Fateful Hindrance

8. Mother Doesn't Always Know Best...But I Get Why She Did It

Chapter 8

Mother Doesn’t Always Know Best…But I Get Why She Did It

 

 

My body seized up, eyes locked on Kate as she stepped toward me, Sterling still chattering at her side.  He was grinning up at both of us, oblivious to the pain his adoptive mother caused so many others in her previous life. 

She hadn’t changed much throughout the years.  There were only a few differences between the woman who stood in front of me then and the last picture of her that John had shown me.  Her hair was lightly streaked with gray and lines appeared at the corners of her eyes as she smiled at me. 

But as I looked at her, that smile faltered only slightly.  I knew she saw the pain in my eyes.  Not my own pain, but the pain that I felt for John.  He’d beat himself up for years, believing he was the cause of his mother’s death.  That pain had pulled him away from his family, hardened his heart.  It wasn’t until I came into his life that he became his old self again.  At least, that’s what everyone had told me.  I didn’t know him before, only what he was like when I met him and how he’d changed since.

Kate seemed unfazed as she continued to walk toward me, though.  She stopped just a few steps away, holding out her hand as if this were a regular meeting.

“Emmy, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” she smiled, though it seemed a little forced.

I couldn’t say anything, couldn’t move my hand to shake hers.  I was just standing there, looking at her, dumbfounded. 

“I’m sure Emmy is just a little shocked, Kate,” Juliet said, walking up beside me.  Though my eyes were still on Kate, I could see everyone else leaving the room out of the corner of my eye.  Everyone except Juliet, Ryan, and the boys. 

Kate nodded, grimacing slightly.  “Yes, I get why you would.  With everything I’m sure my son told you…”

“No,” I rasped out.  “You don’t get to call him your son when you’ve done this to him.”

“Emmy, I get what you’re saying…”

“How…how could you?” I yelled out.  “How could you do that to him?  To all of them?  Do you know how much pain your death caused your husband and your kids?  What kind of wife and mother would do that?”

Anyone would expect her to defend herself, but she just stood there, looking at me with sad eyes as she hung onto a scared-looking Sterling’s hand.

“Mummy…” he started, looking up at her with wide eyes.

“Darling, why don’t you go with Ryan and Aiden?  I think Emmy and I need to talk alone for a little while.”

I shook my head, finally getting myself to move for the door.  “No.  I’m not talking.  I just…I need to get out of here…”

I knew running wasn’t the answer to anything, but my mind was swimming around so quickly that I could keep anything straight.  So I ran.  Out of the library, out of the house, out into the streets of Pallandino, my prison for pretty much seemed like the rest of my life.  I didn’t know where I was going, only letting my feet take me wherever until I needed to stop.  Too bad my mind wasn’t doing the same.

With Kate showing herself…it changed everything.  Everything that I knew about her, from what John and everyone else told me…it all seemed like a lie.  Even though she seemed like the same amazing woman on the outside, how could she agree to any of this, knowing what would happen to her family?