Page 123 of The Destruction You Desire

"Oh shush. This girl right here is the daughter I never had, and I missed her almost as much as you did."

"I'm going to start the coffee maker," I say, ready to leave Mom to it.

"Don't you dare move. Oh my God, I'm so happy right now," she says, cupping her cheeks with her hands, the widest smile I think I've ever seen on her face. I'm pretty sure even Nadine's arrival didn't make her smile quite like this.

She stares between the two of us, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Please tell me that you've put the past behind you."

"We have," I say, taking Peyton's hand and lifting her knuckles to my lips.

"I think my heart is going to explode."

"Overdramatic much, Mom." I roll my eyes at her.

"I need to know everything. Come on."

She takes Peyton's other hand and leads us toward the kitchen.

"Coffee. You want coffee?" she asks, suddenly nervous.

"I got it, Mom. You sit down before you have a coronary."

Walking over to the appliance, I watch as Mom sits at the table and just stares at Peyton like she can't possibly be real. The look on her face isn't all that different from Kayden's this morning as he looked at Lee and me.

"How long have you been back?" she finally asks Peyton who begins filling Mom in on some of the details of how we found each other again.

"I'm so sorry," Mom says when Peyton explains about her mom's accident. "I understand why you felt you needed to be close to home again."

"There's actually a lot more to it than that, Mom," I say, dropping down between the two of them.

"Oh?"

Dread sits heavy in my stomach.

"Peyton didn't move into Fee's house alone. She brought her nephew with her."

"O-okay. Where's Libby?"

"Right now," Peyton says. “Libby is in the hospital."

"She was in the accident too?" Mom guesses.

"No." Peyton lifts her hand to her mouth and this time I let her continue, understanding how she must be feeling.

"Mom, Libby was pregnant when they left town. Dad got her pregnant."

"What?" she screeches, standing so fast her chair topples over behind her.

"Peyton tried to tell me before they left but I didn't believe her. That's why we had a falling out."

"Your father s-slept with Liberty?"

"Yeah."

"M-my nephew, Kayden. He's Luc's half-brother."

"Holy fucking Christ," Mom says as she starts pacing.