Oh, f**k yes. I could do that.
“Challenge accepted,” I said, closing the space between us and shoving the wrap off her arms and letting it fall to the floor in a heap.
She shivered as I ran a finger from the valley between her br**sts to her navel, then back up again. So soft. So perfect. “Mine,” I told her.
Her breathing hitched, and it made her tits jiggle. Fuck, that was nice.
SIENNA
When I pulled into the driveway, my father’s station wagon sat in the driveway right behind Dewayne’s truck. I’d only been at work four hours, and Dewayne hadn’t called me to let me know my mother was here. Because that was the only person it could be. I hadn’t seen her in six years, and those last memories weren’t happy ones.
And she was in that house with my baby. I didn’t even grab my purse before I bolted out of the car and took off running. When I reached the door, it was locked. The keys were in my hands. I’d at least pulled them out of the ignition in my hurry. Unlocking the door, I ran inside.
“Micah?” I called out. “Dewayne?”
No answer. I couldn’t call her name. What did I even call her? Mom? She hadn’t been that when I needed it most. I walked through the house, but it was empty. No one was here. Could they be at the Falcos’?
The front door opened, and I hurried back to the living room. But the sight of her made me stop. Her hair was gray now. Completely gray. I had been born to my parents late in life and my mother’s hair was already starting to gray when I lived at home. Seeing it completely gray now was startling. Her face looked like it had aged ten years instead of six, and she was thinner.
“Sienna,” she said with an uneasy smile. “You look beautiful.”
I looked different too. She’d sent off a sixteen-year-old girl. I was a woman now. A woman with a child.
“Where are Micah and Dewayne?” I asked.
She looked hurt, but she covered it up quickly. I would not feel guilty for that. She had abandoned me. I could never hurt her as badly as she had hurt me. Nothing compared.
“I don’t know. I knocked and no one answered, so I walked around back, then heard a car drive up. I didn’t recognize the fancy car, but it seems you’re doing well now, from the looks of it.”
That meant Dewayne and Micah were at the Falcos’, and the moment Dewayne looked outside and saw my father’s car in the drive, he’d be over here fast. I wanted him here. I just wanted Micah to stay there. She’d given us this house and given Micah that room, but seeing her now and remembering, I wasn’t ready to forgive her.
“You never called. I had hoped you would call,” she said.
“I know what that feels like. I had hoped you would call once too. Or at least give a shit.”
She flinched. Again, I would not feel guilty. She did this to us. To me.
“The Falcos know about Micah now, I take it? Since Dewayne is with him.”
“Yeah. They missed five years of his life because letters I sent never made it to them. Aunt Cathy says I need to talk to you about that.”
Mother looked as if that didn’t surprise her. She must have gotten a call from her sister about it.
The door behind her opened, and Dewayne filled the space. A fierce, protective glare was on his face, and his body was tensed and ready to defend me. He stepped around my mother and stood in front of me just slightly. “You okay?” he asked, his gaze softening for me.
I nodded, then reached for his hand. His large one engulfed mine.
“I should have figured this would happen. I knew when you came to see her the day before we took her to Texas that it was more than just checking on her.” Mother’s voice wasn’t condemning or judgmental. More like relieved.
“You told me she was already gone,” Dewayne said, turning to look back at my mother.
Mother at least looked apologetic. “I had a pregnant sixteen-year-old daughter, and the father of her child was dead. I didn’t know what to do. I was trying to save her future. She was too young to make the right decisions.”
The right decisions? Hauling me off and trying to force me to give up my baby was not the right decision.
“Keeping Micah was the best decision of my life,” I yelled, unable to control the anger burning inside me at the idea of her not wanting my son.
She nodded. “Yes, it was. You knew better than we did. You knew you could be a good mother. A better mother than I was to you. You showed us all that you would fight to give him a life. And you’ve done a wonderful job. I’m proud of you. I didn’t make you the woman you are, but I’m still proud of you.”