“There’s a double standard for guys?”
She nodded.
“Not at the Dupree home.” I chuckled. “There’s just a double standard for famous, country music pop-stars. The rest of us peons are expected to toe the line.” I expected her to laugh but her face grew serious. Her eyes were shining.
“Who are you?” she asked like I was some sort of knight in shining armor who’d just ridden up on his white horse.
“I’m just a guy who’s crazy in love with Tallulah Hawkins.”
She dropped her forehead to my shoulder and I pressed a kiss into her hair.
After a few seconds, she sat up and I went with her. Then she reached for my hand. “Ash, I need to tell you about…before we came here. That’s why I needed to ride with my mom today. To let her know that I was going to talk to you about it.” She glanced away and swallowed. “I’ve never told anyone what I’m about to tell you.”
“Okay.”
She exhaled and brought her legs to her chest, her knees bent. “It’s going to be way worse than you ever imagined.” She shook her head. “Not worse. Just…more. More than you’re expecting.”
“Okay,” I said again, trying to mentally prepare for the worst. The most. Whatever that was.
She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples.
“Tally, whatever it is, I’m still going to love you. You know that, right?”
She nodded. “I hope so.” When her eyes opened, she was different. Resolute. “You know that I placed a baby for adoption in tenth grade.”
“Yes.”
“The thing is…” Her hands twisted around each other in her lap. “I didn’t actually place the baby.”
My head tilted, trying to understand. “What do you mean?” She hadn’t placed the baby? We’d never seen the baby. She didn’t bring it home with her from the hospital.
“That baby…” Her shoulders lifted and fell once. “Is Charlie. And Brianna has been raising her for me.”
I fell back on my hands, shellshocked. Charlie did look like Tally. A lot. Too much. And now that she’d said it aloud, it seemed obvious. I felt stupid for not figuring it out. Then again, Tally, Brianna, and Kim looked like sisters. Charlie fit right in.
“I couldn’t give her up,” Tally’s voice trembled. “I know that sounds crazy but it’s true. I love her. With my whole heart. The minute they placed her in my arms, I knew. She was supposed to be in our family, regardless of how she came to be. I was as sure of that as I am…of you.”
My gaze lifted, taking in her face. She was so scared to tell me. I had to make this okay.
“Hey,” I reached for her.
“I’m not done.” She held up a hand like if I touched her, she might lose her nerve. “Not even close.”
“Okay.” My hand fell away and I stiffened, trying to brace myself for whatever was next, even as I doggy-paddled to keep my head above the news that Charlie was her daughter.
“The thing is, I wasn’t raped by some random stranger I didn’t know.”
I tried not to tense at that but it was impossible.
Her fingers curled into a fist against her knee. “I was raped by my step brother, repeatedly. For years.”
My jaw clamped and my fists curled. Rage filled my chest. I shoved it down. Tally didn’t need that right now. How could this happen? How could someone do that to her?
Once I trusted myself to speak, I asked, “Did your mom know?”
“Of course not,” she said in a hush. “She never would’ve let that happen to me.”
“Why didn’t you tell her?” I choked.
