Chapter 181

I fly out of the backseat of the car and rush up the driveway.

“Garnar!” Thea wails.

Some of the neighbors turn their lights on. Eyes start peeking through the windows.

The door opens a crack. “Go home, Thea!” Garnar shouts. “Before I call the police!”

“You wouldn’t do that to me! You love me!”

Garnar’s face appears in the opening in the door. “You cheated on me, you slut! Why would I love you?!”

Again, what a hypocrite! His cheating on me was fine, but god forbidden he be the one facing the hurt. If only he could learn a lesson from this. Knowing him, that seems unlikely.

Still, two wrongs don’t make a right. Thea shouldn’t have cheated, and then expected him to stay afterwards. And she definitely shouldn’t be here now, begging after an engaged man who already showed her the door.

“We share a bond. A connection! I know you still feel it.”

“The only thing I feel is disgust when I look at you. You are an embarrassment to your family, and a vile temptress, spreading your legs for every –”

“That’s enough,” I tell them both. To Garnar, I snap, “Our kids are upstairs.”

He at least has the decency to appear sheepish. “I shouldn’t have said those things,” he admits. “But you have to see what I’m dealing with, Esther. Get your fucking sister out of here, or I’m going to file a restraining order.”

He should probably do that anyway, but that’s a conversation we can have with more level heads.

“He doesn’t mean that, Esther. He can’t! Garnar, please!”

Garnar tries to close the door, but Thea sticks her fingers in the crack. He stops just before breaking her fingers.

“Esther. I will call the police!” Garnar shouts from inside.

“He’s serious,” I tell Thea, and Miles as he comes up behind me.

“Sir, we shouldn’t be involved in a domestic,” says one of the security men. “You can’t be here if the police arrive.”

“None of us are staying,” I say. I tug Thea’s arm, pulling her away from the door. Garnar immediately slams it closed. “We have to get out of here, Thea.”

“No! I won’t leave, Garnar!”

“Thea,” I say more firmly, scolding her as I would one of my own disobedient children. It’s enough for her to quiet. “The police are coming. You will be arrested.”

“I don’t care,” she says, ugly tears streaming down her face. “I’m willing to go to jail for love.”

“This isn’t love!” I shout at her, tired of her self-gaslighting. “He doesn’t want you. Have some self-respect! You are going to be a mother. Do you want your child to see you this way?”

Her hand lifts to her waist.

“If you get arrested, you will have a record,” I tell her. “The kid’s going to find out what his mom was up to.”

She sinks into herself. She continues to cry, but it’s softer now.

“Esther…”

Some of my own frustration melts away, seeing her so small.

“I want to go home.”

“Okay,” I tell her. “We’ll take you.”

I signal to Miles, who turns to his security. With a quick discussion they sort out, that Miles will drive the SUV, while the security follows along in Thea’s car. He doesn’t seem happy about it, but ultimately agrees, saying, “Whatever gets us out of here quicker.”

Plans made, I help Thea into the backseat of the SUV. She cries softly, quietly, all the way back to my parents’ house. On the way there, I call Dad and Mom separately to let her know she’s been found.

They are both waiting by the open door to their house as we return home.

I help Thea out of the backseat, but then I’m immediately pushed to the side as the take either side of Thea and guide her toward the house.

“It’s already, darling,” Mom says. “You are safe now.”

“I’ll take care of whoever is responsible for this,” Dad says.

I start to follow them. However, just as I reach the threshold, they close the door in my face like they totally forgot I was there.

Maybe they had.

They had their true daughter back. Now they could ignore the spare, forgetting that I was the one Mom called in the middle of the night. I was the one to think of checking Garnar’s. I was the one to find Thea before she could be hauled off to jail.

I’m stunned, standing on the front porch, unsure what to do. They are clearly preoccupied. Should I just leave?

If I was alone, I might have.

But I’m not alone.

Miles walks up beside me, carrying Thea’s keys, which he must have gotten from the security guard. He looks at the door and then at me.

“What’s going on?”

“They have Thea back,” I tell them. I don’t want to badmouth them, especially to Miles, who I want to like them and vice versa. They all mean so much to me. “We should come back tomorrow, after they’ve had time to… be with her… as a family…”

Miles narrows his eyes at me. “You are family too.”

I shrug. “It’s fine.” It’s not.

“It’s not,” Miles says. Turning to the door, he reaches for the knob and opens it. It’s not locked, though Davis is standing in the entryway, surprised to see us.

“Oh, Miss Esther. I didn’t know you were here,” he says.

“Where did my parents go?” I ask as I enter, following Miles.

Davis looks at Miles but doesn’t say anything about his presence. “I believe they escorted Thea to the kitchen to get her something to eat.”

“This way,” I say to Miles and start walking. He follows me. Davis doesn’t. Instead, he quietly shuts the door behind us and locks it.

Maybe he did know I was there.

It doesn’t matter now.

My parents’ kitchen is large with stainless steel appliances and an island large enough for a sink. There’s a breakfast nook nearby with a small table and chairs. Thea is seated in one of the chairs. Mom sits in a chair pulled near hers. Dad kneels on the ground at Thea’s side, looking up at her with worry.

She’d been gone one evening. Yet they were acting just as they had when they’d been reunited all those years ago, after thinking Thea was dead.

I try not to judge. The PTSD from that time must be debilitating.

Yet, that doesn’t feel like a good enough excuse to explain why, when Mom looks at me, she says, “You should go home, Esther. I’ll call you when we’re ready to include you.”

Like a switch has been flicked, I sink down into myself. Knowing I’m not welcome here with my own family hurts so much, especially with Miles here watching. It adds a layer of humiliation on top of the sadness.

I glance at Miles now, expecting to see pity. Instead, I see righteous fury in his eyes.

“Bullshit,” he snaps loudly. Every eye in the room snaps to him. “Esther is part of this family. She found Thea. Again. And you want to exclude her? You aren’t even going to thank her?”

Dad pushes himself to his feet. “You have no right to be here, Mr. Hamilton. You are not family.”

“Maybe,” Miles snaps. “But Esther is. How can you be so damn cruel to your own daughter?”