The red on her cheeks deepened. “I never thought you of all people would say that to me.”
My jaw worked back and forth as I tried my best to keep the rage at bay. “You’ve been more a mother to me than my own, but I willneverlet you treat Hadley like that again. I’ve stood by for too long. I’ll never forgive myself for it. But this stops now.”
“He’s right,” Hayes added. “I’m not coming to another family dinner until you start seeing a therapist. You need to work through why you can’t love your daughter for who she is instead of trying to beat her down and turn her into someone she’s not.”
“Hayes,” Julia whispered. “You can’t let her turn you against me.”
“Look around, Mom. Hadley’s gone. You’re the one turning us against you. These are your actions. No one else’s.”
I started for the door. I didn’t need to stick around for this. I needed to find Hadley. A hand caught my elbow, and I turned to see Gabe.
“Let me know how she is?”
My back teeth ground together. “You should be asking her that question. You should’ve asked it a long time ago.”
“I know.” The words were low and anguished, barely audible.
“Then start doing it now. Make a stand and get your wife the help she clearly needs.”
Gabe nodded but didn’t say another word.
I started for the door again. Julia called out my name, but I didn’t even falter. I let the door slam behind me as I scanned the area in front of the house. I didn’t see Hadley anywhere.
She wouldn’t have gone to the barn because Shiloh and the twins were there. I started down the path towards a field where several horses grazed. The land dipped to where a small creek ran alongside the pasture. There, hunched down in the small gulley, was Hadley.
Her shoulders shook as she sobbed. I’d never seen tears like this from her, not once in the twenty-four years I’d known her. Not even when she’d fallen out of a tree. She’d broken her arm and needed eight stitches along her hairline, but she’d only shed a few tears.
I moved down the embankment, but Hadley didn’t hear me approach. She jolted as I lifted her off the grass and into my lap. She only fought me for the briefest of moments before burrowing her face into my chest.
I held her as she let everything go. All the pain she’d been holding inside for so long. The hurt I hadn’t been there to help her find an outlet for. I felt it all hit me in waves. Blow after blow. I took every single one.
I rocked back and forth with Hadley in my arms, pressing my lips to the top of her head. “I’m so sorry. I should’ve been there.”
She only cried harder.
“I’m here now. I’m not going anywhere.”
Her hands fisted in my shirt. “I can’t do this anymore. It’s killing me.”
“You’re not going to do this anymore. No more family dinners or any of that shit. Not unless Julia gets some serious help.”
“It won’t happen,” Hadley said through hiccupped cries. “She doesn’t have the ability to see that she might be wrong.”
I brushed my hand over her hair and down her back. “Hayes said he isn’t coming to dinner again unless she starts seeing a therapist.”
Hadley reared back. “Hayes?”
I nodded. “It’s taken us all too long to see how much this was hurting you.” Because Hadley hid it way too well.
Hadley loosened her hold on my shirt, smoothing it down. “I don’t want to ruin anyone else’s relationships. I just…I don’t want to keep hurting like this.”
I pulled her against my chest again. “Sometimes, things need to break to be put back together right. I’m hoping tonight was that. Things might be messy for a while, but maybe we’ll all get to a better place. No matter what, it’s not your responsibility to deal with. Let everyone else shoulder that responsibility for a bit.”
She slumped against me. “I’m so tired.”
“I know.” I pressed my lips to her hair again, inhaling that scent that was forever Hadley to me. She’d been carrying way too heavy a load for too long. And she’d been doing it alone. “I should’ve been there.”
“You’re right. You should’ve,” she said quietly. “But I also understand why you weren’t. We were both dealing with our own demons.”