Page 126 of Otto: The Hawthornes

“You coulda got a lotta people hurt, Titus,” I snapped, not willing to let him slide. “It worked out, but it coulda gone way worse.”

He didn’t answer.

“Oh, and my fuckin’ livin’ room is toast. Just to remind you.”

“I didn’t want to say anything,” Noel said apologetically. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“Then why did you?” Esther asked, turning to look at her sister.

“Because Dad was waiting when Titus dropped me off at the library.” Her voice was so quiet that I almost didn’t hear her.

I waited to see if she would say anything else, but she didn’t. It must’ve been enough of an explanation for Esther, though. She just nodded and turned forward again.

The shadow of their fucked-up father loomed over the car for the rest of the ride, and no one said much. It was pretty telling that all Noel had to do was mention that her dad had caught her somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be for Esther to fully understand why Noel had spilled her guts. They’d lived inside his grip for so long that disobedience was unthinkable.

“Come on,” Titus said to Noel as soon as we rolled to a stop. “I’m gonna show you around before they call your mom.”

“Stay out of your bedroom,” I ordered as they threw open the doors.

Esther laughed quietly.

“They’re sixteen and seventeen,” I grumbled, watching as Titus pulled Noel toward the house. “He needs to keep it in his pants.”

“Otto,” Esther breathed, eyes wide as she turned to look at me.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It moved,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she yanked my hand across the console and pressed it against her belly.

“Do you feel it?” she asked.

My breath caught as she smiled at me in shock.

“It’s moving?” I asked, pressing a little harder on her belly. I wasn’t sure how much pressure was too much, but I really didn’t want to miss it.

“It just did it again,” she said excitedly. “Did you feel that one?”

She laughed, and it was so filled with joy that everything inside me just sort of settled into place. She was safe. We were together. The house could be fixed. The baby was moving.

We were okay.

“Yeah,” I lied. “I felt it!”

“Kiss me,” she ordered, still smiling as she leaned toward me.

“Look at you, bein’ all assertive,” I teased, meeting her halfway to give her what she wanted.

Epilogue

Esther

My hands wereclammy and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest as I pressed the phone to my ear and waited for my mom to pick up.

When she finally did, I grew strangely calm.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Mom.”

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