Page 51 of Savior

“Sweetie, I don’t know the details. No one does, really. You’d have to ask your mother, but even then, I know she doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“She was pregnant,” I pushed, searching for a reaction, something to indicate that she knew what I was talking about.

“That can’t be right. Let’s see, the attack happened in 2000, so you and Kate would’ve been how old?”

“We were six and ten.” I frowned, struggling to remember my mother back then. I’d pictured the lost pregnancy as something that had happened before we were even in the picture.

Had anything happened that year?

“Oh my god of thunder,” I mumbled. “It was around the holidays… we had to stay with my grandparents for a couple of weeks just out of the blue. One morning, Pops came to take us to school and then we had to pack our suitcases.”

She nodded. “Lucy stayed with her for a while, said she was in bad shape. I know she was insistent that you girls never see her like that, but Dakota, she wasn’t pregnant. As far as I know, it’s always just been you and Kate. Your dad… he wasn’t really around during that time.”

“But she told us, Lauren and me, that being pregnant made us a target to the Sons… that they would use their bodies to break ours until the thing we loved was ripped away from us. What does that sound like to you?”

Molly’s face took on a greenish hue and she sank down onto the coffee table with her hands pressed against her chest. “It sounds like…” Her lips quivered. “It sounds like she went through a living hell that night.”

Little Ricky made another sign of the cross before kneeling beside his mother. “Ma, is there anyone else who would know what happened? It might help us to catchestos bastardos.”

She looked down at her lap. “Besides Grey? It’d have to be Angel. Lucy said he was the first one there, and I know he stayed close while she healed.”

I nodded to Little Ricky. After figuring out what was going on with Kate, we’d track down Angel and get the answers we needed. Maybe it wasn’t relevant to finding the Sons, but I needed to know the truth.

I needed to believe that the woman who’d stayed up late baking our birthday cakes or sewing costumes for the school play hadn’t abandoned us for a casino.

I’d heard it time and time again, but that wasn’t who she was. Kate and I were adults now. We deserved to know the truth, about all of it.

“Dakota?” Little Ricky asked, and I came back to the present.

I’d gotten lost in thoughts of my mother while staring at the pictures lining the hallway off the living room. There was one of Little Ricky as a teen that caught my eye, and I moved closer.

“Your hair was so long.” I grinned. “And this sweater? Were you supposed to dress up as someone from the past?”

“That’s not Rick, Dakota. That’s Bear when he was a kid.”

“You and your dad could’ve been twins—”

“He’s not my real dad, Caparina. We’ve been over this,” Little Ricky snapped. “Now, are we gonna get shit done or sit around doin’ nothin’?”

I waved a hand in his direction, still focused on the picture. “Fine, fine. We can go.”

When the idea struck, I cradled my belly and turned to Molly with an apologetic smile.

Kate once told me that normal people had a tendency to look directly to the right when they were about to lie. I made sure to keep my eyes on hers as I hitched my purse up onto my shoulder and asked, “Is there a bathroom I could use before we go? I know for a fact that the minute we get in the car, this baby is gonna start tap-dancing on my bladder.”

I fell silent, knowing if I said anything more, it’d seem like I was rambling. Like I was guilty of something.

“Sure. Just down the hall, it’s the last door on the right.”

I closed the door and turned the lock before releasing the breath I’d been holding. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, leaving me feeling like a spy who’d had too much caffeine.

A cursory glance along the bathroom counter revealed nothing useful. I turned the faucet on high before easing open the door of the medicine cabinet. There was a comb with a few short strands of salt and pepper hair caught in between the teeth. Next to it, were two toothbrushes, nestled side by side in a yellow ceramic holder.

I placed my thumb and forefinger around the handle of one and lifted to find that it was hot pink.

That had to be Molly’s.

The next one was royal blue. I laid it on the counter before searching for a bag. After placing the lid on the toilet seat down, I sat and began rummaging through my purse. There was a plastic bag filled with the cookies I’d packed, and another filled with orange slices.

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