Say It's Forever (Redemption Hills #2)(62)

Jud’s pained confession burned through my mind.

Gutting.

Whispering.

Begging.

“She took our one-year-old daughter with her, Salem, and I never saw her again.”

And I knew there was a part of him that needed to be held, too.

Loved.

Old misery moaned. I knew better than letting the thought infiltrate my mind. Knew better than to trust.

I lifted my quivering chin, the words hard with the hate that had petrified in my bones. “It’s funny how I thought Carlo would be that person for me. That he’d love and cherish and be the one to carry me through all of life’s tragedies and stand with me in its victories, and he’s the one who destroyed me.”

Mimi’s expression dimmed with sympathy edged with the old, old anger that had broken her heart. “Did you really believe that? That he would love and cherish you?”

My guts clutched with her truth.

“He was a wicked boy who grew into a wicked man,” she continued. “He manipulated you. Lied to you. Made you believe he was someone he was not.”

“And I fell for it.”

“You were sixteen, Salem. He was older. Powerful and charming and he had his sights on you. I never liked the boy, but none of us could have imagined how deep his evils went.”

“I was a fool.”

Her head shook. “No, sweet child, not a fool. Just a young girl who believed in the best of people. Believed they could be better. Believed through love, they could be redeemed and restored.”

More tears fell, and I gulped. “Can they be?”

A soft smile tipped at the edge of her aged, wrinkled mouth. “Some choose light in this life, Salem, others choose darkness. And some? Some get lost along the way, but inside of them, they burn with the fire of goodness.”

“How will I know?”

“I think you already do. Right here, you already know it. Deep down.”

She tapped the tip of her index finger against the riot in my heart.

She was right.

I did.

Even though I’d been so young then, there was a piece of me that had known, that had hesitated, my conscience whispering Carlo was wicked and wrong. Just like it was whispering now that Jud was right.

Then she stepped back around to the stove and sent me a wink. “Just make sure whenever you know it, whoever it is makes your knees knock, too.”

“Mimi.” I wheezed a breath, laughing low and shaking my head as I edged deeper into the kitchen to help her with dinner.

“What?” She knocked her shoulder into my arm. “Heck, girl, I’m pretty sure this looker makes you shake all over the place. Hopefully in the good bits.”

I choked out a laugh while my entire being went down in flames.

Memories of the man between my thighs.

That mouth and those hands.

What he’d done to me.

“Mmhmm…that’s what I thought.”

“You thought what?” I defended with a smile.

She sent me the most innocent shrug. “That you’d be famished for your most favorite meal.”

A giggle slipped free.

Warmth and welcome.

Home.

And I had no idea how to stop the hope of it from taking root inside me.





“Boo!”

Gasping, I whirled around with my hand pressed to my chest like it could stop my heart from jumping free of my ribs.

Tessa cracked up.

She was bent in two, slapping her knee from where she stood behind me on the front lawn of our house.

I’d been watching Juniper do somersaults on the lawn, and I hadn’t even noticed she was there.

Complacent.

Reckless.

I blew out a frustrated sigh directed wholly at myself.

“Oh my god, you just jumped like…ten feet in the air. You should have seen it.”

She kept trying to catch her breath, like it had been her that’d gotten the crap scared out of her and not me.

Juni cracked up, too. “She jumped all the way to the sky, right, Miss Tessa?” Juni turned her sweet eyes on me. “I saw Ms. Tessa comin’ the whole time, Mommy, because we gots you a very good surprise that you are gonna love with all your whole heart!”

My eyes narrowed farther, darting between the two of them.

“That’s right. We have a big surprise. We’re going out!”

“Umm?”

She grinned, her red ponytail swishing far too excitedly around her shoulders. “The correct response is, hell yes and hallelujah, thank you, Tessa, for dragging me out of my house and showing me a proper night of fun.”

“Thank you, but I have Juni…”

I trailed off when Juni giggled like my excuse was absurd, and I shifted toward the house when I felt the disturbance at the screen door. Mimi pushed it open and stepped out, grinning like mad, too.

“Correction, I have Juni, and sweet child, you now have friends, so you’re going to have yourself a night of fun. Kind of like you did last Saturday night.”

Mimi waggled her brows.

“And just where are we going?”

Tessa shimmied her hips. “Absolution, baby! Time to get your rocker on. There’s a band playing tonight that is supposed to be crazy good, and it’s my boyfriend’s birthday, but he’s kinda boring, and I’m afraid he’s not going to be any fun, so you have to come with us. I need a wingman.”