Andrea Laurence – Passionate Proposals: Saying Yes to the Boss (страница 19)

The smile returned to Misty’s face. “That would be wonderful. I got hit by a drunk driver a few years ago and shattered my pelvis,” she said, shuffling from one foot to the other. “I can’t stay on my feet for too long or it aches.”

Georgia’s eyes widened. She didn’t even know how to respond. Instead she called for a taxi, and they rode back to her apartment in relative silence. Once they stepped out of the cab, she could tell that Misty was in a state of awe. She looked up at the tall building Georgia called home as though they were about to step into a lush European castle. They walked through the nicely appointed lobby with Misty seeming unsure quite where to look. The marble floors? The shining brass elevator doors? The giant floral arrangement at the front desk?

“I don’t think I’ve ever been anyplace this nice before,” Misty said as they entered Georgia’s apartment. Her gaze ran over the pieces of art on the walls and the entire wall of windows on the one side that overlooked the Chicago cityscape. “I’m afraid to touch anything,” she said, clutching anxiously at her backpack.

“There’s nothing to worry about. Just put down your things and relax.” Georgia took her duffel bag and set it in the living room by the couch. “Unfortunately I don’t have a guest room. I’ve never actually had a guest, so we’ll have to make up the sofa bed for you.”

“Okay. It’s nice of you to let me stay with you at all. Hopefully it doesn’t aggravate my back condition.”

“What happened to your back?”

Misty sighed. “Honey, after the life I’ve lived, there’s something wrong with every part of me. You don’t want to hear my sob stories. You’ve got plenty of your own, thanks to me, I’m sure.”

“No, really,” Georgia pressed. It was hard not knowing anything about her mother aside from what was in her file. “What happened?”

She put her backpack on the ground and crossed her arms protectively over her chest. The movement pushed up the sleeves of her shirt, exposing a sad collage of scars across her pale skin. “About ten years ago my dealer had his thugs come for me because I owed him money. They pushed me down the stairs at my apartment complex. They had to put some screws and pins in my spine, so I have trouble sleeping sometimes.”

“That’s terrible.”

Misty just shrugged it away. “Like I said, you don’t want to hear about my life. I’m sure there’s a part of you that hates me, and I don’t blame you for that. But being taken away from me was probably the best thing that ever happened to you. I’m pretty sure that anyone else would’ve been a better parent than I was. That’s why I never...” She hesitated, her face flushing red with emotion. “That’s why I never tried to get you back. I thought you were better off without me. And I was right. Just look at you now. You’d be a mess like me if I’d fought to get you back. That’s why I let all of you go.”

Georgia swallowed hard. She had grown up thinking her mother had never cared for her. From the sound of it, the opposite was true. Her mother had stayed out of her life because she cared. Part of what she’d said confused her, though. “What do you mean, all of us?”

Misty’s gaze dropped to the floor. “You have a younger brother and a sister, Georgia. I should’ve told you that before.”

Georgia was nearly blown off her feet. A brother and a sister? All this time she’d thought she was alone in the world, and now she found out she had siblings she never knew about? “Where? Tell me about them.”

“There’s not much I can tell you. I’m sorry. I was so drug addicted by then that they took the babies from me right after each of them was born. They were both adopted, so I don’t know their names or where they ended up. I might have been messed up, but by then I knew giving up my rights would allow them to have a real family and not end up in the foster system like you. I should’ve done the same for you, but they told me it was harder to place an older child. By then you were five or six. I’ve got a lot of sins to pay for,” Misty said.

Georgia’s knees grew weak beneath her, and she slipped down into the nearby armchair before she fell. She’d known she would learn a lot about her mother and her early years with her, but somehow she hadn’t anticipated this.

“I’m sorry for that, Peaches. I’m sorry for all of this. That’s why I wanted to come here, to see you. To tell you how bad I feel about everything that happened in your life. It’s a part of my recovery, one step at a time. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I needed to come anyway.”

“I think we’ve got a lot of talking to do while you’re here,” Georgia managed.

“That we do.” Turning away, Misty patted the cushions of the couch. “I think this will be comfortable enough. It’s a really nice couch. It’s got to be better than the cot at the shelter.”

Georgia felt a pang of guilt for putting her mother on the couch. She got to sleep in a nice bed every night; she should let her mother do it while she was here. “You know what, Mom? Why don’t you take my bed upstairs? It’s a nice memory foam bed, so you’ll be comfortable. I can sleep down here.”

“Oh no,” Misty argued. “I didn’t tell you all that to make you feel bad.”

“Really. It’s not a problem. Let’s take your things upstairs and I can show you around.”

Her mother followed her upstairs to the loft bedroom that overlooked the living room. The large bed took up the center of the space with a luxurious en suite bath. Georgia set her bag down on the foot of the bed. “Hopefully you’ll be comfortable up here.”

Misty looked around and slipped out of her sweater. That exposed even more scars, blended in with a swirl of tattoos that disappeared beneath her short-sleeved shirt. “They’re track marks,” she said, noticing Georgia looking. “Well, not all of them. Some of them are leftover from my cutting phase.”

Georgia knew her mother had a heroin problem, but she hadn’t heard about the cutting. “You cut yourself?”

She nodded. “Yes. That was from my younger years. I was a messed-up kid. Cutting myself made me feel better. It was my only release. At least until I found drugs and sex.” She shook her head and ran her palms over her bare arms. “I should’ve stuck with the cutting. I didn’t hurt anyone but myself.”

Georgia couldn’t help giving her mother another hug. She was the parent, the one who should be comforting her daughter, but in reality, Misty was just a lost child. Georgia wasn’t sure she wanted to know about what set her down this path of self-destruction, but she knew she wanted to help her make a different life for herself.

“You’re turning things around,” she said. “You’ve got plenty of time to live a different life.”

“Do you think so?” Misty asked. Her gray eyes, exactly like Georgia’s, were red and brimming with tears.

“I know so.”

Nine

“The results are back.”

Carson had opened the front door of his loft expecting to see Georgia, but instead he found Graham and Brooks standing there. Graham was holding a large envelope. All thoughts of his dinner plans with her evaporated when he realized what it was. He had been awaiting and dreading this moment all week.

“Have you looked at the results yet?”

“No,” Graham said. “I practiced an amazing amount of restraint because I thought it was best that we all look at it together.”

“With alcohol,” Brooks added, holding up an expensive bottle of tequila in one hand and a bag of limes in the other.

“That’s probably wise,” Carson noted.

Stepping back, he let his brothers in. He expected them to want to rush to the results, considering how hard they’d worked to uncover the truth and how long they’d waited. But they took their time. Graham poured shots while Brooks sliced up a few limes. Carson just watched anxiously, tapping his fingers on the quartz countertops while he waited.

There was something final about reading the lab report, like the end of an era. For their whole lives, their father had been a mystery to them. Carson was certain that each of them had entertained private fantasies about what their father was really like and what he would say to them if they ever came face-to-face. It was possible that this envelope could shatter those fantasies once and for all. If the test results came back positive, the mystery was over and they were left with the cold, hard reality of Sutton Winchester being their father.

If the results were negative, they had to start back at square one. This time with no leads to follow. The only evidence they’d found pointed to Sutton. If he wasn’t the answer, Carson was at a loss for where to look next.

As he looked down at the envelope, their mother’s words echoed through his mind. You’re better off without your father in your life, she’d said. What if she was right? This was their last chance to change their minds.

“Are you guys sure you want to do this?” Carson asked.

“Are you serious?” Graham asked.

“Yes, I’m serious.” Carson picked up the envelope and held it up. “Once we open this thing, there’s no going back. Mom kept our father out of our lives for a reason. Maybe it was the right decision.”

“Maybe, but we’ve come too far to turn back now,” Brooks argued. “Besides, Sutton will have the results, too. It’s too late to change our minds. We’re going to find out one way or another.”