“Sadie, sit down,” Hector said softly in my ear.
I twisted to look at him. “No, really, I –”
“Sit,” he interrupted.
Sweet, Pretend, Guarding-Her-Heart Sadie slipped and I glared at him.
My glare deflected off his Cool, Collected, Macho Man Shields and pinged around the room, unnoticed by anyone.
“Sadie, honey,” Tom said, I turned to him and saw he had his hand held out to me. “Come and sit.”
Not wanting to be a bitch because Pretend Sadie was not a bitch and anyway, he’d called me “honey” and that was so nice, the weird, happy glow I was trying to ignore came back against my will, I walked to him, put my hand in his and we both sat, facing each other.
“I need to tell you something,” Tom informed me, keeping hold of my hand.
The weird, happy glow vanished.
Oh no.
I didn’t like the look on his face and I didn’t like that he felt he needed to keep holding my hand.
Furthermore, Pretend Sadie didn’t like the vibe in the room at all and she wanted to run.
However, Ice Princess Sadie never ran. Ice Princess locked firm hands on Pretend Sadie’s arms and held her in place.
With Ice Princess in control, I felt it safe to say to Tom, “Okay.”
He squeezed my hand then he took a deep breath and launched in.
“Eighteen years ago, your Mom came to me,” Tom started.
I blinked and then stilled, knowing intuitively (from years of practice) that this innocuous statement was going to get worse.
Way worse.
I wasn’t wrong.
Tom continued, “Lizzie knew what your father did and she didn’t like it. She didn’t want you growing up in that life. She also saw your future and she didn’t like that either. She wanted to get you, and herself, out. She told me the only way to do that was to put your father in jail. She told me that she couldn’t run, taking you with her because he’d never let either of you go. She knew this because she tried on several occasions but he always found you both and brought you back.”
I pulled in my lips and I felt myself starting to breathe heavier, my heart beginning to hammer in my chest, something hot and hard forming there.
My Mom had tried to escape.
She’d tried to escape!
And she wanted to take me with her!
Oh my God!
I couldn’t believe it!
Tom went on, cutting into my fevered thoughts, “She wanted to inform on your Dad, to give me what I needed to take him down. I tried to talk her out of it. Your father wasn’t as powerful then as he was when Hector got him. But he’d done well, he was top man for Luther Diggs and what she wanted to do was dangerous.”
I couldn’t believe this either.
My sweet, quiet Mom an informant?
Impossible!