Page 63 of Her Brother's Keeper

“I mean, I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’ll try, I’ll do my very best.”

Mandy looked excited, and Everett looked relieved, “Let’s fill out some paperwork,” Everett said and got up to go in back.

“You’re sure I can do this?” I asked Mandy.

“I think you can do anything you put your mind to, Maren. You’ve done it so far, and I can see a lot of why Nox is so head over heels for you.”

“He is?” I asked hesitantly.

Mandy smiled and nodded, “Over the moon and willing to fight anyone who disagrees, you know, with the age difference.”

I blushed furiously and whispered, “Nothing’s happened yet.”

Mandy sighed, “I know waiting has to be hard, but it really is for the best.”

“I know,” I murmured.

Everett returned with the new employee papers in a manila folder just as Nox came through the door.

“Here,” she said. “Take these with you and fill them out, bring me copies of these,” she said pointing to a list of documents written on a post-it, “and bring it back to me as soon as you can.”

“Tomorrow,” I said standing up. Both of the women hugged me.

“Tomorrow would be great,” Mandy said.

“Thank you both so much!”

“Absolutely, now go get your brother,” Everett winked and I blushed furiously.

“C’mon, Angel. I’ll drive, and we can talk,” Nox threw an arm around my shoulders and it was like instant comfort.

“Okay,” I agreed and dreaded the conversation and the road ahead… although this time, for the first time in a while, it felt like I was finally on the right street. I clutched the new employee paperwork in my hands like a talisman and followed my boyfriend out into the snow.

Chapter 23

Nox

She was silent for the first ten minutes of the ride. I took us onto the freeway headed north and waited her out, rubbing the top of her thigh, massaging the muscle and wishing I could get my hands onto her shoulders to ease out the major tension riding them. Finally, when she spoke, it was in a quiet tone almost full of defeat.

“It’s a mental hospital. My mother was committed when I was seven and Sage was around one.”

“What for?” I asked when she’d fallen silent again for a little too long. I kept my tone even, gentle, and most importantly, non-judgmental.

“She tried to drown him, I was there and called the police. She had post-partum depression and I guess it was really bad and led to a psychotic break and she tried to drown my little brother. She was committed for being a danger to herself or others – the ‘others’ in her case being her own children. My dad suddenly became a single parent, and for whatever reason, my mom just got worse instead of better. Sage doesn’t know why she was committed, just that she’s really sick and that we’ve been waiting for her to get better.”

“I take it there’s no getting better?” I asked softly.

Maren shook her head, “She won’t take her medication, and when she does and she gets better, it never lasts. It’s really bad, Nox and I don’t know why, but after dad died, Sage got it into his head that she would try harder, and that she would come home.”

“Ah.” It was the best I could say. I mean, I got it to a certain extent. Rush and I languished in foster care because of our mother’s drug addiction and unwillingness to kick her habit. Hell, at this point, she was probably dead. Not that Rush or I would ever know. We just took it for granted that she was. This was a bit different, though, more tragic somehow. I mean shit, mental illness wasn’t a habit you could kick, it was your own mind and body chemistry attacking you daily… and for it to be bad enough to try and kill your own kid?

“I understand why you didn’t want to tell me,” I said quietly when she’d been silently staring out the window for too long, “but it doesn’t change the way I feel about you any.”

“Doesn’t it?” she asked. “I mean, things like this can be hereditary. I could have the same crazy lurking in the back of my brain waiting for the trigger to set it loose.”

I chuckled lightly and said, “Angel, you forget you’re your father’s daughter too. Seems to me you take more after him than you do your mom. I somehow think you’re gonna be okay.”

“That’s the problem, though, Nox. We just don’t know, now do we?” she said solemnly and I sighed.

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