“What time did she start throwing up?” I asked.
“A little before ten, I think.”
That was before I foiled the assassination plot.
I didn’t know if I was hoping for a link between the two events or not. Children got sick. Sometimes they got very sick, the type of illness that would impact the rest of their lives if they were lucky enough to survive.
If this was something done to her as a result of my actions, it would kill me to knowI’d caused it, but at least the solution would be much more straightforward. There would be a solution, I knew that much. Even if I had to kill every High Fae in the city.
“I get it now,” Jenna said, her voice still raw from choking back tears.
The words yanked me from my dark thoughts and I looked up.“You get what?”
“Why you were so angry every time we tried to interfere. Why you pulled back every time we pushed.”
The words were so unexpected I went silent, watching her with a careful gaze. Of all the thingsI’d expected from her tonight, this was not among them.
“We shouldn’t have done some of the stuff we did,” she confessed.“If you’d come into my house unannounced or rearranged my stuff, I would have lost my mind.”
While I appreciated she finally understood where they had crossed the line, I didn’t know where this was coming from.
She caught the baffled look and gave me a sad smile. There was a hint of shame on her face.“You know when I first got pregnant, you were the only one who never judged me. You just took my hand and told me we’d get through this. I never did thank you for that.”
“I wasn’t the only one. Mom was there for you too.”
Jenna shook her head.“Mom didn’t talk to me for the entire pregnancy. She didn’t let up until after Linda was born.”
That wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.
“The baby shower she threw you.”
“Dad made her. If you recall, she didn’t invite any of her friends or most of our family. She didn’t even talk to me during it. She spent the whole time cleaning and setting up,” Jenna said, seeming resigned.
I sat down on the chair next to the bed. I did remember that. I thought it was just our mom’s usual neurotic antics before a party. She had to have everything perfect. She always had. Mom loved to entertain, but she was a pain during the preparation and decoration phases. It might be one of the reasons I hated parties or any entertaining that was more complicated than popping open a beer and a bag of chips.
“How did I not see this?” I asked myself.
“Because you were always the strong one,” Jenna said.“You never tolerated her silent treatment. Whenever she tried, you just went your own way and never even noticed, or you just pestered her until she reacted.”
Still, I wasn’t an unobservant person, you would have thoughtI’d remember.
“She tried to get me to put Linda up for adoption,” Jenna confessed.
Shock held me immobile. I hadn’t known that. I knew Mom hadn’t been exactly thrilled to learn her daughter was pregnant by a married man—especially given how young she’d been—but I hadn’t thought she’d go that far to correct Jenna’s mistake.
“Then after Linda was born, she was always there with her tips and opinions,” Jenna said.
Yes, and Jenna had always taken them, but perhaps not for the reasonI’d always assumed.
“I was so happy she was talking to me again that it was just easier to do things her way,” Jenna said.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
Jenna sniffed.“Because you were there for me. You never wavered even when I was being a bitch. I wish I could have done the same for you.”
I stood rooted to the spot, not knowing how to respond. It was true. My family had been difficult when I got back. They’d sensed something was wrong, and I couldn’t tell them what that something was. Not without risking their safety.
Instead, they had jumped to conclusions. They thought everyone who came back from serving there had PTSD and other issues. They assumed I had a drinking problem.
