Dare To Love Again - Jordan Silver Page 0,13

tell her that I was exaggerating the last part. I wouldn’t tell my son that his mother was dead, but I will do everything in my power to ensure that he never wants to see her again in this lifetime. It’s what she deserves after all for what she’d done. Mom didn’t seem to think so, though.

“You will not mistreat my daughter in law. I don’t care about the stupid divorce papers, so don’t mention them to me again.” She held her hand up to cut me off when I started to remind her of just that. She no longer has a daughter in law. “I know something happened to Giselle to send her running away from here, and if you’re too dense to find out what that something is, then I’ll be the one to do it. And heaven help you if it turns out that one of those money-grubbing high society snobs you call friends is behind this.”

As a high society snob herself, I’ve never understood mom’s blatant disdain for those of her ilk. I guess it stems from the fact that dad had taken her to some remote village in India ten years ago, and she got to see firsthand what true poverty and suffering looks like. Now she’s the champion of anything that even remotely looks like an underdog. She’s not playing footloose and fancy-free with my life, though; I’ll be fucked if I’m going to let my ex get off that easy.

“You seem to forget that she ran away with my son inside her, your grandson, and had no plans on ever telling me about his existence. Had Donovan not run into her by chance, I shudder to think what might’ve happened. She, for damn sure, wouldn’t have told me about my son. I wouldn’t have met him until he grew up and became old enough to search me out himself, that’s granted that…that’s granted she ever told him the truth about who I am.”

Just saying those words made me livid all over again.

“I hear everything that you’re saying, and I agree, she shouldn’t have left with the baby. But have you considered the fact that maybe she didn’t even know that she was pregnant? And you’re still not willing to accept the fact that something or someone was the cause of her leaving?”

“If she loved me, she would’ve come to me. She wouldn’t have left me the way she did.”

“What if she thought she was saving you?”

“What? What are you talking about?” What she was saying made no sense. Saving me from whom, from what? I had no known enemies that would facilitate such a thing.

“I’ve given this a lot of thought over the last two years. I just can’t for the life of me figure out why someone who was as in love with you as she was would just leave the way she did. The fact that she never touched that money, and left everything of worth behind speaks volumes to me.”

She hadn’t left everything behind. She’d taken my old varsity jersey that she used to like to sleep in on those nights when I couldn’t have her. Why did I think of that now? And why are mom’s nonsensical words starting to sound reasonable?

No, no way in hell. I’m not opening myself back up to such heartache. I trusted Giselle once, and she damn near gutted me, never again.

Giselle

I didn’t know Rebecca was going to be here. Funny, but I’ve tried my best in the past two years not to think about my ex-mother in law. As much as I knew my actions hurt Calen, I was sure that she too was left hurting and possibly very confused. I’d mourned her loss almost as much as I’d mourned him.

She was the first woman to show me a true mother’s love. I’d heard horror stories even leading up to the day of our wedding, about how fierce the groom’s mother tends to be, how it was normal for the same woman who had smiled and welcomed me to the family not that long ago to turn on me without provocation once I married her precious son.

I’d been afraid that this could be true, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t see the sweet, friendly woman becoming the hoyden people described. I guess I was one of the lucky ones. She was never pushy or intrusive, but then again, Calen had never allowed her or anyone else to be.

I’d let him