Page 57 of The Last One You Loved
I fixed myself a plate and cup of coffee, but instead of sitting down to enjoy them, I finished them off while cleaning up. It gave me something to do instead of dwelling on things I couldn’t change. The past. My future. They were both out of my control. I’d had too much time to think and dwell on both in the last few days. I needed to change that, to busy myself with something, anything, even if it was cleaning.
By the time Rianne came back, the kitchen was pretty much sparkling, and I was on my second cup of coffee. She hung her dripping raincoat on the rack and then stopped as she took in the mess that was no longer there.
“You didn’t need to clean up,” she said. “But thank you.”
She grabbed another cup of coffee for herself and sat down on the stool next to me.
“It must feel strange being back and finding out about Mila,” she said.
“Strange isn’t the only word I’d use,” I said with a wry smile. “So, I take it you’re not teaching anymore?”
She shook her head. “No, but I was going a little stir-crazy and wondering if I’d made a mistake in retiring at the same time Maddox took in Mila. Eva and I were at a book club meeting, and she said he was looking for the impossible—someone to work around his ever-changing hours and the ranch schedule, and it felt like it was meant to be. I get plenty of downtime when the family has Mila, but I also can be there whenever they need me.”
My chest ached, the knots and pain growing larger. Mila really had the best life here. If I’d taken my sister, her life wouldn’t have been anywhere near as full of love as it was in Willow Creek. Maddox had done the right thing by keeping Mila to himself.
Rianne was eyeing me in that all-knowing way.
“He wanted to tell you,” she said quietly.
I nodded. “I know. When he called, it wasn’t one of my better moments.”
She patted my arm. “Life has a funny way of working out the way it should. I’ve been telling him for years he needed to call Sybil’s bluff, and now he doesn’t have a choice.”
“What do you mean?” I asked with a sense of foreboding washing over me.
One of her eyebrows went up. “He didn’t tell you? That boy…” She shook her head. “It’s not really my place, but sometimes he tries to protect everyone too much. When he first got Mila, CPS had to follow the rules requiring them to give Sybil a chance to get her life together and get Mila back. She went into rehab, was out on probation, got a job at Tillie’s Café, and was checking all the boxes. Then, they started supervised visits, and you know Sybil, she can act with the best of them.”
She let it hang for a moment, watching my expression. Yes, I knew how good of an actress my mama was. She’d fooled CPS every single time they’d come to call on us, and I’d done it right along with her. I’d been afraid not to. Afraid of her retaliation. Afraid of foster care because Mama had filled my brain with the horrors waiting for me there. There were worse things than being hungry. Worse things than the occasional burn or cut. But mostly, after I’d found Maddox, I was afraid of losing him. Mama had made it clear the Hatleys would never, ever see me again, and I’d believed her for too many years.
“Anywhoodle,” Rianne continued, “Maddox was beside himself because he just knew she was going to get Mila back, and he’d already fallen in love with that girl. He couldn’t abide the thought of her living through what you’d lived through. One day, about a week or two before she was going to get custody, Sybil found Maddox at the sheriff’s station and told him she’d sign over her parental rights to him if he promised you’d never know about Mila. That you’d never, ever have any say in her life.”
My mouth dropped. I couldn’t help it. I hadn’t seen Mama since I’d moved out my senior year. So, I was surprised she’d given me even two thoughts, let alone enough to pass down that kind of ultimatum to Maddox.
I cleared my throat. “But he has custody, right? I mean, she can’t get it back? So how can she possibly hold it over his head now?”
“Well, she signed away her parental rights, but the father never did.”
My stomach fell, visions of Trap’s burly beard, black leather, and gold chains filling me. He’d worn a green bandana over his long, thick, brown hair tied back in a ponytail for as long as I could remember. I didn’t know if I’d ever seen him without it. He’d never been dirty or oily, but there’d always been a hint of the road on him. A scent of gas and motorcycle tangled with the smell of cigars.
“Do you know…” my voice trailed off.
Rianne shook her head. “Sometimes, she says she doesn’t remember who the father is, and some days, she says she knows and if he finds out, he’ll take Mila away. Maddox thinks it’s one of the West Gears, and he and the Gears are in an all-out war these days, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they did try and take the one thing he loves in the struggle.”
A sense of panic washed over me at the thought of joyful, sweet Mila being pulled from her happy home with Maddox, the Hatleys, and Rianne to be tossed into the West Gears’ headquarters. I’d been there a few times growing up. It was a dank dungeon. The smell of weed, alcohol, and sweat filled the air between the dark walls and dim lights. There were rooms I’d been told not to go into. Upstairs had been completely off-limits, and downstairs had been a threat held over me by Mama with leather straps and chains.
If I felt this way, full of anxiety and fear at the thought of Mila being lost to a West Gear, I couldn’t even imagine what Maddox felt having raised her, having loved her and made her his.
“I don’t even know what to say,” I said, shaking my head.
“I just want you to understand why he threw those cruel words at you at the bar.”
I blushed, realizing that—as normal in Willow Creek—everyone in town must have heard by now what he’d said.
“Whenever Sybil is in town,” Rianne continued, “she makes Maddox jump through hoops. She enjoys every moment of the power she has over him, holding the father over his head.”
“Does she come into town often?” I asked the question even though I was afraid to know the answer.
“About every six months. She was just here, got arrested and stuck in rehab, but I hear she skipped out. She’s violated her probation, and if he finds her, he’s going to have to stick her in jail. She’ll be pissed, and even more so when she hears about you.”
