Gorgeous: Book One (Gorgeous #1) - Lisa Shelby Page 0,81

we are alone, she pats the side of the bed, asking Olivia to sit.

I stand next to her holding her right hand while her mother holds her left.

"Sweet girl, I am so sorry. I am so sorry I never came for you, but I couldn't." She takes a few ragged breaths. "Does he know?"

"Yes, he knows almost everything. There's nothing he can't hear."

I know now isn't the appropriate time to feel fucking high as a kite that my girl has just confirmed I am her person. The one she can trust with all of her ghosts and the past that has haunted her for years. I know it's not appropriate, standing next to her dying mother, but damn I can't help it. It feels good.

Olivia, lifts the oxygen mask around Susan's throat to her mouth, and the room is filled with the sounds of the machines monitoring her heart while we wait to hear what she's going to say next. The pieces of Olivia's past that she needs to complete her puzzle. Mother and daughter never break their stare, and eventually, Susan gives an ever-so-slight nod and signals her to remove the mask.

"Olivia, it isn't safe for you to be here."

"I know, momma."

Wait. What? I didn't know that. I mean I know Dickey is clearly trouble, but what the hell does she mean my girl isn't safe here?

"Sweetheart, you are the last living witness to your father's murder. You saw so much that day. You went through more than any adult, let alone child should ever go through. If he finds you..." she trails off, deep in thought, coming back to herself a few seconds later. "If he finds you, he will kill you. You really shouldn't have come here."

I am so many things right now.

I am broken, knowing that at six years old, the woman who is my everything witnessed her father's murder.

I am angry as hell that I brought her into a potentially dangerous situation, and she knew and let me do it anyway.

I am overwrought with protectiveness and want to grab her and run out the doors and take her home to safety.

I am determined to find the wretch that has ruined the lives of these two women and bury him six feet underground.

"I had to see you again."

"And, I'm so glad you came. I just don't want you to get hurt. I also hate for you to see me like this."

"Oh, Momma, you still look beautiful." She lightly smoothes her mother's hair. "I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner.

"I hope you know that I had to let the police take you. I had heard him talking, and it was only a matter of time before he was going to do to you what he did to me. I couldn't let you live a life of addiction, prostitution, and abuse." She stops to cough, and Olivia gives her more oxygen.

"It's okay, I survived. I just missed you."

When the mask is removed, her mother continues her confession. "I was arrested the day they took you, and before Dickey got there to bail me out, I made sure that I gave the officers your information so that when they registered your name with the state, it would be your new name, and he wouldn't be able to find you. I think you're the only reason he's let me live as long as he has. He's been waiting for you to find me. As much as I've dreamed of seeing you again, I still hoped you would never find me."

Susan's breathing is labored, and their short conversation is taking its toll on her. Her mask is back in place but it doesn't seem to be working as well this time.

"Momma, you don't have to say anymore. I am so sorry you have had to endure all of these years of pain and misery. I understand and thank you for protecting me. I'm living my dreams, and it's all because of you. I went to college and got my degree, like you always told me I would. I'm an event planner and I love it. I have an amazing man in my life, and things are really, really good. I owe it all to you."

I squeeze her hand and let her know that she's doing the right thing. Telling her mother all of the high points of her life and not how hard it was for her to get there. At the end of her life of sacrifice, her mother