Page 55 of Sinful Promises
“It’s disgusting.” If my eyes were daggers, I would have sliced her head off. And still stabbed her fucking eyes out.
Her expression dropped to her classic sulking look that had overcome many young men’s resolve. “It was beautiful. Sweet.”
“It wasn’t fucking sweet, Mother. It was just sex.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, it was the only thing I was good at.”
Fucking hell. I blinked at her. Did she really just say that? To her daughter?
“What can I say? I’m not proud of many things in my life.” She raised her eyes to mine. “I’m proud of you.”
I shook my head. “Don’t change the subject.”
“Oh, bloody hell, Daisy. What do you want to hear? I was a slut. A dirty, filthy slut who slept with men because I liked it. Is that so bad? Yes, I like sex. Any sex and lots of it. There, you feel better now?”
No, I didn’t feel better. I felt like a piece of shit on the sidewalk that’d been stomped upon by an angry mob of protesters.
Mother liked sex. Was that something her daughter should know?
A thought shot through me like projectile vomit.
I liked sex too. I slept with complete strangers and liked it.
Oh, God. Here I was, all high and mighty, pretending I was better than her. But I was no different.
Fuck.
I stood so fast my chair toppled. Leaving it there, I paced the room. Seven steps to the wall and back again. Back and forth. Back and forth.
Her eyes tracked my movement. She remained silent. I did too.
The people in the other two beds made ghastly sucking noises, and if they’d heard our conversation, they’d given no indication. Maybe we’d given them heart attacks. More likely they were loving every minute of our family reunion.
Family! Gah! Zali was right. Back and forth.
Mother may be my blood relative. Back and forth.
But she had no idea how to be family. Back and forth.
It was a long time before Mother cleared her throat. “Rob was your father. His sperm may not have been the one that made you, and we will never know, but he was the man who accepted you as his own. He loved you. We loved you.” She cleared her throat. “I have always loved you, Daisy.”
“You had a funny way of showing it.” I mumbled the words, not really expecting her to hear.
“I know I wasn’t like all the other moms. But I was so young when I found out I was pregnant.”
Ahhh, that was another question I’d wanted to ask. “How old were you?”
She smiled so sweetly, like she’d drifted off on a memory that was truly special. “I was eighteen.”
I did a double-take. “Eighteen?”
“Yes. When I found out I was pregnant it was the biggest shock of my life. I wasn’t ready. But . . . Daisy, you saved me.”
I stopped pacing and spun to her. My jaw dropped. “I saved you?”
“Yes. You did. Please will you come sit down?” She patted the bed like it was a puppy.
Against all my rational thoughts, I returned to her beside. But I didn’t clutch her offered hand and I didn’t sit on the bed. I picked up the chair and sat with my arms folded.