found himself being hauled over by the front of his shirt. “Are you fucking my sister? I would’ve thought you’d done that enough.”
“Stop it!” Rebecca got between the two of them, putting her hands over her brother’s, trying to break his hold on Gage’s shirt.
Jonathan released him, Gage suspected only because he was concerned about hurting Rebecca. “Did he hurt you?” he asked her.
Rebecca scrubbed her arm over her eyes. “No. This is not a hostage situation. Why would I have told you if I was ashamed? Or if I was upset?”
“I figured you told me because you wanted me to kill him.”
“No. I don’t want you to kill him, but I’m not going to sneak around, and I’m not going to lie to you. Jonathan, we’ve been through too much together for me to lie to your face. Yes, I was going to avoid having this discussion if I could. But, I guess we can’t avoid it.”
Jonathan turned to face Rebecca, acting as though Gage wasn’t even there. He reached out, sliding his thumb across her scar-roughened cheek. “He did this to you. It’s his fault. How could you ever let him touch you again?”
“Because we both deserve to be more than those scars.”
He had a feeling she might mean Jonathan just as well as she meant him. Jonathan stiffened, drawing away from her. “It wasn’t just you. And it isn’t just the injuries.”
“I know,” she said, her voice thick.
“And you’re still with him?”
She nodded silently, and he treated her to a long, hard look. Gage expected him to haul off and punch him next. But he didn’t. Instead, he turned around and walked out of the store, slamming the door so hard behind him that the bell screamed and a small ceramic ornament fell from the top of one of the armoires, smashing onto the floor.
Rebecca put her hands over her mouth, like she was holding back a scream. Gage closed the space between them, wrapping his arms around her, holding her against his chest. “You didn’t have to tell him,” he said, his voice rough.
“I know,” she said, her words muffled.
“Why did you?”
“I just want... I just want to have this. And I don’t want to feel bad about it. And I was hoping that maybe he would help. But he’s not going to.” She took a deep, shaking breath. “I guess that’s important too. He disapproves. I knew that he would. But, I’m going to do this anyway.”
She pulled away from him, picking at some imaginary dirt beneath her fingernail. “This is the other thing I do, you know. I don’t put a foot out of line. I’ve never fought with Jonathan. How could I? How could I when he gave everything to take care of me.”
“That’s what he meant. About it not just being the accident. He blames me for your mother leaving.”
“Sometimes I think he blames me,” she said.
And then she went down onto her knees.
* * *
REBECCA FELT LIKE she was going crazy. Like she was breaking apart inside. She had no idea what she had been thinking, telling Jonathan that she was sleeping with Gage. She had no idea what she was thinking confessing that deep, betraying thought that she had always carried so close to her chest.
Maybe this was the thing. Maybe it was circular. Maybe it always had to be him. Maybe he had needed to be brought out into the light, revealed to be nothing more than a man so that she could finally face the real monster. The one that lived inside of her.
The one that was afraid she was the reason her mother had left. She had become too much, she had become too much to handle and so her mother had left her, left her as a burden for Jonathan, and he had done the right thing, the strong thing, but even he probably resented her. And she had no doubt that he knew she was the real reason their mother wasn’t there.
Their mother, who had barely been strong enough to raise two children on her own as it was, was never going to be strong enough to care for an invalid daughter who had endless health issues. And that was the real problem. It always had been. She had been the tipping point. Her.
In that moment the bandage had been removed. The moment she had been exposed. That was when she had lost her mother.
Sure, the accident had been the catalyst. Nathan West had provided