Wretched Love

I turned my attention to Violet, who was standing there looking sufficiently horrified. “We are going to speak in my closet,” I pointed in that direction. “Now.” Violet looked to Elden then back at me before stalking in the direction of the closet.

“You are going to go outside and share a beer with your brother,” I informed Elden in a stern tone. “The one who considers Violet a daughter. The one who would do anything to protect her.” I leaned closer to him, pinning him with my stare. “The one who trusted his brothers to protect her too. To not lay a hand on her.”

Before he could say any kind of badass declaration that would turn this into a whole other thing, I walked in the direction of my daughter.

Violet was pacing in the closet by the time I got there.

“You need to explain,” I said, closing the door. “Right now.”

She stopped pacing. Her eyes were red, cheeks still flushed. “I love him, Mom.”

I shook my head. There was a lot of things I expected her to say, but that wasn’t one of them. Violet had been on somewhat of a wild kick lately. I hadn’t been hard on her on account of her losing her father after finding out he abused her mother her entire life. Growing into an adult was hard enough without that bullshit.

I’d been caught up with opening the restaurant, with being pregnant, with a baby, with Swiss, with my new life, but never, not once had Violet not been on my mind. I thought about her constantly. I had long talks with Swiss about her. We were both quietly worried about her. I knew that he likely had her under some kind of surveillance connected to the club. Something Violet would’ve been furious about if she knew but something I was happy about. It gave me comfort.

But I never, never thought she was having a relationship with one of the men in the club. Let alone one who was old enough to be her father. One who gave me the chills.

And, apparently, my daughter was not finished shocking the shit out of me.

“And I’m pregnant,” she choked out.

There it was.

Proof that although I may have gotten my happily ever after, my daughter was just beginning her story.