Page 30 of Harts & Hurts

“Now, just because I respect her and want to give her back a measure of what she gave up, I have to have ulterior motives.” I sighed heavily. “On the real, I am starting to feel a little like Fisher. I’m ready to put this family in the rearview and just do what’s best for Melrose. And if y’all ain’t what’s best for her . . .” I let my thoughts trail off as I walked away from my sister. I hated to have to take it there with Mariah because, after Fisher, she was my next favorite sibling. But after the breeziness of dealing with Anistyn’s family, I could see what a pain in the ass my own family tended to be.

“Griffin,” she called to my back.

I didn’t stop walking. I made my way directly into the kitchen. My mother, father, and Marissa were all at the table, eating breakfast. I knew they would be because they never varied from the routine.

My mother looked up from her plate and gave a small gasp. “Griff, what are you doing here?”

“Good morning,” I said. “Good morning, Dad. What’s up, Marissa? I’m here to address the elephant in the room. Ma, what you did, getting Melrose’s ears pierced⁠—”

“What?” Mariah asked.

“What?” My father roared simultaneously. “You got the baby’s ears pierced? You didn’t tell us that.”

“Why didn’t you tell them that?”

She eyed me meanly. “Who are you talking to, Griffin Maxwell Hart?”

“I’m talking to you, Ma,” I said after taking what was supposed to be a calming breath. “I’m talking to you because you didn’t have the right to do what you did. You didn’t have the right to pierce Melrose’s ears without permission, nor did you have the right to tell Anistyn that she was a guest in the house she lives in. I bought that house. Me.” I patted myself on the chest. “Not with Hart family money. With Griffin money—football money. You, nor your daughter”—I looked pointedly at Marissa with my eyebrows bunched and my face in a frown—“get to come in there as guests yourselves and tell somebody else that they can’t be there. She lives there. Anistyn lives there. That’s her place of residence. She has every right to be there. She has every right to ask you to leave, invite you to leave, or tell you to leave. You⁠—”

My mother turned her attention to my father and spoke. “We lost another one, Mark. It’s Fisher all over again. I don’t know what kind of spell these Melrose women are working over our sons.” She started to cry.

I wanted to call bullshit on her instantaneous tears, but at the same time, she had mentioned my brother. That made me feel some sympathy for her.

I reined in my anger and gathered myself. “This is not about Fisher . . . or about Anistyn. This is not about the Melrose family or any of that. This is about you, Ma. About you taking a liberty. If you really felt like it was cool for you to get Melrose’s ears pierced, why didn’t you run it by me? We were together for hours. It seems like you were trying to be sneaky. And instead of accepting responsibility and admitting that maybe you overstepped your boundaries, you lashed out at Anistyn. She’s the legal guardian for Melrose. Would you have done that to Ashlynn? Would you have brought Melrose back to Ashlynn with pierced ears and acted like it was no big deal?”

“Maybe Ma did overstep her boundaries by getting Melrose’s ears pierced, but that didn’t give Anistyn the right to curse at us. She’s lucky she didn’t get handled.” Marissa folded her arms across her chest and let her weight fall back on her right hip.

“And you’re lucky she doesn’t pursue a restraining order against you.” I took a deep breath. “For the foreseeable future, I don’t want you left alone with Melrose. I⁠—”

“What?” my mother asked.

“What?” Marissa repeated.

“Wow!” Mariah’s eyes were wide with the surprise she obviously felt.

“Son,” my father began, “really?”

“Really. I think until trust is reestablished, you won’t make decisions that are outside of your purview pertaining to a baby who is your grandchild but not your legal charge, you’ll have to have supervision.”

“That girl is all in your head. She must be in your bed too,” Marissa muttered.

Anger coursed through my body to the point that I really wanted to put my hands on my younger sister. I’d never done that in life, and I didn’t like the feeling. “And this is the exact reason that Fisher stayed away.” I knew it was a low blow, but I also knew it was the truth. “This family is way more invested in passing out hate and keeping up a feud than they are in the well-being of an innocent baby. Melrose doesn’t know anything about your precious family feud. She doesn’t know that you hated her mother as much as you loved her father. She doesn’t know that you would rather belittle her aunt rather than try to see things from her perspective. But I know it. I see it.” I threw up my hands. “And like Fisher, I’m done. Have your fucking feud since you want it so badly.”

“Griff.” My father caught up with me as I made my way down the hallway toward the front door. He grabbed me roughly by the shoulder and turned me around.

I couldn’t feel remorse for the fact that he was angry; I had my own anger to manage. “If you’re mad at the truth, then I don’t know what to tell you, Pops.”

He released me, let out a sigh, and rubbed his hand down his face. I knew he was trying to calm down, but so was I. “I’m not mad at the truth. I’m mad about the way you came in here dropping bombs and blowing my kitchen up. I’m mad about the way you handled your mother.”

“I’m mad about the way she handled my . . . co-guardian.” I pointed toward the kitchen. “That’s your wife in there. Your wife. Your partner. You wouldn’t let my grandmother treat her any old kind of way and stand there like a sucker. You wouldn’t have let Grandma treat Ma the way she treated Anistyn. Just like that’s your partner, Anistyn is my partner. And I’mma protect her because she didn’t ask for this. This was thrust upon her by Ashlynn and Fisher. And regardless of what any of you think, she’s been handling this sh—situation like a damn champ.

“She deserves respect for the effort and energy she puts out . . . every single day. While y’all are here, in Fort Jackson, doing whatever you’re doing, Anistyn’s there. She’s at my—our house, taking care of Melrose. I’m not trying to be disrespectful, Pop,” I said after taking a deep breath. “And I apologize if it’s coming off that way. That’s not my intention. My intention is to speak to you man to man. Head of household to head of household. Anistyn and Melrose? That’s my team. Your wife can’t disrespect my team just because she doesn’t like my franchise player.”

He nodded. “Just . . . just give your mother some grace. She lost her son.”

It was my turn to nod. “Talk to her. We’re all mourning, Pops. Grief can’t be her excuse for treating people like shit just because they have the wrong last name. Anistyn has a beautiful spirit. If Ma could see past the rivalry to the person, she would see that.”

He pulled me into a hug. “Be safe getting back to Jackson Island.”