Page 17 of Duress (Birch Falls #3)

“Oh, I wanted to. I confronted him about it when I eventually worked up the courage. But Brian told me they meant nothing, and it was just a way to kill the time while he was on the road. He said all the right things, did all the remorseful husband duties. I didn’t want to destroy the life we’d built together so I told him I’d give him another chance.

Because I worked part time, only while Bryce was in school, I didn’t make a lot of money and relied on Brian to provide for us.

I was scared to get divorced. I wasn’t sure how I would support the two of us on my salary.

Bryce was still young enough that I would have to pay for before school and after school care if I got a full time job…

It was complicated.” Mom takes a long drink of her spiked lemonade before continuing.

“Eventually I discovered another affair. That time I did leave. I packed Bryce up, and we left while Brian was on a work trip. I left a note telling him I wanted a divorce. When he got back from the trip, he called the police and told him I had kidnapped Bryce. I was picked up at the grocery store when I was buying food and snacks to take back to the motel room where we were staying. Bryce was eight at the time. He got to watch his mother be arrested and put in the back of a police cruiser while his daddy came and rescued him.”

My gut clenches at Mom’s story as I realize the apple didn’t fall too far from that particular tree. Bryce definitely inherited his dad’s manipulative, narcissistic personality.

“After spending a night in holding, Brian dropped the charges and took me home. He told me if I ever tried to leave him again, he would sue me for full custody of Bryce and never let me see him. He had the money to hire the best divorce attorneys that I would never be able to afford to fight. So…I stayed.” I watch as she wipes away the silent tears.

“Why wouldn’t he want a divorce if he was busy dipping his stick in women all over the country?” Rage toward Brian builds inside me. My hand clenches into a fist as I imagine tracking him down and kicking his ass for treating my mother the way he did.

“Appearances. It’s all about appearances.

It was a lonely few years until I met Jake.

” A wistful smile appears on her face at the mention of her deceased husband.

“We met when I hired him to do some repairs on the house.

It was like a cheesy romance novel. He was working on renovating the bathroom and came to ask me a question.

He caught me in the kitchen, crying because I was a depressed, miserable mess then.

He was so concerned. He sat me down at the table, got me a glass of water, and sat with me.

It had been so long since someone showed me that kind of empathy that I just opened up and let it all pour out.

We talked every day for hours while he was there working.

I would find new repairs for him to do or change my mind on things he had already renovated.

Anything to draw out our time together. I would make him lunch while he worked, and help at times too.

I did whatever I could to come up with an excuse to be near him.

He made me laugh… Oh, how he made me laugh.

He listened to me. He made me feel seen.

Eventually I realized I had developed feelings for him.

I didn’t act on them at first but…” Mom shrugs her shoulders sheepishly.

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” I finished for her, not terribly interested in the more in-depth details of my parents’ sex lives.

“Right. Well. I became pregnant with you. I honestly wasn’t sure who the father was.

Brian was still forcing intimacy between us when he was home.

Jake begged me to leave Brian and let him raise you and Bryce, but I couldn’t until I knew who the father was.

It wasn’t obvious until you were born and they typed your blood.

I’m B+ and Brian was AB+. You are O+. I guess that was the final straw for Brian.

He left. Just…disappeared one day. Left the divorce papers on the kitchen table.

Jake stepped up in a huge way, but Bryce never got over being abandoned by his father like that.

I think… I think the fact that it happened when you were born tied the two things together in Bryce’s mind, and he blamed you instead of putting the blame where it really belonged.

On me and your dad. We were the grown-ups in the situation. ”

Mom looks crest fallen. I don’t want her to feel guilty for trying to find happiness in such a shitty situation.

I reach across the table and take her hand.

When she looks at me, she gives me a sad smile.

“I’m so sorry, sweetie. I tried so hard to make it right, for Bryce.

No matter how much I wanted to blame his father and tell him that Brian had abandoned us, I couldn’t do it.

I couldn’t take that from Bryce. Jake did everything he could to try to make Bryce feel like he loved you both as his own, but Bryce never would give him a real chance.

I knew you boys didn’t have the best relationship but hate you?

You really think he hates you? What happened between you? ”

After having that particularly depressing truth bomb dropped on me, I’m not sure if I’m ready to bring up the fact that her son, who was irrevocably damaged by the failure of her first marriage, is using her as leverage to get me to help him.

I don’t think now is the time to tell her he is threatening to make her homeless if I don’t do what he asks.

Also, the irony that my situation with Everly is eerily similar to how my parents got together is not lost on me.

“Nothing in particular. It’s just something that’s been on my mind. Just wondering if there is any way I can fix it.” I shrug, trying to play off the question while my mind whirls with all the new insight I have on my spiteful half brother, and how I can use it against him.