Page 59 of Dodge

I had no clue my mother went through all of this. Then again, I’d never witnessed any true affection between my parents. Family meals, when we had them, were stilted and cold.

“I did everything I could to fit in the Somers mold. The right hair and clothes, the right speech, the right social groups. No room for errors or mistakes or emotions. Your brother was perfect in school. Top grades, top honors, top awards. In the end it wasn’t enough. Your father had his mistresses, and I found out he was planning on leaving me to be with one. That’s when I got pregnant with you. In that circle, he could leave a wife and one child, and no one would blink an eye. Two would have made it harder. Three would have been impossible. I was planning on having a third child, but when you came out the way you did, that was it. He wouldn’t touch me.”

My heart bled. “So I was an insurance policy.”

She ignored my statement. “He was heading to the CEO desk and didn’t need any scandals or bad press. The banking industry is as cutthroat as any other business, and your father had to be aboveboard in all things. Including his marriage to me.” She laughed. “Some people regarded us as the perfect modern couple, and being with me might have helped catapult your father into that presidential chair.”

Very few times in my life, I had no words. No snappy rebound to say or flippant response. Betrayal sat heavy in my heart. I wasn’t a wanted child. Just a tool for my mom to keep her spot among the rich folk. Part of me understood the struggle, as I’d dealt with the same ones myself, but the overwhelming sense of wrongness was more than I could take.

I waited for the pain to come, but it didn’t. Instead, I had an almost euphoric sense of relief. I should have been reeling or collapsing on the floor in heartfelt agony, but for the first time ever, I felt…

Free.

“You came to check on me, and you did. You can leave now.”

Her face fell as if she’d figured out what she said to me not thirty seconds ago and was regretting it. “Fauna—”

“You really should leave.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“I don’t give a shit.”

“Don’t—”

“Stop.” I barked the command louder than I’d ever spoken to her before. “I’m done. So fucking done. Despite what happened tonight, I have a thriving, growing business thatIstarted.Me. No help from my family. Not one word of encouragement or support. I’m in a community that doesn’t use me or judge me.”

She scoffed as I knew she would. “Who? The biker gang that man belongs to?”

I shook my head. “Not a gang. A club. No, that’s not right either. The Dragon Runners are a family.Myfamily now.” Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall in front of this woman. This stranger. “They’ve had my back from the moment I set foot in this town. Betsey, Tambre, all of them. Dodge is a lot more than ‘that man.’ He’smyman. My old man. I’m gonna put a ring on that big finger of his, and when we have kids, Betsey will be their grandma.”

“Fauna, you will not marry that man.”

Fuck me, Harriet was either deaf or insanely obtuse. I couldn’t think of her as Mom or Mother anymore.

“You don’t get a vote. As I already said, you can leave now. I have someplace to be, and you’re not invited.”

“You’ll regret this. Your trust fund—”

“Fuck the trust fund. Keep it. Spend it. Burn it. I’ll make my own way as I always have.”

“Fauna, I’m warning—”

“I’ve been polite and asked nicely twice. Now I’m just gonna say it. Get the fuck outta my restaurant, and do not come back!”

She opened her mouth again, but whatever she wanted to say, I didn’t hear it. I turned and walked away, heading back to my kitchen where I was the most comfortable. The pots and pans were hanging up ready for the next service. The grill was spotless, the prep area clean and everything in its proper place.

Including me. This was where I belonged. I really had no regrets about the breakup of me and Harriet. I assumed that meant my brother and father would also cease the little contact they had with me. I wasn’t torn up about it.

“You feed people.”

“There’s something special about feeding hungry people.”

Tambre’s words echoed in my head and heart. Yes, I did. I fed hungry people, and I did it damn well.

“Everyone has challenges, some more than others, but I think it’s how we face them and who we face them with that counts.”

“Don’t let small-minded people keep you from having all the happiness this life has to offer. That includes family.”

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