Chapter 75
Aunt Blanche was so gentle and beautiful-if only she could be his mom, Terrell thought wistfully. Pressing close to her ear, he whispered his home address, hoping to give his dad a huge surprise. If his father met Aunt Blanche on his birthday, Terrell just knew he’d be thrilled.
Healy watched Blanche fuss over someone else’s child, and a cold, aching feeling swept through him. He hurried over and grabbed her hand. “Mom, you can’t care about him. And you can’t give him presents.”
He stuck out his lower lip, looking wounded. “I’m hurt too. My butt really hurts. Mom, blow on it, and buy me a present.”
Blanche looked down at Healy’s little hand clutching hers. He was frowning in pain, his other hand pressed to his backside. She
remembered-this was the second time she’d seen Healy get hit. The first time, Eddy had slapped him across the face.
Watching him now, she felt a pang of guilt, but when she thought of Tia, she couldn’t help feeling Healy had brought this on himself. His possessiveness made her frown even more.
Healy had been standing right next to Lara when it all happened; he could have stopped it, but he did nothing. Maybe he’d just frozen up, but even after she fell, he hadn’t said a single word of concern. Yet the moment she showed kindness to another child, talked about buying a present for someone else, he threw a tantrum, desperate for her attention.
Blanche gently pulled her hand from Healy’s grip. “A couple swats on the backside will stop hurting soon enough,” she said, her tone even. “And as for gifts-I can give them to whomever I want. That’s not up to you.”
She paused, her voice turning stern. “But you, Healy-if you don’t apologize to your sister Tia before the day is over, don’t call me Mom anymore.”
The words slipped out before she could stop herself, anger rising at the
way Healy always sided against his own family. She was his mother, and she had to accept him, flaws and all-but he had no right to treat Tia that
way.
To a child, being cast off by their mother was earth-shattering, as if their whole world had collapsed. Healy stared at Blanche in disbelief, her words echoing in his mind. Memories flashed by-his mother kissing him goodnight, hugging him close, telling him he was her favorite person in the world, her darling boy, swearing she’d always be by his side, that she loved him. Never, ever had she said he couldn’t call her Mom.
Tears streaming down his face, Healy turned and ran into the preschool.
Just then, Hedwig came out, looking concerned. “Blanche, what happened to Healy? He’s got Tia by the arm and keeps repeating ‘I’m sorry’ over and over, like he’s terrified.”
“Don’t worry about him,” Blanche replied briskly. After making a pinky promise with Terrell, she brushed past Hedwig and left the preschool.
At the press conference, Fernando checked his watch for the fifth time. Laney was nothing if not dependable, but she still hadn’t shown up. Maybe Eddy had given her a hard time last night.
Worried, Fernando stood and slipped out of the conference hall.
Blanche was hurrying toward him down the hallway. As their eyes met, Fernando’s expression softened. Blanche, nerves frayed, grabbed his hand and pulled him into the nearest stairwell.
She clapped a hand over his mouth, her breath coming fast. “Fernando, listen, you have to help me,” she whispered urgently. “I think Eddy planted a tracking chip on me-no matter where I go, he always finds me! I think he’s on his way here right now. There’s no time!”
The stairwell was narrow and dim, shadows swallowing the corners. Blanche was sweating with nerves, her perfume hanging in the air between them. Fernando’s dark, ocean-deep eyes met hers, sending a jolt of something strange through her chest. But there was no time to
2/3
dwell on that.
Suddenly, the door banged open, flooding the stairwell with harsh light. Eddy’s voice rang out, cold and accusing. “Blanche? What are you doing in here with him?”
