s the hill of beans.”
“It means it doesn’t amount to anything and is hog wash.”
“That’s what your father said,” Olivia now says, and I hear my mother calling my name.
“If I don’t get some food on the table,” she starts to say, “they are both going to get madder than a wet hen.”
Olivia looks at me. “Beans, hog wash, and now a wet hen.” She shakes her head. “It’s like I’m on another planet.”
“Tell my mother we’ll be right there.” I look at Olivia, who nods and closes the door.
I walk to the sink and wash my face off and then dab it with the towel. “You ready?” Jacob asks, and I look at him. “Let’s get some food in you.”
We walk downstairs and into the kitchen where my mother looks like she spent the night and morning cooking. “I’m so hungry.” I sit in the chair and look over at my father, who just smiles at me, and then look over at Casey, who side-eyes Olivia. “What’s with him?”
“Nothing,” Olivia mumbles, looking over at him. “Let’s eat.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jacob
“What time will she be here?” Charlotte asks from behind me, and I look up. I’ve been sitting outside since I called my mother, trying to calm down. I’ve been trying not to lose my shit, to be honest. When I heard what my mother said, I wanted to jump into the truck and go to her house and yell at the top of my lungs.
“She should be here soon,” I say. She smiles at me and walks back into the house, and the door opens again.
“Hey,” Kallie says softly, and I look over at her and smile. Fuck, she makes me so complete. She makes me want to have it all and do it all. “You okay?” She puts her head on my shoulder and wraps her arm around mine.
“You need to calm down.”
“I am calm,” I lie, and she just looks at me. “Okay, fine, I’m raging.” She gives me time to talk. “There is so much.” I shake my head. “I’m not holding back this time.”
“Jacob.” When she whispers my name and leans in to kiss me, we hear the crunch of rocks, and both of us share a look. “Let’s get ready to rumble.” She jokes with me, and I look over at my mother as she gets out of her car. She looks at us, and you see the frown on her face right away.
“Well,” she says when she gets close to us, “what is this all about?”
“Hi, Mom.” Standing, I wait for Kallie to get up, and I slip my hand into hers.
“Hi, Cristine,” Kallie says, and my mother just nods at her. “We should get out of this heat.”
I wait for her to walk into the house, and I look at my mother, but she avoids my eyes, which makes me even angrier. I wait for her to walk in before me, and I hear shouting right away.
“You can’t use biscuit in that sentence.” I hear Casey say followed by Olivia shouting at him.
“Why not?” We walk into them facing off at each other. “If you are not nice, you get no biscuit.” I hear Kallie burst out laughing, but Olivia doesn’t stop as she walks to Casey with her finger out, pointing at his chest. “You can say hens get wet and beans in a frill, but I can’t use biscuit?”
“Okay, you two,” Charlotte says. “Take this to your house.” She looks at Casey and then looks at Olivia. “Tomorrow, we can go over the list of food that you can use and what you can’t use.”
“Let’s go, cowboy,” Olivia says and walks by him. I’m expecting him to make her walk by him, but he stops her by grabbing her hand.
“There is so much I need to say right now,” Billy says, and I just look at him sitting at the table.
“Well, then …” Charlotte claps her hands. “Would you like some tea?” she asks my mother, but Mom just shakes her head.
“What was all the fuss to get here?” my mother asks, and then she looks at Kallie, who is now holding my hand. “One week in and I see that things are back to normal.” She looks at me. “God knows how long it’s going to last this time,” she mumbles, and I’m about to snap at her, but Kallie starts first.
“The reason we called you here is to tell you firsthand about something.” She looks at me. “There are things that happened when I left and—”
“You mean when you gave up on my son and hightailed it out of town without looking back?” my mother asks.
“Okay, then,” Charlotte says, and Billy gets up with her tone and she looks over at him, “I’ve held my tongue for eight years.” She comes to stand next to Kallie, and she holds her hand. “You were my best friend,” she starts to say, “and when I needed you by my side, all you did was blame Kallie. You never once looked at the whole picture.”
“That’s because your daughter was to blame for all of this!” my mother shouts.
“My daughter carried your grandson by herself!” Charlotte yells out this time, and my mother just looks at her. “That’s right, Cristine, while you went around town telling everyone how happy you were that you were going to have a grandson, I had to hold my daughter’s hand while she buried our grandson. She did that all by herself. Carried the pain and the burden by herself. A piece of her gone forever.” I look over at Charlotte.
“Now I’m sorry that I’m doing this without easing into it, but I’ve had enough of you blaming Kallie for this.” My mother puts her hands to her chest, and Charlotte walks over to the picture that Kallie took out before. “This is Gabriel.” She hands my mother a picture, and she takes it in her shaking hand. “He was born November thirteenth.” She looks over at Kallie who now wipes her own tear away. “And he was beautiful.”
“He looks like Jacob,” Mom says and wipes her tear away.
“Mom, this stops today,” I finally say. “This blaming Kallie stops today.” I hold onto Kallie as I pour it out for her. “I made a mistake, one mistake, and I’ve paid for it. I’ve watched you mourn Dad. I’ve stood by you when Travis hightailed it after Dad died. I’ve stepped into his shoes, and not once have I complained about it. Not once did I ask you for anything.” I take a deep breath. “I’m not asking you. I’m telling you this stops today.” I look over at Kallie, who just stares at me. “If you can’t respect Kallie, then it’s over. I won’t call you, and I won’t come over. You’ll lose another son. Just this time, I’m going to be right in front of your face with my happiness. Mine and Kallie’s because she’s my choice, she’s always been my choice, and she will always be my choice. I will always choose her.”