Jameson (In the Company of Snipers #22) - Irish Winters Page 0,102
was Maddie’s father, Jameson gave the bastard the benefit of the doubt. “Things aren’t always black and white. Deep down, we’re all just kids doing the best we can with what we’ve got to work with.”
She huffed through her nostrils. “You should’ve gone into child psychology.”
“I did. That’s my minor. Figured it’d go well with criminal profiling.”
A few more moments of silence invaded that great new car smell. “I don’t know where she lives,” Maddie murmured. “I, umm, guess I just believed my dad. What he said.”
“How could you have known any different? She left when you were a baby.” He canted his head her way, listening for a telltale sigh or a hard swallow. Maddie was still so much that little deserted girl, searching for her place in the world. Which, until he’d come along, she hadn’t yet found. Not with her old man, nor her ex. Jameson couldn’t imagine how hard life had to have been for a timid girl without a mother against those odds. “What else did he tell you about her?”
She cleared her throat. “When he was mad at me, he used to say I looked just like her and acted like her, too. That I was just as bad. Just as ugly. I hated when he came home drunk after work. Booze makes him crazy. Loud. Mean.”
Jameson pinched his lips to keep his opinion of her father from spilling out. Rick Bannister was not only a narcissist, he was an over-weight, alcoholic asshole, with two felonies to his credit. One for stealing his neighbor’s car, the other for nearly beating that neighbor to death after Rick decided he liked the guy’s wife. She’d shot him to save her husband, which proved how one-sided Rick’s take on reality was. Her husband recovered, which was the only reason Rick hadn’t done time for manslaughter. All this went down before he’d sweet talked Krystyna into marrying him. She’d been pregnant by him, trapped into marriage with a charming, but mean-tempered man.
In his quiet investigation, Jameson had also uncovered Krystyna’s medical history. Two miscarriages, one live birth, and a frightening number of emergency room visits. Some other important details, too. But none of that mattered if Maddie chose not to investigate her mother further. Some things were better left alone. Jameson just didn’t think a woman’s mother should be one of those things.
“What would you say if I told you I know where she lives?”
“You do?”
He nodded in lieu of answering. Jameson could feel Maddie’s heart racing. She was probably grabbing sharp glances at him. Breathy panic crackled through the air between them. The atmosphere in her car had turned into a sucking black hole.
“Why would you do this to me?” she whispered.
“Because I’m a mama’s boy, Maddie. Yeah. Big, tough Navy SEAL here, but I know who’s been in my corner every step of my way. I grew up with everything you didn’t, and I guess… I believe…” He inhaled deeply, needing a gut full of positivity before he said, “Most moms love their kids more than they love themselves. Like my mom loves me. We don’t have to visit Krystyna, honest. We can just leave this in the past and never find out why she left you behind, why she thought she had to. But if you ever decide to meet her, I’ll go with you. I’ve got your six, babe. I’ll always be in your corner. Just want you to consider the possibility that she might be in your corner, too.”
“You… y-y-you want me to give her a second chance?”
His fingers squeezed her arm tighter. “You gave your dad more second chances than he deserved. Why not your mom?”
A quiet hitch in her breath was all that answered. Miles passed. The tires hummed over smooth pavement.
Jameson took his hand back. By then, he had no idea where they were, except inside Maddie’s car. The traffic sounds were the same. Busy. Rushed. A herd of people he’d never see or know rushing by like soldiers off to their private wars. She maneuvered corners, waited for red lights, then smoothly pulled over to a curb. Still not speaking.
At last he asked, “Where are we?”
“Brentwood. Crabby Rocks.”
Great. They were parked outside her dad’s bar. Her expressionless tone explained more than her words. Maddie was hurting, right back where she’d started, and that was on Jameson. Thank goodness it was too early in the day to go inside for a drink.
“I called him this morning,” Jameson admitted. “Your dad.