Page 63 of Silver Sanctuary
Lacy sighed, rubbing at her temples. “I was fourteen when our mom went to prison for the accident she caused here. That’s why I had to move to West Virginia. My uncle was the only relative around to take me in, but that didn’t mean it was a good situation. He knew I’d worked for Rudy under the table, so he forced me to do the same at a diner after school and on the weekends. He’d take all the money I made for the rent and groceries I ‘owed him.’”
Her eyes went wide, as if she was in awe of the view in front of her. But Nash knew that wasn’t the case. She was lost in the memories.
“The fridge had a lock on it,” Lacy said. “I slept on the floor with one pillow and a sheet to cover myself. There were times when there wasn’t any heat, or running water because hedidn’t pay his bills. I had to steal soap from work, sanitary products from the school nurse. I was used to most of that because my mother was neglectful, but my uncle made her look like a saint.”
“I’ll kill him,” Nash growled as a thousand horrific situations flashed through his mind.
“You won’t be able to. He died when I was sixteen. My history teacher helped me where she could—she was the only person that really saw what I was going through. She brought me snacks, let me sleep in her class. Then I moved into a group home, and stayed there until I aged out at eighteen. I was lucky to have a decent job as a server at this upscale restaurant two towns over by then. It took four separate buses to get to, and thirty minutes of walking back to my little apartment every night, but I made sure I still went to school and graduated. A year later, I had saved up enough money to start classes at the community college. I was going to get my degree and get the hell out of there.”
“What happened?” Nash’s thumb continued to circle the pulse point on her wrist.
“Mom got out of prison. It was an early release for good behavior and completing some sort of sobriety rehab program. She’d already had a lenient sentence, which everyone in Silver Springs reminded me of before I moved away. I should have left West Virginia, but all that time I just stayed, trying to save my money. Trying to make something of myself because I was so afraid to fail. Once she showed up on my doorstep, I fell for her lies, how she said she’d changed. How she wanted better for me. I let her stay with me, and she was clean for a little while—that’s when she got pregnant with Embrie. I was only twenty-one when she was born. I barely had a year of college under my belt, and a week after she arrived, my mom disappeared.”
“Christ.”
“She relapsed, then showed up a month later, begging for money to get clean. Oh yeah.” She scoffed. “She thanked me forbabysittingEmbrie. I spent every last dollar I had saved for the next semester to find someone safe to leave Embrie with while I went to work. We were barely paying our bills, barely had enough for formula, and diapers, and clothes for her. But my momthanked me, like I had volunteered, or had a choice. She was so tiny, Nash. Every time I held her, I wished she was my baby. Even as my sister, I knew I would never let her have a life like I’d had. Never. I’d always be there to protect her. Even if we never had much, we’d have each other.”
“You are so incredible, Lacy.”
Her breath hitched at his words. “I’m not. The things Embrie has seen… the things she’s heard. I wasn’t protecting her like I should have.”
“All I’ve seen is the incredible way you provide for her. What happened to make you think that?”
A shudder rolled through her body, and he desperately wanted to wrap her up in his arms. But she clearly wanted space. Everything in her body language was screaming at him to not overwhelm her.
“It doesn’t matter, because the thing I’ve been afraid of since the first time my mom put Embrie in my arms and took off is about to happen.”
“I don’t understand. How can she do anything? You’ve had Embrie all this time.”
Tears poured over Lacy’s lashes.
“Lace, what am I not understanding?”
“I don’t have legal custody of her. I never had the m-money to pursue it. And I… I took her, without anything other than v-verbal consent from her biological mother, across state lines to get here. I provided a counterfeit birth certificate to get her enrolled in school in West Virginia, and here. If I ever try to terminate my mom’s rights to her… I think I’ll be arrested.”
His hand squeezed her thigh reassuringly. She’d been carrying around all of that worry for so long, he just wanted to take her home to Brie and wrap both of them up in his arms.
“Who was your mom talking about when she said they’d go to the police?”
“No,” she groaned. “You heard all of that?”
“You may think I was okay with you walking away, but it almost killed me. You bet your beautiful, heart-shaped ass I was as close as I could possibly be. No way I wasn’t going to be right there if you needed me.”
She shook her head. “You’re too good to me.”
“Clearly not if you’re still doubting whether I’d stick around to walk through this with you or not.” Nash sighed. “Tell me who she was talking about.”
“Her latest boyfriend—my former landlord. Nash…” She shook her hand free of his and wrapped her arms around her waist. “There’s a reason why I didn’t worry too much about my landlord here and his lack of attention. I’ve had rougher landlords than him.”
The shudder that rolled through her body put him on high alert. “Did he hurt you?”
She nodded. “Things were really bad before I took Embrie and ran. Really bad. I’m not proud of what I had to do to keep a roof over our heads. It makes me sick when I think about what I did.”
“We don’t have to talk about it, but I will never look at you differently.” Nash swallowed, the war raging inside him making his insides feel like they were boiling. “Someone taking advantage of you is not your fault.”
“I want you to know. I should have told you before, so you could know what you were really getting into. But it was just so nice to have someone see me for me. Not to use me.”
“Never, baby. I would never do that to you.”
