She Loves Me (Harmony Pointe #3) - Melissa Foster Page 0,121

father and I didn’t see clearly until years later, when Marshall quit college and disappeared. I—we—accept responsibility for that. We did the best we could. Nowadays you can go online and find a million resources for how to handle different types of children, but it wasn’t like that then.” She sat down in the chair and said, “All we wanted was for our kids to be happy, and instead we lost one son, and you two are obviously resentful and angry at me and your father.”

“We’re not angry, Mom,” Delaney said.

“No, it’s true, and it’s okay,” their mother said. “We did the best we could. We love you all. We never meant to hurt any of you. After Marshall disappeared, I started seeing a therapist in Port Hudson, and during the three years I saw him, I learned a lot about things we did wrong as parents and things we did right. I’m not ashamed for being human.”

Harley glanced at Delaney, wondering if she knew about their mother going to therapy.

“Your sister didn’t know about the therapist, Harley. I felt like we’d failed Marshall, and I didn’t know what to do. Your father couldn’t talk about it, and he didn’t want our family to be the talk of the town.”

“You might have opened a door, but he’s the one who walked through it,” Harley insisted. “Nobody around town blames you or Dad for Marshall’s mistakes.”

“We don’t know that, but I hope they don’t. The only person who knew about my therapy was Roxie Dalton, and that’s because she saw right past my pleasantries to the pain that was eating away at me. She tried to help, bless her heart. But her holistic approaches didn’t work. She had a friend in Port Hudson, a psychologist, and Roxie covered for me once a week so I could go see him. I was depressed, which he said was to be expected. He helped me understand a lot of things, and it took a few years, but eventually I learned to put things in perspective and got back on track. I missed Marshall, and I’m not happy about the mistakes your father and I made, but I understand that I can’t change the past.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Delaney said. “You were depressed and having a hard time for three years? How could I miss that?”

Harley felt just as blindsided. He’d always kept in close touch with his parents. He remembered a few weeks after Marshall had first taken off when they’d been unhappy, uneasy, concerned. Hell, they all had. But he couldn’t remember any long stretches of time when his mother had been out of sorts.

“Because, Delaney, your life was fairly messy back then. You were living in the city, you had a new baby, and you were trying to keep your head above water while attending law school and attempting to save your rocky marriage.”

“I didn’t do a great job of saving it.” Delaney sighed and sat back against the couch cushions.

“Nobody could have fixed that douchebag,” Harley snapped. “Who leaves their pregnant wife and child for some chick they met at a park?”

“Let’s not go there again,” Delaney suggested. “Mom, did Dad go to therapy, too?”

Their mother shook her head. “No. Your father didn’t believe in it.”

“I can’t believe I missed the clues. I’m sorry, Mom.” Harley sank down to the arm of the couch beside his mother’s chair, feeling like he’d failed her.

“Oh, honey, don’t do this to yourself. You were building a very important, very difficult career, and you still made time to come back and help us out at home and with the business. I never should have leaned on you for all this time.” She reached over and touched his cheek, bringing his eyes to hers. “You’re my boy, and I love you. But Marshall is my boy, too, and I love him, which is why you need to give him a chance to speak his mind. You need to do this for me, honey. I need to see him, even if it’s just so I can apologize to him for the things your father and I did wrong.”

“Apologize? He—”

“Harley,” his mother said firmly, her unwavering gaze holding him silent. “I don’t care if he hears me out and takes off again. I need to see him. Do you understand that?”

“Mom, we don’t even know if he’s still in town,” Delaney reminded her as she pulled out her phone. “I can call my friend at the police station and