Every Way (Brush of Love 4)

“That was nice,” she said.

“Or the time my mother brought you lunch because you called me saying you were light-headed?”

“She came because you called her. Not because I did,” she said.

“What about the time she popped in to say ‘hi’

and you were trapped in the bathtub? She helped you out. Got you dried off. Got you food. All that stuff,” I said.

“Yeah.” Her agreement was on the reluctant side. “It was nice she popped by for that.”

“What would you have done without her?” I asked.

“Sat there and pruned up until you got home,” she said.

“My father’s really warmed up to you.”

“I like your father. I’ve never not liked your father. Your mother, on the other hand ...”

“Is slowly coming around,” I said as I kissed her neck.

“You keep doing that, we aren’t going to be having dinner,” she said.

“And where’s the threat in that?”

My father had warmed up to us greatly. In fact, my father had done exactly what he said he would do. He cashed in most of his favors and pulled just about every connection he had in order to figure out what happened with my deceased brother, John. By the time witnesses were polled and the bit of evidence they did gather was pulled for my father’s liking, it was all but proven that Hailey’s story of what had happened to John was accurate, that John had been trying to help Hailey when he’d gone after those guys threatening her and that they had shot him up with an overdose-level amount of drugs to shut him up.

The thing was, my father was angry that there was no one alive to punish for the crimes. Despite Hailey’s insistence that there wasn’t, he kept digging. He became almost obsessed over it, trying to find someone to take his anger out on.

It wasn’t until we told them we were pregnant that he stopped his witch hunt and turned his sights to our growing family.

But as much as learning the truth had brought my father out of his shell, it had pushed my mother back into hers. She had her moments where she was loving and caring, but her snotty comments were worse than ever. Her tongue had been sharpened and set on fire, and when she started flailing it around, someone always left in tears. Many times during our family dinners at their house, Hailey would excuse herself to the bathroom, and I would find her crying. Quips about Hailey growing her hair back or putting on baby weight would rush her off to the other end of the house, and I finally put my foot down. I told my mother that if she couldn’t get her attitude together and cope with whatever the hell it was that had crawled up her ass, then we weren’t coming back over.

So, the weekly dinners dropped to once a month, and now my mother was only present if we called on her for something.

“Look, I only care about what you think,” Hailey said as she pushed me away. “I’m sorry your mother’s mad, but it’s our decision. Your father doesn’t seem to have an issue with it, so it sounds like a personal problem. And she can deal with it personally.”

“How are your parents doing with everything?” I asked. “You told them about it, right?”

“Of course, I told them I was pregnant, you maniac. Anna’s over here all the damn time checking on me.”

“Anna’s not your mom or dad,” I said.

“I mean, it is what it is with them. Now that I’m cancer-free and they aren’t losing me, things are sort of settling back into their place. They’re in Phoenix, so they can’t really do anything for me.”

“They could come see you. I keep offering whenever I do talk with them. We’ve got plenty of rooms in this house for them to occupy.”

“And whenever we do talk, I offer. But, it’s my parents. I don’t really know what to say other than that. We didn’t really grow close during my treatment. They were just there because they felt guilty. And speaking of my sister, how’s she doing at the foundation?”

“Good, as far as I know. Ellen hasn’t regretted hiring her on yet. She’s keeping her as her own personal in-house counsel as well as funding Anna’s cost-friendly legal service.”

“She’s funding it?” Hailey asked.

“Have you not talked with Anna about any of this?” I asked.

“When she comes over, we have a strict ‘no work talk’ policy. It’s nice, but I don’t know much other than she got hired a few months ago there.”

“Far as I know, she’s doing well. We just approved one of her projects for the summer. She was wanting to offer a service where anything that requires a simple consultation and one court appearance, like juvie things and such, are offered free of charge. Ellen loved the idea, the board approved the funds, and I signed the paperwork a few weeks ago.”