Page 41 of Reverie
“Did you…plan that?” he asks, his words careful.
Did we plan this?
A distant part of my brain realizes that whilewemay not have exactly planned to create a new life…I certainly did.
And why is that, Hunter?
Veronica’s accusations ring in my ears, so I shrug in response to Leo’s question.
“Well, this makes my point even more, H.”
“What the fuck do you expect me to do, Leo? I’m not going to let them use Ella. She’s gone through enough.”
He runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t fucking know, Hunter. All of this is so incredibly fucked. I just…I don’t want anything to happen to anyone.”
I let out a breath.
“Oh. I didn’t expect to see anyone else here.” Leo and I both turn to watch my mother as she approaches us. The sun reflects off her dark, wavy hair.
I turn away and stare hard at the side of Leo’s face.
“Amelia,” he says, stepping down from the gazebo until he’s a foot away from her.
“How? I…” He’s flustered, and for a man who uses so few words, it’d be comical if this situation weren’t so enraging.
“Leo, it’s so good to see you again. You’re all grown up now!” She lets out the delicate laugh that I’ve heard in my dreams forthe last two decades, and the sound of it is like sandpaper over my deepest wounds.
“Yeah, growth is what happens in the span of twenty years, Mother.” My tone is biting, and when she looks down at the pavers beneath her feet, kicking a piece of gravel, I feel a slight jolt of remorse.
I’m likely not being fair to her. I haven’t heard her out. Maybe she had reasons…reasons for leaving us behind.
Reasons for leavingmebehind.
But do her reasons really fucking matter?
“H, c’mon, man,” Leo says. “Your mother is alive. That’s a miracle. I’d give anything to have my mother back from the grave.”
He keeps his words light, but I hear the grief behind them. As the statement lands, I feel guilt hit me from another angle.
“No,” I grind out. I turn to look her in the eye. “She made a choice. She chose to stay away.”
The three of us stand in awkward silence.
“Hunter, I know you’re angry,” she says. “But can you give me a chance to explain? There’s so much you need to know—so much you should know.”
My eyebrows drop over my hard gaze. “More than there being a genocidal secret society who wishes to use my sister—your daughter—as part of some fucked societal cleansing? Let’s not forget that they wanted me to fuck Blair to produce some kind of genetic jackpot.”
She releases a humorless chuckle. “Yes, there’s more to explain than that.”
“Well, in your explanation, will you tell me why you abandoned us to a fucking psychopath? Will you explain why you left me to suffer?”
“Son,” she says, her voice choked.
“You don’t get to call me that. Don’t call me that,ever.” My voice is a shout, and nearby birds sing and flap their wings at the echo of my rage.
Leo steps closer to my mom, placing an arm around her shoulder.
I have a flash of August in our kitchen in Amelia Manor when he said the same words to me.