Page 54 of Home Wrecker

“What?” Davina asks, unsure unloading the baggage up front was a wise decision.

“You could have done it.”

“I should have. Perhaps then you wouldn’t have stopped being mine—even now that you’re grown.”

I stand up from my chair and squat back down in front of Davina, leaning forward to wrap my arms around her. She clasps the back of my head as I hug her.

“What was that for?” Her palms surround my face.

“I’m sorry for the way Rex treated you, Mom.”

Holly was in her twenties when William duped her, but Davina? She had barely a chance to mature when Grandad married her off.

For all intents and purposes my mother was a teenager when she had me. I can’t hold a grudge against Rex for pulling crap on me at that age and give him a free pass for doing something as underhanded to Davina.

“There’s no need to apologize, Cary. We were the parents. It was my job to protect you.” Her eyes water.

“I didn’t say I absolve you entirely.” I laugh. “But after spending time with Bhodi, I understand why me having two parents was important to you, and how Rex led you to believe he’d come through for us. I’m sorry he duped you into trusting him. I wish he’d been the man you deserved.”

“We deserved.Us.” Davina corrects me.

“I love you, Mom.” I never stopped. Even in my anger.

“Oh, sweet boy, I loved you from the moment I knew you were on the way.”

I get that now. Going back to Rex had been my mother’s biggest mistake, not me.

“I have a million regrets, Cary, and I don’t want you to have any. This is the last time I’ll bring it up because I don’t want to fight. Consider meeting your sister. Had I been honest all those years ago, you would already know Adelaide already.”

The server interrupts, clearing his throat. I go back to my seat, leaving Davina’s request hanging between us while eating our meals.

“Can I ask you a question?” My mother folds her napkin in her lap. It’s a bracing move, giving off the impression she expects me to tell her to mind her own business after she asks it.

I swallow and nod.

“Why her?”

“She’s…. Holly’s not interested in being anyone but herself. She doesn’t care how people view her.” Or she hadn’t until I came into the picture. Hence, why I needed to be open to Davina’s tense question. I’d assumed until the parking lot fiasco everyone interpreted Holly’s confidence the way I had. “With Holly, I can be me and I like that. She doesn’t expect gifts, which makes them more fun to give. She doesn’t hold my past against me since she’s made her own mistakes. I didn’t plan on dating her when I volunteered to mentor Bhodi. As a matter of fact, I was tongue-tied around Holly for months and freaked out she wasn’t as attracted to me as I was to her. We’d hardly spoken to one another for the exact same reason.”

“You were both looking out for her boy’s best interests.”

I nod. “Now, the three of us are a weirdly constructed unit.”

“A family.”

“Yeah,” I agree, running my fingers through my hair.

“What you wanted, but didn’t get.”

“Is that so wrong?”

“Not at all, Cary.”

“You think she’s too old for me.”

“It’s more likely that I’m a little jealous that she gets someone like you, sweetheart. Someone a little more noble and selfless like Grandaddy.”

“Gross. We’re not about to have one of those Oedipus moments, are we?” I rely on a joke to lighten the mood.

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