Page 12 of Pieces into Place (Moonflower Cove Romance #16)

Isla

I sla put on a smile as she said goodbye to her friends and family and thanked them for coming to her party.

As the house cleared out, Isla made her way upstairs to be by herself.

She wasn’t in the mood to talk to Vera or anyone else.

Especially not when she was keenly aware of someone that had left before saying goodbye.

Mason.

Not that Isla could blame her. Isla couldn’t remember the last time she’d yelled at Mason. She and Vera were famously the moms who didn’t yell at their kids. They had chosen instead to treat them with respect and talk out every issue with them instead of talking down to them.

As she sat on her bed looking at the door, Isla mentally kicked herself for letting her anger control her.

She knew her feelings were valid, but that didn’t give her an excuse to yell at Mason when she hadn’t done anything wrong.

If anything, Mason had felt the brunt of Blake’s absence right along with Isla over the years.

It wasn’t fair to Isla to treat her like that. Mason didn’t deserve that.

I need to call her.

But before Isla looked for her phone, Vera walked into the bedroom.

She looked tired; more tired than Isla had remembered seeing her in years.

Knowing that she caused that pain was enough to make Isla sick to her stomach.

Fighting the tears from falling again, Isla slumped her shoulders as she sighed.

“I feel awful.”

“Well, frankly, you should.”

It was clear Vera would not be holding any punches. But Isla couldn’t blame her, either. She deserved to be fussed at after the way she acted at the party about Blake.

“This isn’t you, Isla. The snapping at me? At Mason ? I know you’re hurting, but lashing out isn’t okay. That’s not how we handle things.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” Vera crossed her arms over her chest as she stood a few feet away from Isla. “Because your attitude tonight indicated otherwise.”

“So, I’m not allowed to yell at you, but you’re allowed to yell at me?”

Anger flashed across Vera’s face.

“Look, I know you’re hurting, Isla. I’ve made it very clear that I understand that. But I don’t deserve to be talked to this way. Not when I’ve spent the last two hours picking up the pieces you broke so our kids don’t go to bed crying.”

“What does that mean?”

“Isla,” Vera sighed, “come on. Don’t act like your actions don’t have consequences. The kids are afraid to say anything to you because they think it’ll set you off.”

“ Set me off ?” Isla repeated, trying to process what Vera meant.

“What does that mean? Set me off . Excuse me for having feelings and not stuffing them inside any longer. I’m so tired of acting like the whole Blake situation isn’t consuming my entire brain.

It’s all I can think about because I don’t understand how a child I birthed doesn’t want to be in my life. ”

“Well, you’re going to find out with the other four if you’re not careful.”

Isla snapped her head toward Vera. “Excuse me? ”

“Everyone feels like they’re walking on eggshells around you! Including our kids.” Vera waited a beat before continuing as her words hit Isla like bricks. “And me.”

Vera’s shoulders dropped, but the anger on her face remained unchanged.

“You think you’re doing such a good job of hiding your pain, but it’s affecting everyone around you.

We all feel it. And it’s hard not to take it personally.

Even for me. I know you, and I know you’re not trying to hurt me on purpose.

But that doesn’t excuse the fact that your actions are hurting me.

And the kids. And, frankly, Isla, I can’t blame Blake for not wanting to come to your party after the way you’ve treated her.

You’re always expecting Blake to be like Mason or Brayden or Ellie or Evie, but she’s not. She wasn’t raised in this house.”

“But she’s my daughter ,” Isla sobbed. “Shouldn’t that be enough?”

“You know it’s not, Isla. Neither of us are close to our parents.

They weren’t there for us in the way we needed growing up.

It’s the same for Blake, no matter how hard that is for you to accept.

It wasn’t your choice not to be in her life, but it wasn’t Blake’s either.

She didn’t know what she was missing until she moved here, and that had to be hard on her.

Imagine if your parents treated Eden like we treat our kids and treated you like you do Blake. How would that make you feel?”

“Awful,” she quietly answered. “It would make me feel awful.”

“That’s how Blake feels.”

Isla covered her face with her hands, unable to control her tears any longer.

Her heart broke yet again for all the years she missed with Blake and for how her own selfish desire to be her mom again had clouded her ability to see that she was pushing Blake too hard.

How had she not seen that before? Did she have rose-colored glasses on that prevented her from seeing what Blake needed instead of what Isla wanted?

“I’m an awful mother.”

“No, you are not.” Hurrying over to her, Vera got down on her knees in front of Isla as she put her hands on either side of her hips. “You’re an amazing mom. Our kids are so lucky to have you.”

“Mason left without saying goodbye.”

Lowering her hands from her face, Isla looked at Vera. She had tears in her eyes she hadn’t let fall, and the pain on her face was clearly viable. Just like Isla knew was reflected back on her own.

“I can’t say I blame her. What you said to her was uncalled for.”

“I know.” Isla’s stomach recoiled at the thought of yelling at Mason. She hadn’t deserved that, and Isla wasn’t sure she could ever forgive herself. “I hate this person I’ve become. I’m so mad all the time and I don’t know how to let the anger go.”

“I wish I had a clear-cut answer for you, but I don’t.

You have to want to let it go. It was so easy for you to hold on to it when Blake wasn’t in our lives, but now that she is, you’re still holding onto it.

And that’s not fair to Blake or yourself.

Blake didn’t ask to be taken away from you.

She didn’t have a choice in that, just like you didn’t.

And at some point, you have to realize that and let it go.

I know that’s so easy for me to say on this side of things, but I’m also right here in the trenches with you. ”

Moving to sit beside her, Vera gently turned Isla’s cheek to look at her. Her eyes were soft and full of love and it melted Isla’s heart.

“I’m not going anywhere, Isla. No matter how hard you push me away, I’m not moving.

You’re my wife and I love you. Through the good times and the bad.

And this, my dear, is a bad time. Maybe one of the worst times in our lives.

But we’re going to get through this. I promise you that.

Just let me back in and help you, okay?”

All Isla could do was nod as she leaned into Vera for support. Vera wrapped her arms around her as she held her tightly.

“I’m so sorry, Vera,” Isla cried. “I hate myself for how I’ve been acting recently. You didn’t deserve that. Our kids didn’t deserve that. I’m so sorry. I’m going to work on this. I promise. I’m going to fix it.”

“I know, baby. I know you will.” Tenderly, Vera kissed the top of her head. “We’re going to get through this together.”

“Together,” Isla repeated.

“And, for what it’s worth.” Vera paused for a moment as she looked into Isla’s eyes. “I have a feeling a very similar conversation is happening at the Holland house tonight.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Just something in Alexis’s eyes tonight.

When I walked back into the dining room after our fight, I locked eyes with Alexis and saw how hurt she was.

Because Blake isn’t just hurting you, just like you’re not just hurting Blake.

And I think Alexis is just as tired of being hurt by her wife as I am by mine. ”

“Like mother, like daughter, huh?”

“Totally,” Vera laughed, kissing Isla’s cheek. “But I love both mother and daughter very, very much.”

“I love you, too.” Kissing Vera, Isla wrapped her arms around her neck. “I’m so sorry for the bitch I’ve been.”

“Hey, we got through menopause without killing each other. We’ll make it through this, too.” Vera winked at her, making Isla laugh. It felt so good to laugh with her wife again. “Come on, let’s go to bed. I’m exhausted. You can call Mason in the morning and apologize to her.”

“Maybe I should call her tonight.”

“It’s after ten. Better not to risk waking Silas. ”

Even though Isla wanted to make things right with Mason sooner rather than later, she knew Vera was right.

They got ready for bed together, brushing their teeth and washing their face side by side as they did every night.

Isla couldn’t help but feel as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

She knew it was because Vera had helped her discard it, and she’d be eternally grateful to her wife for that.

As they snuggled up in bed together, Isla kissed Vera’s nose as she giggled.

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

Putting her leg over Vera’s, Isla pulled her body into her as their kissing intensified. Isla would have stayed locked with Vera’s lips and in her embrace all night, but a soft knock on their bedroom door startled them apart. She assumed it was Everleigh or Ellie coming to snuggle with them.

But Isla also wasn’t surprised when she clicked on the lamp by the bed and saw Mason peeking around the door.

“Can I come in?”

“Of course, Mace.”

Isla knew better than to get out of bed.

She knew exactly what Mason wanted. Lifting the sheets, Isla let Mason crawl into bed between them.

Vera kissed her cheek, putting her arm around Mason’s waist as Isla sat up on her elbow.

Gently touching Mason’s face, she caught a single tear that fell from her eyes with her thumb.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You didn’t deserve that, and I am so, so sorry.”

“I forgive you, Mom.”

No matter how old her babies got, Isla would always savor when they would crawl into their bed with her and Vera.

Especially when it was Mason. For years, Mason seemed to have spent more nights in their bed than her own when they had first moved in together.

Vera and Isla loved it, though. She was their baby girl; the first child they raised together as a family of three.

“And Mom?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry for leaving without saying goodbye. I was mad, and I didn’t know what to say. But once I got home, I kept thinking about how you and Mama always say not to go to bed mad and well. I couldn’t go to bed mad.”

Isla couldn’t contain her tears again as she pulled Mason close to her.

She held her as tightly as she could as she stroked her back with her hand.

Mason has always had a different connection to her and Vera than any of their other kids, and Isla had never fully understood that until now.

It had been Mason and Vera that pulled her out of her dark times.

Even when Mason was too young to know how much she was helping, she’d never left Isla’s side.

At the end of the day, she always climbed into bed with her and reminded her that things were going to be okay. Just like she was doing now.

“Oh, Mace. Thank you for coming over. I was going to call you in the morning so I didn’t accidentally wake Silas.”

“Thank you for that. I would have been over sooner, but Silas took forever to get to sleep. I guess he just wanted his mommy too.”

“I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

“And I love you both.” Vera put her arm around them both, squeezing Mason in the middle of them.

“Your boobs are squishing me,” Mason laughed as she squirmed out of Vera’s embrace. “I’m not Mom.”

“Oh, hush.” Vera rolled her eyes, playfully teasing Mason as she sat up on her elbow. “Don’t act appalled by boobs. You are your mother’s child, after all, so I know they’re your favorite. ”

“Just my wife’s,” Mason giggled, sticking her tongue out at Vera, who did the same back. “Yours can stay with Mom.”

“I’ll take them every day.” Isla winked at Vera, causing her to blush. She loved that even after so many years together, she could still make her wife blush. “So, you’re spending the night here, I assume?”

“You assume correctly.” Snuggling into the bed and closer to Isla, Mason smiled up at her. “I just want to be a little kid for one more night and sleep with my parents.”

“She says as if she didn’t spend several nights right here the last few weeks of her pregnancy because she was worried she would go into labor.” Vera smiled as she yawned. “Even though her brilliant doctor mama told her she wasn’t ready to birth a baby yet.”

“Yeah, well, my doctor mama also missed my due date, so she gets some points knocked off for that.”

“Rude,” Vera playfully swatted Mason’s arm. “I helped you get Silas out without tearing, remember?”

“Yes, and my vagina is eternally grateful.”

“You’re welcome.”

As the three of them settled in for the night, Isla felt Mason snuggling closer to her. She put her arm around her waist as Mason nuzzled her head under her chin. Across the bed, Vera was softly snoring.

“Mom?” Mason whispered as she twirled Isla’s hair around her finger.

“Hmm?”

“I think the one day we’ve been waiting on with Blake is about to happen.”

Hearing Mason’s words felt like a balm to Isla’s tired soul. Had Mason and Blake talked after the party? Isla wanted to ask, but knew Mason would share any details when she was ready.

“I think so, too, baby.” Isla tightened her grip on Mason as she kissed the top of her head. “I think so, too.”