“How what, honey?” Mom takes a deep breath, almost as if she’s exhausted.
“How did you expect him to get them back if the children were with their father?” My words come out through clenched teeth, and it takes all my strength not to yell.
“However he could.” Mom clears her throat.
“It was me.” Sylvie stands tall and takes a few steps closer to me. “I asked Mom to ask him for help. Don’t be angry at her.”
“Him?” I raise an eyebrow. “You asked my husband to commit a felony, and you can’t even bring yourself to say his name?”
She swallows and looks at our mother.
I leave my husband’s side and get in her face. “His name is Ripley Ryan King. Say it!”
“Ripley.” The word stumbles out of her mouth. “I asked Mom to ask Ripley for help. I was desperate, Eden.” As expected,her tears fall, but I’m unmoved. “Levar took the kids and said he wasn’t bringing them back. He took them to punish me for leaving him. You know—”
I hold up my hand, and she shuts up.
“Levar took your kids?”
She nods.
“The kids that you didn’t want me around?”
She gets that cagey look in her eyes. She glances at our mother, but I step between them, shielding her from our mother's line of vision.
“Those kids?” I ask again.
She whimpers but doesn’t answer.
“Answer me.” My sharp tone makes her take a step back.
“Dandy—” Mom begins, but I shake my head at her.
“Yes,” Sylvie says through fresh tears.
“Why didn’t you want them around me?” I taunt. “Why?” She presses her lips together, and I yell, “Tell me why you didn’t want me to see your kids.”
“Because of Ripley.” She points at him.
“So, let me get this straight. You went tomyhusband to help you out of your mess when you were walking around here, pretending you were too good to breathe the same air as him?” I point at her and poke at her chest, but Rip wraps his hand around my wrist.
“Calm down, baby. I don’t want you to trigger a headache.”
“Answer me,” I order my sister.
“Yes!” she finally concedes. “I’m sorry. I—”
“Shut up,” I thunder.
My husband’s warm, calming hand massages between my shoulder blades.
“How long have you been walking around here, flashing your wedding ring and uttering nonsense? Like, how unselfish you are and how you have to sacrifice to be a wife. And you wantto sacrifice my husband to clean up the mess you created? You want to use him when it’s convenient for you?”
“Thorny, no one used me. The kids—”
“Ripley, all she does is use those kids to manipulate people,” I say. “She has Mom and Dad wrapped around her finger because she acts like she’s the first woman on earth ever to have kids. The irony of that is she accused me of using our parents when I moved back here, even though I was working my ass off.”
“Sylvie,” Mom says.
