I chilled. The need to defend my mother rose up within me, but would that be the right attack?
“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t talk about Daphne that way,” I said. “She is, after all, the mother of my children.”
Wendy stiffened, picked up the bowl of stew on the tray, and hurled it against the wall. “I was always supposed to be the mother of your children. You know that as well as I do. You took that chance away from me.” She pointed to the mess she had made. “Now clean that shit up.” She walked out the door, slamming it, the lock turning.
I had no intention of cleaning up her mess. I wasn’t hungry anyway.
I walked to the door to examine the lock. It was a deadbolt, so picking it was out of the question, especially since I didn’t have any tools. I could turn this room upside down looking for something, but I’d check the window first. I walked toward it and looked out. I was on the second story of what appeared to be a house in a decent neighborhood. Was this the same house Talon and I had visited in Denver? I had no idea.
The window wasn’t locked, so I unlatched it and slid it open. However, instead of a screen, another pane of glass had been installed. Not a huge problem. I could break glass, and I could probably jump to safety, even though I was on the second story.
When I heard the lock being tinkered with on the door, I hurried back to the bed and sat down.
Wendy walked back in, locking the door behind her. She looked toward the mess she had made with the stew earlier, looked at me, and then back at the floor. “Brad, please forgive me. You know how I get sometimes.”
How many personalities did this woman have? I tried standing again, and my knees wobbled a little less this time. I managed to stay standing for a second until she walked toward me and pushed me back down on the bed.
“You shouldn’t be up. You need to rest. Just lie down while I clean up this mess. Again, I’m so sorry.” She walked out the door for a moment and then came back with some rags and a shop vac. She worked quickly, as if possessed by a manic streak, and within ten minutes, the mess was gone.
Now, instead of beef and carrots, the room smelled like beef, carrots, and carpet shampoo. Great.
She slid the shop vac outside the door and then returned. “I’m so sorry, Brad. Please forgive me.”
I was at a loss. How should I approach this? Obviously, I should approach it as my father would have, but it had become increasingly clear to me that I didn’t know my father at all. How would he have acted?
Like the domineering man he had been. He had been a kind father, but he had been strict, teaching us responsibility and the value of hard work. He had been a sexist, to Marj’s chagrin, believing a woman’s place was in the home and not out on the ranch. I smiled. Marj had set him straight on that. Once she’d stood up to him, he had spoiled her rotten.
How would he have treated Wendy?
I had no fucking idea.
I knew one thing, though. He wouldn’t have put up with her little tantrum and throwing food.
I looked at her with all the anger I could muster…and I had a lot of it pouring through me at the moment. “If you ever pull a stunt like that again, Wendy, I will walk out of here and never come back.”
She fell at my knees, sobbing into them. “Brad, please don’t leave me. You know we were meant to be together. You can’t deny it. You don’t love Daphne the way you love me. You know you don’t.”
Would I get further with her if I pacified her, told her I loved her? Or would I get further if I defended my mother? If only I knew what my father had done.
According to what Wendy had told Jade, Wendy and my father had been in love and had engaged in an affair while he was alive. Was that true? Or was it part of Wendy’s delusion?
She had been instrumental in covering up what had happened to Talon, and I still didn’t understand why my father had swept it all under the rug.
Maybe I could find out…
“I’m sorry, Wendy,” I said, “but I can never forgive you for your part in what happened to my son.”
Chapter Twenty–Nine
Melanie
I sat in Jonah’s kitchen with his brothers.
“Joe tried to tell me,” Talon said. “He thought something was off about Wendy Madigan, but I kind of brushed it off. She had been a huge help to Jade, and Jade spoke highly of her.” He shook his head. “I should have listened to my big brother.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, Tal,” Ryan said.
“Yes, don’t,” I agreed. “Right now we have to find Jonah.” I sank my head into my hands.