Page 604 of The Tempted

Chapter Twenty-eight

I awoke to the sound of a knock on my bedroom door but didn’t bother turning around. I knew it was my mother and I knew the look on her face would break my heart—what was left of it. I kept my back towards her, laid on my side

as she stepped into my room and closed the door softly behind her.

“Lacey, it’s almost noon,” she whispered.

I didn’t answer.

A moment later I felt the dip in the mattress as she laid beside me and wrapped an arm around my waist.

“My sweet girl,” she murmured, smoothing down my hair. “My beautiful, sweet girl. Please talk to me,” she pleaded.

“I’m fine,” I said numbly.

“You’re not fine and I’ve ignored it too long,” she whispered. “I know what’s going on Lacey,” she revealed.

Slowly, I turned around, brave enough to face her, wanting her to take away my pain.

Desperate for the love only a mother could give.

Maybe just maybe she could be the one to help me through this. Not that long ago I felt like I was walking in my mother’s shoes, falling in love with an outlaw, trying to see the good in him. She did it.

And when it failed when she was no longer his…she survived.

Maybe this wasn’t about the maker.

Maybe it was just about my heart.

I didn’t know anymore.

“You loved daddy didn’t you?”

“Of course I did.”

“And it hurt when it was over didn’t it?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“But you’re still standing. The world kept moving for you,” I murmured.

“And it will for you too,” she assured me. “You just have to let it. You have to realize you have nothing to be ashamed— ““I’m not ashamed,” I interrupted. “I fell in love and for two months of my life I had it all…everything I ever wanted. He may not have been perfect in your eyes or someone you or daddy would’ve picked for me but what we had was perfect.”

I watched as she blinked and tried to mask the confusion in her eyes.

“Two months?”

“Yes, for two months I was Blackie’s girl,” I admitted. “No one knew and now I’m wondering if I imagined it all.”

“Lacey,” she started.

“Please, don’t. Don’t tell me it was wrong because it was the only thing right in my life,” I argued.

She closed her mouth and remained silent.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I said.

“Talking about it might help,” she replied. “Lacey, I can’t sit here and watch you suffer like this anymore. I can’t sit here and go through this again.”

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