Page 16 of Eternal Pieces (The Violet Delights Duet #2)

VIOLET

M y hand hovers on the door handle, my heart rate spiking. There’s no obvious sign of a break-in. If Max or Maddox were already home, they would have told me. Maybe whoever left last this morning forgot to lock it? We all left together…I don’t remember who was last out.

If there’s someone inside, I’m not letting them get away with breaking into my home.

Slipping my keys between my fingers, I make a fist, ready to defend myself and my babies if it comes to it. Then I slowly open the door.

Everything looks normal.

I tiptoe down the hall, my mouth dry, my body packed full of adrenaline, ready to protect my home.

There’s a noise from the kitchen. Is that the kettle boiling? What sort of burglar breaks in and makes tea?

I try to be as quiet as possible, but the cabin is old and the wood creaks under my feet. Crap.

“Violet? Is that you?”

“Mom?!” Dropping my keys, I find my mom making tea at the stove and looking through the cupboards like she has every right to be in here uninvited. She doesn’t even bother to look my way.

I can only see her side profile, yet she looks older. She’s lost a lot of weight. Her gray roots are showing through where she’s not bothered to bleach her hair blonde again, and she’s wearing less makeup than she used to.

I feel oddly nauseous seeing her in my house, making herself at home.

“How did you get in?” I ask, stepping further into the room.

“You really need to tidy up in here. Your cupboards are such a mess, I can’t find anything.”

“Mom. What are you doing here?” I raise my voice, and she finally looks at me.

“I still have the keys from Reginald. So it’s true then?

” She raises a brow and purses her lips disapprovingly as she stares at my stomach.

“I ignored your engagement because I had hoped it would fizzle out and just be some disgusting fling. Your brothers, Violet, really? It’s my fault, the divorce probably came as a shock to you, and now you’re acting out. ”

I have to sit down and grip the edge of the table so I don’t do something I regret.

“What I have with Max and Maddox isn’t disgusting. Plenty of people have more than one partner. And it’s not like we’re actually related anymore.”

She curls her lip as she finishes making the tea. “I should have kept a closer eye on you. Vi, sweetie, you were always such a good girl. All you did was read and study. I was worried about it for a while, you having no friends and all that. But that was better than this .”

Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself down. Not that it does much good.

“Mom, why exactly are you here? You can’t just let yourself into my life like this.”

She makes an offended noise and keeps her eyes on the mugs as she stirs the tea. The spoon clinking against the side grates on my nerves. “I thought you wanted to see me.”

“I do…but Mom, you’ve ignored pretty much all my messages.”

“I’ve been busy and I’m here now, aren’t I? What sort of grandmother would I be if I wasn’t here for the little ones? I may not approve of how they got here, but I’ll obviously still be here for them.”

That doesn’t bring me comfort like it should. Her words still sting after all this time, but I think she’s trying to make an effort.

“I appreciate that.”

She pushes one of the mugs my way, and I warm my hands on it. My stomach is too unsettled to drink anything right now.

“If you did change your mind on it all, I could help you out. I know a clinic in town that?—”

“Are you seriously offering to help me get an abortion?”

“I’m just trying to help.”

I steady my breathing and hold the mug firmer in my hands until the heat prickles my skin.

“Thank you for wanting to help, but we are very happy, and I am keeping these babies.”

We return to the tense silence I’ve always been used to with her.

“How long are you planning on sticking around for this time?” I ask as politely as I can, but she hears the way my words are loaded.

“I have a hotel room booked uptown. I still have plenty of money from the divorce, so I can stay for as long as you need me. Or I could move in here?”

“No!” I snap a little too fiercely. “It’s pretty cramped living with two guys, I’m sure you’d hate it. A hotel room sounds much nicer. You get room service and don’t have to worry about making your own bed.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

She catches me up on the past few months as she drinks her tea, and mine goes cold.

After her winter cruise across the Mediterranean with some guy called Ross, she flew back to Greece to stay with another guy she met there during the trip.

According to her, he was moving too quickly for her liking, so she came back to America and stayed with an old friend in Chicago.

Until she got my call and immediately dropped everything to come see me.

I’m not sure what her definition of immediately is, since I left that message two months ago.

“I’m graduating soon,” I tell her. “It would be nice if you could be there for the ceremony.” I’m hoping that if I see her in a public space, she might not be so hard on me. Plus, the guys and Reginald will be there as a buffer. A very awkward buffer.

“I’ll do my best. But is there much point in it?”

“What do you mean?” I frown.

“It’s not like you can do anything with your degree since you’ll be stuck at home with the babies all day.”

“I can still work. There’s a newspaper I’m aiming to apply for. I could work from home a lot with it. And I’ll have Max and Maddox to help out.” I don’t know why I’m justifying myself to her. Force of habit, I guess.

She makes a face, but doesn’t say anything else.

“What?”

“It’s nothing. Just that I can’t see those boys sticking around for long.

They were always playboys. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were sneaking around behind your back.

” She really can’t help herself. Max and Maddox have been nothing but completely faithful to me, but I suppose it would be weird if my mom knew they were both virgins when we got together.

“They’re not—” I cut myself off with a frustrated grunt. There’s no point saying anything else.

The silence grows thicker between us. I always made a point of excusing myself before it got to this point, but I’m stuck in my own home with her.

“I’m kinda tired, do you need me to order you a car back to your hotel?”

Her thin eyebrows shoot up in surprise at my dismissal, but she doesn’t push to stay any longer.

“I can do it myself.”

As she’s booking a ride on her phone, I busy myself with tidying the kitchen.

“It’ll be here in thirty minutes,” she says, and my shoulders tense. I don’t want to have to spend another minute with her, but thirty minutes is quick considering our location.

“How about you show me around while I wait?”

I suppose that’s better than awkwardly standing in here.

The tour of the house is brief, the place isn’t massive, but it’s big enough for our needs.

“ This is the nursery?” she gasps as I show off my new favorite room.

Tilting my head back, I pray that some miracle has her car arriving earlier than expected.

“Yes, Mom, this is the nursery, and if you have nothing nice to say about it, I’d rather you wait outside.”

“I didn’t say anything! It’s cute. I like the yellow and all the ducks.”

I must be seeing things because I swear she’s actually smiling.

“When you were a baby, I layered blankets up in an empty drawer and slept on the floor next to you most nights. You were a very fussy baby. Your father was supposed to buy a cot with the bonus he received the Christmas before I had you, but he lost it in a poker game with his friends.” She gets a distant look in her eye, and for the first time I can remember, I feel truly sorry for her.

“You never talk about Dad.”

“There’s nothing to say. We’re both better off without him.” She doesn’t sound like she believes that. Clearing her throat, she points out the cots. “You have three.”

“I already told you we’re having triplets. Reginald bought the cots for us as a gift.”

“All three? They look expensive. You’ve really landed on your feet, haven’t you? Enjoy it while it lasts.”

I don’t have it in me to argue. Ignoring her bitterness, I go over to the drawers and fold some of the baby clothes that have been sitting on top to put away.

After a while, Mom asks, “Can I see them?”

At that, I smile. I always love showing them off.

I grab one of the latest scans from my bedroom and bring it to her. “You can keep it.”

“They’re beautiful. I have to ask, though…are you sure those boys actually love you? I thought Reginald loved me, but you know how that ended.”

“Yes, by you cheating on him.”

“He did the same to me. He was always spending time with his receptionist rather than me.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. How can she lie so easily? I believed her when she first started insisting he cheated on her, but we quickly discovered she was lying when Reginald’s receptionist introduced her girlfriend.

“You know he didn’t. He never spent time with you because he couldn’t stand to be near you.”

Shit . That was too mean.

Mom’s expression hardens. “I always found it difficult to get close to you, but maybe we’re more alike than we thought. Max and Maddox will grow bored with you. I can’t imagine someone like you ever being able to find two people interested in you enough to stick around.”

Her words stab me like an ice-cold shard to the heart. The attack doesn’t stop.

“You made a mistake and hooked up with them. I get it, I was young once. They should have helped you to get rid of the babies, not dragged you along with this whole charade. No one’s going to want to date a single Mom with triplets once they eventually leave you.

You’ll be all alone, and who will have to pick up the pieces? Me!”

“Why are you so sure they’ll leave me?”

“Because that’s what men do! They use you, turn you into a mother or a stepmother, and once they’ve had enough, you’re out on your own again.”

My body is shaking so hard I can barely stand upright.

“Violet, I’m only trying to help take those rose-tinted glasses off that you’ve always worn.” She stretches her arms out for a hug, and I back away.

“No. You’ve never put me first. If you had, then you’d know that for the first time in my life, I am truly happy.

This isn’t some fantasy I’m living out like you do every time you play house with some new guy.

What I have with Max and Maddox is real.

Maybe if you weren’t so selfish, you would have gotten to experience true love once in your life.

But no, you don’t even know how to love your own daughter. ”

Her face falls. The waterworks are about to start and I’m not falling for them.

“Mom, I need you to leave right now. There’s only one road in and out of here; you won’t miss your car. So start walking now. Please.”

“But, Violet, I want to be part of this.” She gestures to the room around her. “If you’re so insistent on staying with them, then let me help you with the wedding, and then when the children are here?—”

“I’ll think about it.”

“I’m still invited then?”

Is that seriously what she cares about? A wedding invite?

I’m not sure what I want from her anymore. But right now I need her out of my house.

“I’ll think about it,” I repeat a little softer this time for my own sake, not hers.

For once, she takes me seriously and listens.

“Alright. I’m going. I’m staying at the Quartz Hotel, and I’m only a text away if you want to talk again. I’d love to make this right.”

I don’t believe that for a second, but I desperately want to.

My body feels so numb, I barely register walking her to the front door. Mom says something else to me, probably more reasons why my relationship will never work, or why she should stay, but it’s all muffled.

This is too much to deal with, and my mind feels like it’s shutting down to protect me.

Once she’s out of sight, I head to the bathroom and throw up. Then I take a shower, hoping the heavy rush of water will bring me back to my senses.

It does, but I can’t bring myself to leave its comforting heat. I want Max and Maddox here to make me feel better, but they’re both busy with work nowadays. It would be selfish to make them drop it all for me. I’d be just like my mother.