Page 101 of Exposed Ink

Her words cause my heart to clench and tears to prick my eyes, but I blink them away, refusing to let her see that she’s affecting me.

“I know you care about Taylor,” she says, “so I’m hoping you’ll care enough to walk away and let her have what she’s always wanted—a family. It might be too late for you, but it’s not for us. So, I’m asking you, as one mother to another, to walk away and let me put my family back together.”

“Are these them?” Taylor asks, walking back into the kitchen and shaking a pill bottle.

“Yes, thank you.” Jamie kisses her forehead. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Well, lucky for you, you’ll never have to find out,” Taylor says with a giggle.

I stand in the corner, watching them go about putting the finishing touches on dinner as Jamie’s words run on replay in my head.

I hate her for what she said, but at the same time, I can’t blame her because she’s not wrong. If Brandon and Brenna were still here, I would be living in the city with them, and there wouldn’t be anybody or anything that could stand in between them and me.

“Have you thought about moving here?” Taylor asks her mom.

“I have,” she says. “And I think I’m going to look at some places.”

“Oh my God! Yay!” Taylor jumps up and down. “I’m going to tell Dad!”

She runs out of the room, and Jamie glances at me.

“Do you see how happy she is? Do you really want to be the one to destroy her happiness?”

“She’s happy because her mom is staying for once,” I choke out, finally having found my voice. “But you’re missing one important detail—Shane. He loves me, not you.”

Jamie scoffs and sets the ladle down. “And you’re missing one important detail—Shane loved me first, and he would be with me again. The only reason why he won’t consider it is because of you. Because you’re fragile and weak and he feels bad for you.”

“That’s not true,” I whisper, swallowing down my insecurity. “He loves me.”

I know he does. I see it in the way he looks at me and holds me … the little things he does for me, the way he makes love to me. He can’t even go too many days without seeing me.

“He’d get over you.” She shrugs. “I can’t make you do anything, but for the sake of my family, I hope you’ll do the right thing and walk away.”

I hate this bitch so much, but what if she’s telling the truth? Taylor deserves to have her family back together, and Shane did say that it was Jamie who walked away, not him. If I wasn’t in the picture and she stayed, would he take her back?

My stomach roils at the thought of not being with Shane, of raising our baby without him, but she’s right. I had my chance at a family, and even though it was an accident, I lost it. Can I be the reason another family isn’t together? Do I deserve another chance at having a family at the risk of another family not being together?

A few months ago, my answer would’ve been no, I didn’t deserve it. But now, Shane has shown me that I’m worthy of love, of second chances, and as much as I hate that it might mean potentially keeping a family apart, I can’t just walk away.

“I’m sorry,” I tell Jamie, the tears I was trying to keep at bay falling. “But I love Shane and Taylor, and I’m not going to walk away until they send me away. I love them so damn much, and maybe that makes me selfish, but I want a life with them.”

“That’s exactly what it makes you,” Jamie hisses. “Selfish. And when my daughter finds out that you’re the reason why her mom and dad can’t live under the same roof, she’ll hate you.”

“She’s wrong,” Taylor says, making me jump. “Mom, you’re wrong,” she says. “I love you, and you’ll always be my mom, but Kinsley is our family too. While you’ve been gone, she’s been here every day, loving Dad and me.”

“That’s going to change,” Jamie tells her. “I’m going to stay, and we can be a family.”

“Then, stay,” Taylor says. “Stay because I’m your daughter and you barely know me. But if you’re doing it because you think Dad is going to take you back, that’s pathetic. He loves Kinsley, and she loves him, and they deserve to be together. I told her that if she got together with my dad, there wouldn’t be any other woman drama, but you’ve made me a liar. And honestly, the way you’re acting is embarrassing.”

Taylor’s hands go to her hips, and her chin juts out as she glares at her mom.

Jamie’s eyes widen in shock. “Taylor …”

“No, Mom. I’ve seen the way you’ve been batting your lashes at Dad all week, and I didn’t want to think the worst of you, but you’ve just confirmed it.”

“Confirmed what?” Shane says, walking into the room.

“Mom told Kinsley to walk away so she could get her family back together,” Taylor says, making Shane’s eyes bug out.

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