Page 11 of Redemption
Nodding, she went on, “Then years later, she came back here and—” With a sob, she couldn’t say it as she turned to rush from the room.
I felt so bad for Ma. She never deserved any of this and neither did the Walker family.
Jarret looked like a tone statue as he stared at the empty doorway where she had disappeared to. He slowly turned to look over at Talon.
Talon stood from his chair. “We never knew any of it. Not until Ma came into the barn a few days ago and confronted O.”
“It was a day that we all wish we could forget,” Liv added quietly.
Four days ago…
Talon stood in front of Ma to try to stop her from getting any closer to the crazy woman. “Ma, you shouldn’t be here.”
“The hell she shouldn’t!” O yelled. “It’s time she faced what she did!”
Ma looked down at the woman’s face. “What in the everlovin…”
O snickered. “You like my new makeup,Beatrice?” she taunted her. “You should. It was all your doing!”
Ma stared at her and gasped in fright. “It can’t be—i-it can’t.”
“Oh it is, sweet Bea. It surely is,” O retorted with glee in her voice. “What? No hug for me? No sugah? Well, that’s a mighty fine howya do!”
Ma staggered back and started to fall. Talon and Hawk caught her as she had fainted.
“So how strong is she now, eh?” O exclaimed with a chortling laugh. “I took lots from her but she deserved it. She kept on going though, I gotta admit. But at our age, you gotta watch the ole ticker, ya know?”
Rip stared at Ma then over at O.
O’s eyes softened when she looked up at him. “She was never your mother, Rylan. Why should you care?”
He slowly shook his head as he looked entirely lost. “I don’t understand any of this.”
O’s expression changed to concern. “Well, that is my fault, I admit. You never knew the truth. But see, to get revenge, I couldn’t tell you the truth.”
“You are insane and that’s the real truth,” he yelled. “What revenge? All you have done is to blacken everything in my life!”
“It had to be done, son,” she stated quietly.
He kept shaking his head at her.
“That is who you are, Rylan. You aremyson.”
“W-what?” he whispered in a breathless voice.
“I realize what you thought for all these years,” she went on. “But my name is Oliva Claire Walker.”
He stoodstockstillas he replied in a hoarse voice, “That’s impossible.”
“It’s true,” Ma stated, as she seemed to come around. She leaned forward and stood on her feet, though she still looked a bit wobbly. “Although, there’s a lot I don’t understand.”
“That’s because you ruined it all!” O yelled. “I saw him first! You took him away from me!”
Ma stared at her in utter disbelief. “That’s what this was about?” Her face still looked ashen.
“Oh, don’t be acting like it wasn’t a big deal!” O said. “You took Jacob from me and married him.”
“He chose me, Olivia,” Ma replied. “I never understood why you couldn’t see that. But when you married Bronson, you seemed to be over that.”
