She glanced down before she answered. “There are no records, Hank. Yes, we didn’t go through the proper channels, but I knew your birth mother.” She said more softly. “I know she would have wanted us to take you, to give you what she couldn’t. We broke the law, but I’m not sorry we did.”
Hank sank back into the island; he needed the support. “When did she die?”
Catherine held his stare and offered softly, “Right after she gave birth.” She stood, walked to Hank but didn’t touch him. “I worked with women like your mother. Overcoming an addiction, throwing pregnancy into the mix, it rarely works. And knowing the true victims, the babies, were often lost in a system not equipped to care for them, I wasn’t going to let that happen to you.”
Hank moved, putting distance between him and his mother…or more precisely, the woman that raised him. His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he tried to breathe evenly. “Why wouldn’t you do it all the right fucking way?” Hank watched his mother’s mouth open but his next comment came out before she could answer his first. “Make it all fucking legit. I’m the fucking law, Ma, this is all fucked.” He turned, took a deep breath and walked to the other side of the island.
“Hank, we’re not proud we didn’t follow the law, but we wanted a baby so badly. Had tried for years, spent more money than we had trying to get pregnant. Then I met your mother, we bonded and when she died it was like a higher power was answering my prayers. There was no guarantee we’d get you but what was guaranteed was you wouldn’t be loved more by others than you were by your father and me.”
Hank’s voice rose with anger when he asked, “You know by law I can arrest you, you know that, right?”
“I do. It’s hung over our heads but it’s balanced with watching you grow to the man you are. It was worth the risks.”
Hank looked to his hands resting on the counter. Fuck. Jesus. What did he do? Without raising his head, he whispered, “Who else knows?”
A little color of contrition appeared on her cheeks. “No one. Only your father and I know and that’s how we wanted to keep it. It was safer.”
Hank shook his head. Jesus. He couldn’t get past the fact that the woman that cared for him, made him cupcakes for his birthday parties and sang to him when he was sick was a felon. How in the fuck? His voice was low when he raised his head and questioned, “This is why you sheltered me all these years?”
“Yes, we were overprotective because we didn’t want to lose you. Was that wrong? Maybe, but our hearts were in the right place.” She paused, took a deep breath and added, “We wanted to tell you so many times, but then you became the sheriff. How did we put that on you? I know this is a lot to take in and I know my son, you need time, but we are here when you’ve had time to get your head around it.” Another pause before she asked, “How did you find out?”
Hank crossed his arms over his chest, his stance firm when he dismissed his mother’s question and said, “I wanna make this legit.”
The color washed from her face again before she whispered, “Okay, if that’s what you want.”
Hank’s stiff form went lax. He was waiting for a fight, but when his mother folded in so quickly he told her how he found out. “Arissa.”
She shook her head. “I don’t mean to tell you your business. You’re an adult and a smart man, but don’t you find it curious that she not only sought out dirt on us, but also comes running to you when she finds something, so eager to paint a picture of your father and I in an unfavorable light. She’s been sabotaging us from the beginning. In your shoes, I would be asking myself why.”
Hank’s eyes drifted to the window. He took in the view he had seen so many times. The daisies were blooming, leaving a decorated barrier between the yards. Was his mother right? Why…why did Arissa dig a hole into his past? Hank knew well enough now that she didn’t back down when he told her to. What was her motive? Hank’s eyes moved back to his mom at the same time he moved from the counter. “I need time to think,” he said and started down the hall toward the front door.
“Take all the time you need, Honey. We’ll be here. We’ll always be here for you.”
Hank didn’t even offer a wave, a grunt…nothing as he walked out of his parents’ house knowing from this moment on his life would be forever changed.
* * *
Arissa finished packing another box. When she had started packing, it was nothing but love she’d felt and now she was sick in the stomach. She should have left the past in the past. It wasn’t any of her business to go prying, and even saying that to herself, he needed to know the truth.
What made her ill was realizing that it was possible she told Hank about his mother not for his benefit but her own. Had she wanted Catherine out of the picture so badly that she was willing to sully her name? What had she done anyway? She took in a baby who had no one and gave him a loving home and family. That didn’t make her a monster. Arissa battled the tears that hadn’t stopped because she was beginning to think the only monster in the scenario was her. No wonder Hank had told her to get out. She didn’t blame him.
Hank.
Her
