She began to stand, and I reached across to her and grabbed her arm.
“No,” I said sternly. “You have to stop running, and I’m guessing you came because you’re tired of that.”
“I don’t need to be yelled at and hear how you hate me.”
“Me yelling isn’t because I hate you, Sammie. It’s because I love you, and you hurt me! You hurt me to my core. And then, finding out that you’ve been seeing our parents and not me broke me even more. And now the idea that they are pushing to have custody of Reese is insane. You have to know this. Don’t you remember what it was like for us growing up? Why would you even want that for her? They are toxic, Sammie.”
“Mama said she could do better this time . . . better than she did with us,” she whispered, shaking her head. “And she said she’d let me back into their family completely, not just once every now and again. That’s all I want, Emery. I just want things to go back to how they used to be.”
“Nothing is ever going to go back to what it used to be. That’s impossible, and truthfully, you shouldn’t want it to be the way it used to. Our parents controlled us and belittled us, Sammie, making it hard for us to trust anyone or anything.”
Her lips parted and her trembles returned. I hated how nervous and fragile she seemed all the time. Even though I was upset with her, it still broke my heart to see her so damaged.
“I just want them to love me.”
“You should never have to beg for anyone to love you. You should never have to do as they say for them to deem you worthy of their love. That’s not how love works.”
“I don’t know how it works,” she confessed. “I’ve never known how it works.”
“Yes, you do. You loved me, and I loved you unconditionally for all of our lives, Sammie. That’s what love is. It holds no chains attached to it. But Mama and Dad’s love doesn’t work that way. It holds you down and suffocates you. You can’t really want that for Reese. Or for yourself.”
She stayed quiet for a few moments before sniffling. “Oliver talked about getting me into a clinic down in Texas that deals with women’s mental health. It’s in the town that he’s from. Said he would cover all the costs.”
That sounded like the man I loved. “Are you considering it?”
She nodded. “I’m supposed to go out there next week, but there’s something I have to do first, and I need you to do it with me, if you can?”
“Anything.”
“I need you to confront them with me, Mama and Dad. I need you there with me.”
I was a bit wary about the idea, because I knew how our parents could corner Sammie and make her shift her thoughts. Yes, in that moment she seemed strong and sure, but I knew how my sister’s mind worked. It flipped back and forth between hope and despair. I never really knew who I was going to get, but still . . .
“I’ll be there for you, no doubt about it.”
She hugged me, and I held her so tight.
“I’d visit you and Reese sometimes,” she confessed, wiping her tears away. “I’d come to your neighborhood throughout the years and see you with her. I’d see how happy you both got over time, and it was clear to me that she was never mine, not really. That’s your daughter, Emery. And I’m so sorry for all the hurt I caused you. I’ll do everything it takes to keep her with you. I promise.”
Hearing her say that Reese was mine meant more to me than she’d ever know.
We still had a lot more to talk about, a lot more baggage to unpack, but I knew we’d done enough that evening.
Oliver set up a guest room for Sammie to stay in, and when it came time for me to go to bed with him, I thanked him a million times for getting Sammie to come around and not only drop the conversation with my parents, but to also get my sister the help she needed.
“Should we talk about us . . . ?” I asked, feeling nervous that I’d ruined the chance we had after breaking up with him all those weeks ago. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he didn’t want to take me back with arms wide open. “I