The Stolen Daughter by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Author:ReShonda Tate Billingsley [Billingsley, ReShonda Tate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2020-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

I couldn’t fight back the tears. I’d been crying all the way home. These people had bogarted their way into my past and now wanted to dictate my future. And they were out of their minds if they thought that my future would be without my mother—no matter what she’d done.

Malcolm was conflicted. I could tell he’d already started spending the money in his head, but at the same time, he wanted to comfort me because he knew I was livid.

“You okay?” he asked once we finally pulled back into our complex.

“No,” I said, gazing out at my town home, taking in the stark contrast from the Logan’s home. “Those people have a lot of nerve.”

Malcolm pulled into a parking space, stopped, and turned to face me. “Sweetheart, I understand that you are angry about their request, but I’m going to play devil’s advocate here.”

I cut my eyes at him, pursed my lips to let him know I didn’t care for him to continue. He didn’t care that I didn’t care and continued to talk.

“What I want you to do is put yourself in Mrs. Logan’s shoes. If someone came along and took Destiny from you, robbed you of watching her take her first step, took away everything. Her first words, kiss, date, prom, graduation, all of that, would you be able to forgive her?”

Of course, the answer to that was a resounding “no,” but I couldn’t bring myself to utter those words. “I’m not saying that I don’t understand their anger,” I replied. “But this isn’t some hypothetical situation. This is real life. My life.”

“And if you one day found Destiny, who had been kidnapped from you,” Malcolm continued, “how would you feel if she wanted to continue a relationship with the woman who stole her?”

“Again, I can’t speak about ‘what ifs,’ ” I snapped. “This is my life.” I huffed and folded my arms across my chest. “So, you agree with them that I should walk away from my mother? Do you hear how crazy that sounds?”

“No, of course I’m not saying that,” Malcolm said. “I’m just saying that you have to be respectful and understand where their anger is coming from.”

“All you care about is the money,” I snapped. “They flash some dollar signs and you’re ready to toss my mother to the side.”

He bit down on his bottom lip like he was trying to choose his words carefully. When he spoke, his words were slow and measured. “Of course I care about the money, Jill. What kind of husband and father would I be if I didn’t? That money will change our lives. Change Destiny’s life. And any future children we may have. We talked about having more children but at this rate, we can’t afford to. We wanted a big family. This would allow us the opportunity to have that. And you know, as much as I love the thought of having this money,” he pulled the check from his jacket pocket, “you know my first priority is your happiness.

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