Sienna’s car was gone, so she wasn’t home yet. That kid had better not be here. I walked up the steps and knocked on the door. I waited a full minute, and nothing. So I knocked again. Why I was f**king convinced she’d left her kid at home I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know Sienna. I didn’t actually have proof she was crazy.
“Micah, you in there? It’s Dewayne. I thought I’d stop by and check on you,” I called out, but there was only silence.
He wasn’t in there. I was overreacting. Why? I didn’t have a f**king clue. I turned and headed back down the stairs just in time for the beat-up Honda to pull into the driveway. Great. Now I had to explain myself.
Her car door opened and she stepped out. The sunglasses perched on her nose covered up those eyes of hers, so I had no idea what she was thinking. She bent down and then stood back up. I could see the small head scrambling out of the backseat and then heard his feet hit the pavement.
“Dewayne!” he called as he ran around the front of the car with an excited grin. But then he stopped. His smile vanished, and he stiffened and glanced back at his mother.
Sienna closed the car door and walked toward Micah. She rested her hand on his shoulder, bent down to whisper in his ear, then handed him the keys.
He nodded. “Okay,” he said glumly, then headed toward the house, not looking up at me again. When he got to the door, he unlocked it and went inside.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in her very unwelcoming tone. Apparently, the friendly smile she’d had for Preston was not happening for me.
Now, I could either lie to her or tell her the truth. I wasn’t a liar. “Heard you were working. I was concerned the kid was home alone.”
The expression on her face went from shocked to downright pissed. “Alone? You . . . you think that I would leave my son alone?” she asked in a horrified voice. “I’m not an idiot. And if you haven’t noticed, I’m the only family he has. I’m the only one who wanted him and loved him. So don’t”—she pointed her finger at me, her voice rising as fury simmered in her eyes—“act like you give a shit about him now. You DO NOT have the right. Get away from here. Go back over to that house. Forget about what your brother would have wanted. Pretend that abandoning me and his son when we needed SOMEONE was okay.” She was breathing so hard her chest was heaving, and tears had filled her eyes. Then she was running past me, and I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t f**king move.
Hell . . . I couldn’t f**king breathe.
“Momma?” Micah’s voice called, and I moved then. I spun around and looked at him. Sienna wiped at her face with her arm and bent down to press a kiss to his head and whisper something to him.
He wrapped his little arms around her, and then he turned his head and glared at me. He actually glared at me. My chest exploded into a million pieces as I stood there and stared into the eyes of my brother’s son. How had I not seen it? His eyes were just like Dustin’s.
“Don’t come back here. You made my momma cry!” he yelled at me.
Sienna leaned back and grabbed his little arms gently and started talking to him again. He nodded and turned to go back inside. She stood up and glanced back at me.
The pain in her eyes confused me. Her words confused me. Why did she think we knew about this? Why was she blaming us for not being a part of his life? We didn’t know. She’d left and never come back.
“He’s Dustin’s,” I said as the reality of this finally sank in.
She frowned, and then she slowly nodded.
I dropped my head into my hands and took several deep breaths. Holy f**k, I had to get control of myself. One emotion after another slammed into my chest, taking my breath away. Pain, guilt, anger, disbelief—but more than anything, pure joy. It trumped all the other emotions. For six years I had mourned my brother. It had changed the way I lived my life. There had been only the memories and the mind-numbing guilt that I hadn’t been paying attention to his bad choices. . I had picked a f**king fight with him, and he’d run off behind the wheel drunk. If I had just paid attention to him, he could be alive right now. It was a solid weight on my chest keeping me from finding any joy in life. But now . . .
I dropped my hands and stared back up at Sienna.
Her little boy was a part of Dustin. My brother wasn’t completely gone anymore. He’d left behind something . . . someone.
This didn’t bring him back, but for the first time in six years my heart felt lighter. Not just for me, but for my family.
Chapter Four
SIENNA
He hadn’t known about Micah.
He didn’t have to tell me that. It was all over his face. Only once in my life had I seen this intimidating man look on the verge of crumbling, and that had been at Dustin’s funeral. How had he not known? Had his mother not told him?
“Momma? You coming inside?” Micah asked, sounding worried. I had to get inside with him. This was not the place for this. Micah was my first concern, always.
“I can’t do this here,” I told Dewayne. “He doesn’t need to hear it.”
Dewayne’s eyes shifted to the door, but Micah was back inside. Dewayne couldn’t see him. I watched as he swallowed hard and the hint of his Adam’s apple moved. Then he nodded and looked back at me. “Okay, but I have questions. He’s . . . he’s . . . I want to know him, Sienna.”
That one statement meant more to me than Dewayne could ever possibly know. “Then you will,” I replied. “But not now. This isn’t the way to handle it.”