Page 145 of We Are Yours
“Yeah... she had that effect on people.”
“You too?”
“Sometimes,” I mused. “Mostly when I was younger.”
“You had a good time at your birthday party, though, right? You were dancing with her. It seemed like?—”
“Kitty, I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“How about the truth?”
“I don’t know the truth.” I tossed a shoulder, shaking my head. “I have no idea how I’m supposed to feel other than I’m supposed to feel something.”
“Do you miss her? Are you sad? I think those questions are a good place to start.”
“Why does it matter?” I countered. “She’s already dead.”
“I think it would help you heal.”
“Heal?” I chuckled. “You can’t heal wounds that won’t ever stop bleeding, Isla.”
She winced, not trying to hide her sympathy for me.
“Don’t do that, Kitty. I don’t like it.”
She stressed, “It’s okay to hate and love her, Kraven. You can do both, you know?”
“Yeah?” I contrived. “Well, part of me wonders how I can miss someone I never really knew, and then the other part of me remembers the moments she was magnetic for me too.”
She reached for my hands, holding them on the table as she insisted, “Your mother did love you. I know it’s hard to understand, but her love for you was always there. It didn’t go away when she did. If anything, I think it grew.”
“That’s what makes everything so fucked up. She loved us, but that love was never enough for her to stay.”
She squeezed my hands. “All I know is she kept up with you guys.”
Surprised, I asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean, she knew everything. She was caught up on the last seven years of your lives, so either she was around, or someone was telling her.”
I scoffed out a chuckle, shaking my head again in disbelief. “That just makes everything worse.”
“Kraven, I didn’t tell you to make you feel worse.”
“Anything with my mom ends up being worse, Isla. How have you not figured that out yet?”
“Hey.” She sadly smiled. “You called her Mom.”
I glanced down at our hands, deciding to bury our conversation. Moving on, I went back to her initial question. “You’re welcome to stay at the house for as long as you want.”
We locked eyes.
“You mean that?”
“Of course I do.”
“And what if Julius is gone for a whi?—”
With no restraint, I blurted, “Is that an invitation?”
