Loving Mothers: A completely compelling psychological thriller packed with suspense by Miranda Smith

Author:Miranda Smith [Smith, Miranda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2024-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SIX

STELLA

Surprisingly, once I fall asleep, it’s heavy and full. I wake in the morning feeling well-rested and optimistic for only a few minutes before I remember the events from yesterday.

Beau. Hudson. Shelby.

I wonder how long it will take me to forget about that morning in the gardens, the horror of finding a missing girl’s body. I wonder if I’ll ever forget.

Just before I dozed off last night, I received a text message from Naomi. She said that the women were meeting at her house to discuss next steps, that we’d have to take turns being there for Donna in the coming days. Clearly, I’m not close enough to Donna to be included in this, but I suspect the fact that I found the body is what earned my invitation. Knowing the women’s penchant for gossip, I’m sure they’re expecting all the details they won’t find in the morning’s paper.

Whatever the reason, it’s an opportunity to keep Hudson’s name out of the conversation. Making sure my neighbors don’t get out their pitchforks is now the priority.

As I’m downstairs making a morning smoothie, I hear a knock at the door. I suspect it’s Naomi or Janet, too antsy to wait any longer.

When I open the front door and see Beau standing there, the breath inside me stalls in my lungs.

“Good. You’re up,” he says. He’s wearing a hoodie and jeans. It must be his day off work.

“What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to check in on Hudson. See if he’s doing okay, considering everything.”

“I told you, I’d handle talking to him.”

“Since it’s the weekend, I thought maybe the two of us could hang out together. Maybe play a round of golf.”

“Hudson hates golf.”

“Okay. How about bowling. He likes that, right?”

“When he was seven.”

Beau winces. “Look, I don’t care what we do. I just want us to spend the day together. Make sure he’s okay.”

I poke my head inside the house, checking that Hudson hasn’t come downstairs. Knowing him, he’s taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep in. I step outside to meet Beau on the porch and shut the door behind me, just to be sure.

“I already told you he’s fine. You don’t need to check in on him.”

“Look, it’s the first weekend since I got settled and I don’t have to work,” Beau says, his tone growing impatient. “I want to spend it with my boy.”

“Our boy is upstairs resting, and according to our custody agreement, you won’t have him until the holidays.”

“Are you serious, Stella? You’re really going to throw the custody agreement in my face.”

“You agreed to it.”

“Yeah, because if I didn’t you were just going to weasel more money out of me.” His voice rises slightly, and I can see him struggling to control himself. “If it had been up to me, I’d have more time with him.”

“You’re barely contributing to our finances, and you know it. I was never concerned with how much money you did or didn’t give us. I wanted to limit your time with him.

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