“Of course. I know that.”
“Yes, you know that. But part of you is taking the blame, and that’s why you feel so personally responsible for all of his victims and personally responsible for getting him put away.”
“It’s just…”
“You can’t be held responsible for your DNA. You and Ryan have that in common.”
We did. I’d never actually thought of it in those terms. “He seems to be dealing with it better than I am.” Then I shook my head. “I’m sorry I said that. I can’t belittle what has happened to his life. He’s having a hard time. It’s easier for him sometimes than it is for others.”
“Sounds like he’s reacting normally.”
“He is. It gets to him sometimes. He still blames me a little bit, I think.”
“Yet he told you he loves you?”
I smiled. “Yeah. He did.”
“Then either he doesn’t blame you, or even if he does, the love he feels is stronger than any other feeling he has about you. That’s a good thing.”
“I suppose.”
“So tell me, then. Is the love you feel for him stronger than the things holding you back?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ryan
Wendy smiled. “That sounds so wonderful, you calling me Mother.”
Part of me was glad it sounded good to her, because it was making me cringe and want to blow chunks on the table. I didn’t consider this woman my mother. I no longer considered Daphne Steel my mother either. So where exactly did that leave me?
“Are you going to help me understand?”
She closed her eyes, a dreamy smile on her face. “Your father and I met in high school.”
I already knew that.
“He was so handsome. So strong. Even at seventeen. He took my virginity. And I took his. We were soul mates, Ryan. That’s why you’re so important. You’re the progeny of two soul mates.”
I still didn’t understand. This was clearly all part of Wendy’s delusions. She might think of my father as her soul mate, but he’d never thought of her as his.
Had he?
“Why were you never together?”
“He got Daphne Wade pregnant.”
“I know that story.”
“It’s why we weren’t together.”
“What about later? After my mo— Er…Daphne died?”
Her eyes darkened with…anger? “Too much had happened by then. He’d had another child with her, and she was only two or so.”
Yes. Marjorie. “Again, I know all that, Mother.”
“Your brother had been taken.”