The silence is deafening.
I track through the house and out the front door, finally able to breathe, anxious to get home. Desperate to get to Molly.
My phone is in my hand to call her, halfway to my truck when I hear footsteps behind me.
"Grey, wait."
Cate hurries across the lawn, arms wrapped around herself despite the afternoon sun. She looks over her shoulder at the house, then back at me.
"There's something you need to know." Her voice is barely above a whisper. She looks tortured. "Something Molly doesn't know."
I wait, dread slithering through me.
She takes a deep breath. "I know we must seem crazy to you, the way we fuss over her, the way Rob…is. But when she was five…her biological father took her." The words come out in a rush, held back for nearly twenty years. "He picked her up from school and disappeared. We got her back but…we were neverthe same." She's started to cry, presses her hand to her mouth for a protracted moment before she can continue. "She doesn't remember, and we never told her. We wanted to protect her. And then it was too big, too much time had passed, and now…"
I stare at her, trying to process. "She doesn't know?"
"She doesn't know he exists, doesn't remember any of it." Cate's face crumples. "I tried to tell her a few weeks ago, tried to tell her today before she left, but Rob…" She can't finish.
"He stopped you."
She nods, wiping her eyes. "I'm scared, Grey--I'm scared of what happens when she finds out, and she will. She needs to know."
"You need to tell her. You need to call herright nowand tell her. Because I will not keep this from her, and if she doesn't hear it from you, she'll never forgive you."
"I know. I know." She's sobbing now. "I just…I needed someone to know. Someone who loves her. Someone who can help her when…"
"When it all falls apart."
She nods.
I reach out, squeeze her shoulder. "I'll be there," I promise. "Whatever she needs. But it has to come from you."
"I'll tell her. I will." Her jaw tightens. "Even if I have to leave Rob here to fend for his goddamn self."
"Thank you for telling me."
She takes a shaky breath. "Take care of her. Please."
"Always."
She watches me from the driveway as I get in my truck and pull away, the vision of her shrinking in my rearview mirror, a woman trapped between her husband and daughter, holding a secret that's going to blow everything apart.
All I can do now is get home to Molly.
CHAPTER 54
DINNER PLANS
MOLLY
It feels like a hundred years since I’ve been so happy, driving toward Roseville in a rental Corolla, fueled by the effervescent thought of how it'll feel to be in Grey's arms.
Beyond that, I feel like shit.
The emotional drain has taken such a toll on me, it looks like it's physically sucked the life out of me. My eyes are hollow and smudged with dark circles, red from crying and a little bloodshot. I look pale. Sad. I haven't slept well in days, despite the familiarity of my old room and all my old things. Walking into that room had me feeling all kinds of strange, like I didn't know the girl who slept in that bed. Like I didn't belong there anymore. It unnerved me as much as it brought me peace.
It was the only peace I found in Louisville.
