Keith sat in the recliner, his eyes going to Leo’s hand. “Not to be rude, but is there something we need to discuss?”
“Leo’s my boyfriend,” I said simply. They knew Simon and I had stopped seeing each other, and I can’t say they were disappointed.
“Part of a motorcycle club?” Keith observed.
Leo nodded. “Yes, sir. Brothers by Blood. Situated in Athens, Alabama.”
Mom looked up. “You’re in Alabama now?”
“Yeah, Mama.”
“What happened to your place with Judge and Jackie?” she asked, continuing to slice up some chicken. She’d met Judge and Jackie when she’d come to visit, straight after the breakup. I could tell she liked them.
I looked to Leo. Not sure about how much I should tell them regarding what was going on.
“They thought she’d be safer with us,” Leo answered simply.
Keith’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“Simon has lost it. Trying to get me back.”
“Define lost it?” Keith asked, sitting forward.
“It’s better if you don’t know,” Leo said. “Just know that we are looking after her until it blows over.”
Keith shook his head, and I could see my mom standing frozen in the kitchen with a look of worry on her face.
“No,” Keith said. “If my daughter is in trouble, we need—”
“I’m not your daughter,” I snapped before I’d even thought about the words.
Leo squeezed my leg in his hand.
Keith looked taken aback from my burst.
“Hadley, don’t,” Mom warned, stepping out of the kitchen and coming to Keith’s side. “He helped raise you, and supported you, and all of us.”
“I have a father,heraised me,” I said, beginning to feel the emotions building inside me.
I could see the hurt in Keith’s eyes, it was something I’d seen before, but for some reason this time when I saw it, it made my chest hurt. He pushed out of his chair, not looking back as he walked over to the sliding doors, pulling them open and stepping out onto the patio.
Mom scowled at me. “We barely ever get to see you, and every time we do this is what happens. When are you going to stop this childish crap?”
I jolted, the sound of my mother swearing shocking me. She was always so polite, even when she was angry she found a way to word things to get around the curse words that most of us would use to express their anger.
“Mama—”
“No, Hadley Jane. You have no idea what that man has done for you. Working long hours so we had a roof over our heads. Dealing every day with your resentment and knowing that he would never fill your father’s place in your life, but supporting you anyway.”
Tears brimmed my eyes. “I miss Daddy,” I whispered, looking over to the mantle where the picture of my father hung proudly.
Keith had never once asked for it to be taken down or tried to replace it. He accepted that that man was a part of mine and my mother’s life. I knew this in my heart. But for some reason, I just always felt the need to fight for my father’s place in our home. Even though, I knew that Keith had never contested it. He embraced it.
I looked to Leo, who watched me with careful eyes. It dawned on me that Keith and I now had something in common.
I was coming into Macy’s life just like he had come into mine. Macy may have never got to meet her mother, but there was no part in my heart that wished to replace the memory of her. I would want Macy to know about her, to love her, and think about her as often as possible. I would never take that away from her because, in my heart, I was grateful to Kim for giving birth to such a beautiful baby girl.
I wished I could talk to her, let her know that I would watch over her as if she was my own, and love Leo with all my heart without trying to step on her memory. But I couldn’t.