Misery ran through Roxie, slicing and dicing.“I was the one to blame.”
“No,” her mother said, cupping her face.“You were a sweet, loving two-year-old.It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was ours,” Dex said, stepping up.“If I’d kept a closer eye on you… If I’d distracted you with a toy or a cookie…”
He let out a grating sound and ran both hands through his hair.His wife caught him and made him sit again.It was obvious that the “what ifs” had been haunting him for years.
“My father, the oh-so-powerful businessman, wouldn’t help.”From the look in Alexis’ eyes, that was a wound that hadn’t healed.“It wasn’t exactly what my parents had wanted, but they thought they’d get me back.They honestly believed that everyone would be better off.”
“We were barely eighteen by then,” Dex said.“There wasn’t anything we could do.We wanted our daughters, but we couldn’t get you back.We were in too much trouble ourselves.”
The system.Roxie’s hands squeezed into fists.
“It about killed us losing you like that,” Alexis said, her throat thick.
And Roxie had thought she’d had it bad.
Her mom and dad took a moment, their misery like a dark cloak around them.She realized then why Roux had been so cautious.These two couldn’t have borne any more bad news; they didn’t deserve it.
Alexis wiped her eyes, and Maxie passed her a tissue.She smiled gratefully.“Please tell us you were adopted by good families.”
“So, you know we were separated?”Lexie said.Her voice sounded funny, too, and she was leaning into Cam.
Dex caught his fresh tumbler of bourbon.“We found out that much.We were told that they were having trouble placing you together.Allie didn’t want you separated, but I didn’t want you growing up in the system.In the end, we had no say in the matter.We were facing charges.Nobody would listen to us.We eventually signed away our parental rights.”
Lexie cleared her throat.“I was adopted by the Underhill family and grew up in East Cobalt.They treated me well.”
With fancy clothes and material belongings, Roxie thought resentfully.Then her gaze landed on Blaire, and she let it go.And love.Dysfunctional as the Underhills were, there’d been love in that household.
Maxie clasped her hands together atop the table and leaned forward.“I grew up an only child in Indigo Falls, but my parents died when I was seven.My grandmother raised me.”
Alexis inhaled sharply.
“Don’t be sad.I loved them all with my whole heart, and I’ve had a very happy life.”Maxie glanced back at Zac.“Now it’s even happier.”
When her parents turned to look at her, Roxie froze.She felt absolutely sick.For years, she’d dreamt of this moment where she could throw back all the hurt and guilt on the parents who’d abandoned her.But that wasn’t what had happened.They’d been just like her.She understood what they’d gone through better than anyone.
And she couldn’t bear to hurt them.
It was Roux who cleared his throat.“Roxie grew up in foster care.”
Dex jerked as if he’d just taken a bullet.His body tensed, and his fist hit the table.“No.”
Roux looked at him forlornly.
Roxie couldn’t hold her dad’s gaze when he turned to her.
“No!”he said more forcefully, as if that could turn back time.“You were adopted.They told us you’d all been placed.It was the only thing that made us back off.”
Roxie’s foot rocked nervously on its heel.“It didn’t work out for me.”
“God,” he said, leaning forward and bracing his elbows against the table.He looked like he might get sick.Alexis rubbed her husband’s back.
“If I’d known, I would have come to get you, baby,” he said, his voice like sandpaper.“I would have stolen you away and we would have run.The law be damned.”
Alexis was openly crying again, and this time not from joy.“We were told that you were better off.”
That it had beenfor the best.
