Page 75 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

“Lily,” my father called out to me as I bypassed him to go inside.

“Fierce, little Tiger Lily, at the very least, allow us just a few minutes to explain things,” Boone added.

I turned to face both men while gently shifting my son into Merc’s arms. “It’s funny that you want me to give you a chance to explain things when you’ve had years to try to do just that.”

I turned and walked into my house, but of course the men saw themselves in anyway. Merc took Declan to his room and got him situated. Our boy had a busy day, and if there was a God looking out for him, he would allow my baby to sleep through the breaking of my relationship with his grandfathers.

“You were pregnant and already not doing well,” my father explained.

“Oh! So, it’s my fault that you hid the fact that my mother died and didn’t even get a proper burial for years?”

“No. Christ, Lil, that’s not what I’m saying. I wasn’t around much. Remember when I showed up to find you with barely any food in the house?”

I nodded.

“Well, just before that, we got word on where your mother was hiding out. I needed her to sign off on divorce papers. So, Boone and I took off to find her, only when we did, she was in some rat-infested hovel that Whisper, and his cousin, had taken her to. They were both fucking filthy, strung out, and hell Lil, your mom had a needle hanging out of her arm when we got there. Whisper was gone. Bastard overdosed before I could beat his ass.”

“Whisper should have already been dead, but the fucker skipped town before we could strip him of his patch and ink.” Boone added.

“We got Mary out of there, took her to Bridge’s farm to help get her clean. It was the only out of the way place that was quiet enough.”

“So, you what? Got her detoxed enough to sign those divorce papers then killed her off and made it look like an overdose?”

“No. Fuck no!” My dad yelled adamantly. “Got her detoxed and she signed the papers. While I was gone, she fucking found some shit Bridges had lying around. Bastard never bothered to mention he had a fucking problem. Might have forgotten he left a rig and shit back there at some point. I don’t know, but when we got back, the fucker was digging a hole in the ground.”

“So, instead of just putting her somewhere to be found, so she could get a proper burial, you let him bury her on the farm and then pretended that she was still missing all this time?”

“I thought it was best that you never knew she was an addict, Lil. She held it together the best she could before I kicked her out, but even you had to know that she was losing her fight. The woman forgot to come home some nights; it was why I followed her the night I found out she was with Whisper. We were supposed to go on a fucking date that night to try to put us back together, but…” He shook off whatever else he’d been about to say.

“Loyalty,” I mentioned under my breath as I shook my head clear of the thought.

“What?”

“It’s why you told her to get out, because she wasn’t loyal, right?”

“I guess that’s what it boiled down to,” my father said.

“Loyalty was always our thing too. We were never supposed to lie to one another,” I reminded him.

“Lil,” he whispered, obviously seeing where I was going with this. He had kicked my mom out and told her not to come back because she had been disloyal.

“You lied to me about her. You made me stay married to a man who didn’t have a single loyal bone in his body. You were never supposed to be the one I couldn’t trust. You were always supposed to be there for me. It was all a lie though. Who is disloyal now, Dad? By your standards, I should kick you out of my life and never allow you to come back.”

“Lily,” he looked like he was searching for the right words, but there were none to make up for what my father had done. He had lied to me about my mom and then trapped me in a loveless marriage to a man who did to me - on the daily - what he sent my mom away for. What if he hadn’t sent her away? She might still be alive. I might not have lived the lonely existence I did. Maybe we would have escaped together, and she would have stayed healthy for me, for my baby. That might have all been a pipedream, but I’ll never know now.

“Get out!” I yelled at him as I stood quickly and pointed at my front door. Unfortunately, the minute I did, pain laced through my abdomen and then another whipping burn ripped around from my back to my hips and I knew exactly what that pain was. I yelped before plopping back onto the sofa and trying to breathe through my pain and panic.

My father and Boone were immediately at my side. “GET OUT!” I screamed at them.

“Get the fuck out before you upset her anymore!” Merc’s voice boomed across the room as he came for me. “I’m calling the doctor.”

“We can take her, or watch Declan while you go to the hospital,” Boone offered.

“Get away from me!” I demanded through clenched teeth. Merc moved both men out of the house while on the phone with the doctor’s office.

Dr. Marks met us at the hospital, and we had Declan with us because like hell was I going to leave him with either of our fathers.

“I want to keep you overnight. If for no other reason than to get some fluids into you. You’re dehydrated, which isn’t helping the situation. From what you said, family stress is an issue too. Maybe here, you’ll get some much-needed rest and be able to bounce back easier.

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