The Last One Home by Victoria Helen Stone

Author:Victoria Helen Stone [Stone, Victoria Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2021-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

DONNA

“This is crazy,” Donna said for the fourth time as they bounced over a pothole in the rural road. The surface was paved, at least, but anytime another car approached, both vehicles had to slow in order to inch by each other on the narrow lane.

“She’s going to love you,” Michael assured her.

“You’re married to another woman! Carol is her daughter-in-law!”

“My mother is very clear on what a nightmare the last few years have been for me. She wants me to be happy.”

“Did she say that, though? Or are you just hoping? Because that seems like an awful lot to expect from her.”

“She said it. She wants you and our baby in her life because she wants me to be happy.”

Donna nodded vaguely. She seemed to be doing everything vaguely these days. Reality felt just slightly out of reach to her.

Or maybe this was what it was like when life wasn’t hard and everything fell into place. Maybe she was inside the cushion that happy people seemed to curl up in, safe and shielded from the sharpest blows of life.

None of this felt real, though. How could she have gone from being the most dangerous secret in his life to being escorted to Michael’s family home? How could he have told his mother the actual truth? And how could the woman accept it? This just wasn’t something that happened.

Yes, Donna had imagined she might raise this child with him, but she assumed she’d be shunned by the people in his world. Hell, she’d thought of that as a bonus. She didn’t want to be a suburban corporate spouse enveloped in his suburban corporate world. The idea repulsed her.

She’d wanted to be a scandal and an artist. Always out of reach. Always a mystery. Maybe she would’ve eventually had a nice home, but she’d stand apart from the other moms in the neighborhood. She’d kind of hoped they would all be intimidated and a little afraid of her. That sounded like fun.

And Michael? Sure, he’d be a good father, but they’d be pushed away by the rest of his family, forced into beautiful, reckless isolation.

And now? She’d be a guest of honor at the family reunion and the company picnic?

This is crazy, she said to herself one more time as Michael slowed and turned onto a gravel driveway. “Oh God, are we here?”

He chuckled. “Calm down. This will be great.”

They drove under the shade of a huge, ancient tree, then uphill and around a curve. The hills undulated around them, broken only by fences that seemed to go on and on for miles. Michael rolled down the window, and she heard the distant lowing of cattle that were too far away to smell, thankfully. All she smelled was dust and grass. She had the strange feeling of being on a road trip, moving between destinations.

Far too quickly for her taste, a house appeared ahead. A beautiful house like something out of a picture book, the porch dotted with the reds and pinks of potted flowers.

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