Page 19 of This Is Love (The Light to My Darkness 3)

He laughed. “No, it’s a fact.”

“Riiiiight.” I bit the inside of my lip. He really was good at making me laugh. So maybe he could tell me about Liam in a way that wouldn’t make me feel like throwing up. “How’s Liam doing?”

All I could hear was the rain on the windshield again.

“I don’t know, Penny. But he’s a fighter.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “Like both his parents.”

Chapter 6

Monday - James

My mom was holding her front door open and staring at me like I was a stranger. Maybe I was to her now. She seemed the same to me, though.

“James,” she finally said.

“Mother.” The word sounded strange coming out of my mouth. I hadn’t used it in so long. Except to refer to Penny as “your mom” to Scarlett. The fact that each of them held that title was shocking. Penny was so loving and kind. And my mother? Well, she was the kind of mother that just stood there instead of hugging you. Like she was doing right now.

“What are you doing here?” She didn’t invite me in even though I was literally standing in the rain.

“Penny’s missing.” My voice cracked. “I don’t know if you heard about the incident a few weeks ago…”

“Of course I heard. It was all over the news.”

I nodded. “I think the same guy has kidnapped her. I just…I wanted to know…”

“You think I had something to do with it?” She lifted her chin slightly so that she was looking down her nose at me.

I felt like I was a child again that was being scolded. “I just needed to ask. I needed to make sure.”

“I told you I was sorry about what happened with Isabella. I told you and you didn’t believe me. I’m not the monster you’re making me out to be. I’ve been nothing but a good mother to you.”

“A good mother? You forced me to marry someone I didn’t care about. You told me no one would ever care about me, only my money.”

“I was looking out for you. And I was right, wasn’t I?”

“Penny didn’t marry me for my money.” I didn’t know why I was having this conversation with her. We’d never see eye to eye. Whereas the rain made me feel close to Penny, the rain falling between my mother and me felt like an insurmountable distance. “She fell in love with me for me.”

“And how did that work out for you? That whole amnesia thing? Probably a ruse for a divorce. And she’ll get half of everything. She’ll ruin you and drag our name through

the mud. She’s never been anything but a nuisance.”

“I’ve thought about reaching out to you so many times. And up until tonight I’ve always made the right choice.” I shook my head and turned away from her. I started to walk down the front steps of the enormous house she bought with her settlement money. Her heart was as empty as all the rooms inside.

“I don’t know what you want from me, James!” she yelled after me. “You want me to care after you’ve shut me out for over four years? You haven’t even let me meet my grandchildren. You won’t let me hold my only grandson before he might pass? I’m not the monster here. You are.”

I figured she knew about Liam. Jen was still in contact with her. But to hear her throw my son’s health in my face as a bargaining tool? No fucking way. I was done. I turned around and walked back up the stairs. “If you cared, you would have called. You would have come to the hospital to see if he was okay. I don’t know how many days Liam has left. But I’m going to make sure that he’s only surrounded by people who love him for every single one of those days.”

“And that’s me,” she said.

I was shocked to see tears in her eyes.

“Why do you think I moved back here? I wanted to be close to you again. To Rob. To my grandchildren.”

Why now? “Penny is part of that. You didn’t bother to show up to Rob’s wedding. And you haven’t even met Daphne. You…”

“I wasn’t invited.” She sniffed. “He didn’t invite me, James. My own son didn’t invite me to his wedding.”

I didn’t know that. I knew that Rob had my back after what happened. But I didn’t know he didn’t send her a wedding invitation.

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