“I don’t understand why you won’t come back to the house,” Cass said later, when she arrived at the door to the room Wye had rented at the Evergreen Motel. “You need people around you. You need to talk to Emerson.”
“What’s the use? He’s a man, isn’t he? He’ll disappoint me sooner or later, so why not just get on with it?” Wye paced the floor with Elise in her arms as Cass lugged in the baby’s portable crib and set it up. When she’d stormed out of Ward’s house, she’d found Megan just pulling out and was able to flag her down. Megan was kind enough to wait while Wye retrieved Elise’s car seat from Emerson’s vehicle and drive her the five blocks to the motel. She’d gotten control of her tears only long enough to book the room and send a text to Cass. Once that was done, she’d sat down in her motel room and sobbed, drying her eyes only when Cass had knocked on her door.
She’d known something like this would happen, hadn’t she? She’d known marriage and family and a life at Two Willows with Emerson was too good to be true.
“You’re going to hate yourself if you don’t marry Emerson,” Cass said flatly. “And this isn’t like you, Wye. You’re the calm one. The practical one.”
“Because I’ve had to be,” Wye cried. “No one else was going to take care of me, were they? No one else cared!”
“Emerson cares—a lot.”
“He didn’t even try to stop me,” Wye said. It had hurt her more than she liked to admit that after she’d fled Ward’s house, Emerson hadn’t rushed out after her. She knew she wasn’t making any sense, but none of this made sense. Ward couldn’t be gone. She’d called him dozens of times, left message after message until his voice mail was full. She’d even called Mindy’s old number, but it was disconnected.
Where could he have gone? How could her brother have dismantled his life so quickly?
“I think Emerson understood going after you wasn’t going to help,” Cass countered. “He came straight home, you know, and told me he’s giving you time to simmer down, but he’s frantic, Wye. I heard him yelling at the General before I left. He never yells at the General.”
“I’m not going to simmer down! I’m—furious!” Wye burst into tears again. Hell, she hated crying. She’d cried far too many times after her mother left—and after her father moved without telling her. No one cried for her, did they?
Cass took Elise, placed her in the crib and gave her several toys to explore. She came back and sat next to Wye.
“Of course you’re furious. The men in your family have let you down all over the place, and so did your mother, but that doesn’t mean that Emerson is going to. You know what I think? I think you’re so used to people like your father and your brother punishing you, you’re punishing yourself. And I think that’s stupid!”
Wye reared back. “Thanks a lot! I’m trying to keep from getting my heart broken!”
“You’re cutting off your nose to spite your face. You need to talk to Emerson.”
“I don’t want to talk to him!” That was a lie. She’d give anything for his strong presence at the moment, but she couldn’t let down her guard. “I wish Ward was here. I’d give him a piece of my mind.”
Cass reached down, picked up one of Elise’s dolls from where she’d dropped it and shook it at Wyoming. “Pretend this is him. What do you want to say?”
“Come off it, Cass. Talk about stupid!” Wye shifted on the bed and crossed her arms.
“My name is Ward.” Cass lowered her voice to mimic Wye’s brother and moved the doll like a puppet. “I just sold my house without warning and disappeared, leaving you with my baby. What do you think about that?”
“Stop it.” This was the last thing she needed.
“Come on, Wye,” Cass growled in that same low voice. “Give it to me straight. I know you don’t have anything better to do than clean up my mess. You should be thanking me!”
“Thanking you?” Wye sputtered. “Cass!”
“That’s right, thanking me,” Cass growled like Ward again. “You don’t have a career. You never go out. You don’t do anything fun. You drive off every man who comes sniffing around. It’s not like you’ll ever have a kid of your own!”
“That’s not true!” Wye stared at the doll, shaking with fury. “I’m perfectly capable of having my own children, and I’ve got plenty to do without your interference.”
“Like what?”
“Like look for a new job that’s better than my old one. Like help run the rentals at Two Willows and help with the books, too. Like be part of a real family that actually loves me back.”
“Ha! What about me?”
“You?” Wye saw Ward as clearly as if he was in the room. “You’re nothing but selfish and mean and self-serving! You never think about anyone else! You never notice my accomplishments—or ask me how my day went. You treat me like a couch or a TV set—there to serve you whenever you want and to sit and wait, doing nothing, until you come back needing something else. Well, I’m not! I’m not a couch! And if you loved me at all, you’d never leave!”
Wyoming lurched forward, grabbed the doll from Cass’s hands and wound back to hurl it across the room.
Cass surged up to snatch it, and for a moment they tugged it back and forth until Wye realized what she was doing and let go all at once. She was breathing hard, sobs clogging her throat, tears falling so fast and thick she could hardly see.
Cass stumbled back a few paces awkwardly but caught herself before she fell over. She came to drop down on her knees beside the bed where Wye still sat. “That’s the crux of it, isn’t it? You’re afraid Emerson won’t love you?”
“No one loves me!” Wye covered her face with her hands, unable to stop her tears. “No one has ever loved me. I’m all alone!”
“That’s not true.” Cass set the doll on the floor, leaned in and wrapped Wyoming in her arms, her belly a small mound between them. “I love you. And so does Emerson. So we all do. Wye, sometimes our birth family is just that—our birth family. Sometimes our real family is made up of people who aren’t related to us at all. I swear to God, I won’t ever leave you, and I hope you won’t leave me, either. I’ve lost people, too,” she reminded her. “Please don’t make me lose you.”
Wye didn’t know how to answer her. Couldn’t through her sobs anyway. She ached with pain and shock and fear about what the future would bring.
From her crib, Elise pushed up and peeked over the top bar. “Yiyiyiyi,” she called, reaching a chubby arm toward Wyoming beseechingly.
“What am I going to do?” Wye sobbed. “Cass, I’m so scared.”
“We all are sometimes,” Cass soothed her. “You’re going to get through this. You’re not alone this time, Wye. You have a whole army on your side—even a General.”
Wye laughed, a sound that hitched and edged into a sob again. “Emerson must hate me. I was so awful.”
“I think Emerson understands what you’re feeling right now better than any of us, don’t you?” Cass asked.