Page 69 of Merry Little Hate Notes

I placed my arm around her to steady her.

Gloria stopped a few paces in front of us, a question in her blue eyes that were reminiscent of Holly’s. “You two are together?” She didn’t sound too surprised. “I always wondered if that might happen.” She offered an uneasy smile, her gaze landing on her daughter. “Hello, Holly.”

“Hi,” Holly squeaked, gripping me for dear life.

“I got your message.” Tears trickled out of Gloria’s eyes and down her reddened cheeks. She wrapped her arms around herself. “I want you to know you are right about everything. And I’m sorry. So very sorry. I know there is no making up for what I’ve done, but I would love to get together and talk. I was just telling your brother that every important piece of my puzzle has been missing for years.”

Holly was crying now and sniffling repeatedly.

“If you don’t want to talk, I’ll understand,” Gloria said when Holly didn’t respond.

“I do. It’s just hard,” Holly said through stifled sobs.

“That’s my fault, and I’m so sorry.” Gloria inched closer.

Holly loosened her grip on me.

Gloria dared to reach out a hand to her daughter.

Holly stared at her mother’s hand for several seconds, yet Gloria didn’t waver. Her ungloved hand, red from the cold, kept reaching and begging for her daughter. Eventually, her patience paid off, and Holly, as if in slow motion, reached out her hand. Gloria captured it and held on tight before pulling her daughter to her and enveloping her in a hug.

It felt as if time stopped as I watched the women embrace while shuddering through their tears.

“I love you,” Gloria repeated over and over. With eachI love you, Holly melted a little more into her mom. It gave me hope that Holly would let me have my say and give me the opportunity to prove I was no longer the boy who’d been too afraid to face the truth.

Eventually, Gloria kissed Holly’s cheek. “I should be going. It appears I interrupted something important.” Gloria gave me a meaningful look. “It’s nice to see you again, Brandon. I would love to catch up with you sometime. You were always like a son to me.”

It surprised me how much those words hit me. Emotion rose inmy chest, making my words crack sharply like a preteen boy’s. “I would like that.”

Gloria offered a muted smile before releasing Holly, who came straight back to my side.

I placed an arm around her to let her know she was safe.

“Happy birthday, Holly,” Gloria choked out and then hustled off like she couldn’t take the overwhelming feelings that hung in the air.

As soon as Gloria was out of sight, I asked Holly, “Are you okay?” I knew she’d worried her mother would never contact her after the message she’d left her earlier in the week. She’d been preparing herself to let her mother go.

“I think so,” she muttered. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Me either. Do you want to leave?” I wasn’t sure now was the best time to hit Holly with another emotional punch.

She shook her head. “No. Tonight is all about the truth. We can’t run from it anymore.” She was right, and it scared the hell out of me.

Holly took my hand. “Let’s go talk to Christian.”

“You’re incredible. I don’t know if I’d be able to stand if that had just happened to me.”

“I couldn’t. That’s why I came to your side.”

I was done for. Holly owned me, and even if I had to beg for eternity, I would do everything to make her mine. I brought her hand up and held it to my chest. “You undo me, Holly. You always have.”

She smiled, that hint of mischief appearing again. “Come with me,” she beckoned.

Her bewitching words would have me following her to the guillotine if that’s what she wanted. I trailed behind her to what had once been my worst nightmare. The thought of losing the woman whose hand I held had replaced the agony of burying my best friend.

Christian’s large headstone loomed in front of me in the cold and dark, surrounded by snow except for the place his mother’s knees had just been. It was the first time I’d seen his headstone, a stark reminder of the truth. The stone hadn’t been erected until after we’d laid him to rest. The words under his name captured exactly how I felt about his death.Gone too soon.

“Come and tell him off for leaving us?” Holly teased.

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