Page 45 of Forever Enough
Kenzie wiped her tears from her cheeks, and I felt my body tremble with anger. I wanted to pull her onto my lap and hold her, but I knew I had to let her get everything out.
“I went to a lawyer to see if I could get custody of Emily. She’s only a year younger than I am, and I thought if she was seventeen, she might be able to leave and come live with me. I told them everything that happened in the house. My mother accused me of lying, said I was just mad at her for marrying someone. She said really terrible things about me to the social worker who’d gone to the house to investigate my claims of abuse. Told them I’d made their lives a living hell. That I slept around, had gotten pregnant and gotten rid of the baby—which wasn’t true. She even tried to say I wanted control of Emily’s inheritance.
“Once they interviewed Emily, though, they knew my mother was lying. Emily eventually ended up staying with me or her best friend more than she stayed at home. It drove my mother nuts, and she constantly called the police to report Emily as a runaway. It got so bad that they actually told my mother if she made one more false claim, she’d be thrown in jail. It was all such a nightmare.”
“Why would your mother do that?” I asked.
She shrugged. “My therapist suggested Mom was so dependent on my father, she most likely suffered intense guilt for not being able to take care of us and needing George. Not protecting my sister and me from him most likely made it worse. She said in situations like that, it’s often easier for people like Mom to make up stories about us being the bad ones, in order to justify her own behavior. She’d rather believe a lie than the truth.”
I slowly shook my head.
“Anyway…George and my mother showed up at my apartment one night, looking for Emily. She wasn’t there that night, thank God. She spent more time at her best friend’s house than anywhere else. George threatened me, said if I didn’t give them more money, he was going to make me pay one way or another. Evidently, the five hundred I sent every month wasn’t enough. I only sent that because of Emily. I told him to leave, and that he’d never see another dime of my father’s money. He went nuts and punched me. Over and over again.”
“That motherfucker!”
“My mother was screaming at me to just give them some money and they’d leave. My neighbor called 911. The police came and arrested him. I pressed charges and had my lawyer file a restraining order against them both, and I stopped sending them money. I lived in constant fear after that, though. I always felt like I was looking over my shoulder.
“He got out of jail pretty quick…friends in high places and all of that. I knew that since I wasn’t sending them money, George could take it out on Emily, but thankfully he didn’t. As soon as she graduated high school, Emily moved out and stayed with me until she left for college in New York. She wanted to go to a school as far away from Georgia as she could. That’s where she met Doug.”
Mackenzie ran her hand along the back of her neck. “The money from my father was enough to pay for my college tuition and the apartment I lived in. I worked all throughout school, because I knew I’d need money to one day get away from Georgia. I was headhunted during my senior year to work for the state. I started part time, and I saved all of the money from that, as well, transitioning to full time after graduation.
“Then…a friend of mine told me about the position on the farm here…and I applied. I’m just grateful that your mom and uncle gave me a shot. It was my true escape. My mother and stepfather have no idea where I am, and I want to keep it that way. They’re still in contact with Emily. She tries to have limited conversations with my mother, but she does call her every now and then. Sometimes she’ll ask about me, but not often. Emily always tells them she has no idea where I am, but I’m sure they know she’s lying.”
“Your sister doesn’t have a restraining order against them as well?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No. Asshat has never laid a hand on her. I don’t really know why. I’m glad he hasn’t—trust me. But it’s never made any sense to me. For a while, I thought maybe Emily was his real daughter. That maybe my mother cheated on my father. I talked her into doing the DNA test through Ancestry, and thank goodness I proved that theory wrong.”
Shrugging, she added, “I’m so thankful he never hurt Emily.” Then, turning to me, she said, “The day my mother and George came to my apartment, when he was hell-bent on most likely killing me, do you know what my mother said to me as they were taking him away in handcuffs?”
I slowly shook my head, not sure I wanted to hear. Though, I didn’t think my heart could possibly break any more.
I was wrong.
“She told me how lucky I was that he hadn’t killed me. But if he had, I would have deserved it—because I wouldn’t give her the money to leave him. Imagine that. She was making me her excuse for staying with a monster.”
Sitting up straight, she wiped a tear away. “That’s the reason I left Georgia and came to Montana. I was running from a past that I desperately want to forget. And the worst part is, I hope I never lay eyes on my own mother again. Does that make me a bad person?”
“No. God no, Kenzie.” My stomach lurched, just knowing she thought that way.
Kenzie exhaled. “I don’t know what to think about my mother, and my feelings for her and what she allowed to happen to me. A few years of therapy couldn’t answer most of my questions, either. I knew I needed to leave Georgia and get as far away from them as I could. They don’t know where I am, or at least, I don’t think they do.” She looked up and into my eyes. “So, you see, I have a lot of baggage with me, Bradly. Are you sure you want to deal with that?”
I reached for her, and she slid onto my lap. Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, I said, “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. I wish I had the power to change your past. But I’m not sorry it brought you to Montana, and to me. And yes, I want every part of you. The good, the bad…all of it, Kenzie. Most of all, I really want to kiss you again.”
Her hand came up to my face. “I would really, really like that.”
I kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose, before gently touching her mouth in a soft kiss. “I know it was hard to tell me that. Thank you for trusting me. Now, let me make you forget for a little while.”
She ran her finger along my jaw. “And how exactly do you plan on making me forget?”
“First, I’ll hold you close. Then, I’ll kiss you until neither of us can remember where we are. Then, I’ll hold you close again. After that, well…that’s up to you.”
A soft breath escaped her lips. “Are you a dream?”
My hand moved to the back of her neck, and I leaned in closer. Right before our lips met, I whispered, “If this is a dream, I don’t ever want to wake up.”
Kenzie pushed her hands through my hair as our mouths connected. It was slow and soft. I let her lead the way. When she bit gently on my lower lip, I opened to her, and she deepened the kiss. Our tongues danced leisurely at first. She tugged on my hair, pulling my head back and opening my mouth to her even more. We both moaned as Mackenzie took what she wanted, and I freely gave it to her.
I could feel my dick pressing into her, and I knew we needed to slow down. We were moving at lightning speed, and I wanted to do things the right way with her. She was different. She was special in a way I couldn’t put into words.