high heaven. I hope she didn’t drive.”
She started to leave the bedroom, but I caught her. “No. We go together.”
I pulled on my jeans and held my hand out for Sophie. With a nervous smile, she took it.
Brenda Russell clutched her purse in front of her in the middle of the empty living room, glaring distastefully at Sophie’s suitcase in the kitchen. When we walked in hand in hand, her face puckered. “I knew it,” she said.
“Mother...”
“You.” If she was drugged up, she did a good job of hiding it. All I saw was years of pent-up hatred. “I knew you would coerce my daughter into sin again.”
“There was no coercion, I assure you.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” She lifted her chin. “Come on, Sophia. I’m taking you home to your husband and daughter.”
“You’re taking me home?”
“Yes.”
I stepped in front of Sophie. “Not this time, Brenda. We’re too old to be manipulated by you.”
Sophie tugged on my hand. “Nora, wait.”
My heart dropped to my stomach. Brenda straightened her shoulders, confident in her ability to guilt Sophie into doing whatever Brenda wanted. I couldn’t help it; a small part of me expected Sophie to go. To be persuaded once again by her mother that we were deviants. I dropped Sophie’s hand. Brows furrowed, Sophie looked from our unjoined hands to my face. Her expression cleared. “I suppose I deserve that.” With a smile, she cupped my face and gave me a sweet, lingering kiss.
Brenda gasped in disgust.
Sophie faced her mother and sighed.
“You need to let this go, Mom. I get it now. What you did. I would do anything to protect Logan, and that’s what you thought you were doing twenty years ago. You’ve told yourself that everything you’ve said and done has been from a place of love, for me, to protect me from making a mistake. But, loving Nora isn’t a mistake, being honest about who I am isn’t a mistake. Leaving her, betraying her all those years ago was the mistake.”
“Have you even thought about your daughter?”
“Logan understands, or at least she wants to.”
“You’re corrupting that child.”
“Being around two people who love each other isn’t corrupting.”
“You’re ruining Charlie’s chance at the Senate.”
“Charlie will be fine, trust me. Anyway, this isn’t about Charlie. This is about me being who I am, loving who I want in the open, and it feels wonderful. I know it’s going to take some time, but I hope that once you see how happy we are, you’ll come around. I don’t want to cut you out of my life, but if you can’t accept us, if you actively try to hurt us, I will.”
“It’s her. She tempted you.”
“Here we go again,” I said.
“The biggest mistake of my life was listening to Ray Noakes. I should have called the sheriff on you like I wanted,” Brenda said.
“Called the sheriff? What are you talking about?” Sophie said.
“It was rape, what she did to you.”
Hearing the words again hit me in the gut, even after all this time when the threat was hollow. Sophie moved closer to me, and I was glad for it.
“Mother! No, it wasn’t.”
“She would have been sent away for a long time; your father would have made sure of that.”
“What do you mean, you shouldn’t have listened to Ray?” I said.
“Ray promised me there’d be no need, that he would make sure you two stayed apart.”
I found Sophie’s hand and clutched it, needing her strength to remain standing. “Is that why he sent me away? To keep you from following through on your threat?”
“Your threat?” Sophie’s head jerked from me to her mother. “You threatened Nora with...a rape charge?”
“She forced you!”
“No, she didn’t! How could you do that to her? To me? To us!”
“It was for your own good.”
“Oh my God,” Sophie said, her face a mask of shock.
“Is that why Ray sent me away?”
Brenda’s head jerked back, shocked at my raised voice. “Yes.”
“Mother, that’s horrible. Even for you.”
“You bitch.” I moved forward with every intention to snap her head off her wobbly little neck. Sophie held me back.
“You are a vile human being,” I said.
“Me? You two are the wicked ones. Everyone in town is making fun of you, talking about what you do behind closed doors. If you insist on flouting your sin, you should leave while there’s still a chance to save Logan from your deplorable influence.”
“Leave?” I said. “We’re not leaving.”
“What?” Brenda’s voice shook, and she reached out to grab something to stabilize her, but there was nothing