Maggie's Mountain by Barrett Mya

Author:Barrett, Mya [Barrett, Mya]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary, Family Life/Oriented, small town
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc
Published: 2014-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Maggie sat on the edge of her bed, groggy from a long nine hours of tossing and turning. Nightmares had plagued her, images of an angry Hale shouting in fury, pleading in sweetness, fading in and out as he moved through shadows, appearing first as an adult, then as a teenager. Overlaying it all had been the echoing sound of her mother’s weeping, the sound gradually becoming so loud it shattered the invisible windows of the darkened room, raining down prismatic shards that floated like snowflakes. It was her confrontation with Hale which had put her on a hard, serrated edge of fear and doubt. His admission of desire for her without love had hurt. But his accusations had cut deeper than she’d anticipated. Was she keeping the letters as some twisted way of preserving a sick martyrdom?

“No, no way. He just doesn’t understand.” She took a deep breath, stood on tired legs. “I’m not ready to handle the fallout.”

She spoke the words out loud that had been said the night before. Yes, there was fear, but it wasn’t the fear she’d labeled years ago as fear for her mother. It wasn’t even the fear of hurting Hale or Trent, or the fear of how she would survive when Hale tired of her and moved on. It was the fear of what the fallout meant for her as Maggie Mae Cooper Brannon, not as a daughter or a lover. It was a truth that hadn’t occurred to her in the heat of her argument. Now, it smacked her like a bucket of ice water.

“That’s…that’s crazy.” Still, the air rushed out of her lungs and she was forced to drop back down on the mattress. “It makes no sense.”

Yes, it did. Her world would be different. She would be different. How she was perceived, how people acted around her, the flare-up of old resentments mixed with new scandal. It was one thing to deal with the old prejudices; it was another to try to handle a different list of biases. She could practically hear them now, talking about her over dinner and backyard fences, saying the same things Hale had accused her of. She was a masochist, she had a martyr complex, she enjoyed the attention, however negative. Worse, they might figure out she’d done it because there was something deeper, something that involved Hale.

Shuddering, she bolted back up to her feet and hurried to get dressed, tossing on jeans and an old orange Vols jersey.

“I am not like that. I’m not.” She jerked her hair up into a quick twist, secured it with a clip. “He’s insane. They’re all insane. Or maybe I’m the one who’s insane; I’m talking to the mirror.”

Releasing a disgusted breath, she flung her bedroom door open and jogged down the stairs. The coffee was brewing, fresh and pungent, but even that small comfort didn’t help. She stopped long enough to gaze at the kitchen, only to have her stomach do a quick somersault.

“No breakfast for me.

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