Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Nikki looked at her mother and frowned. “Mom, how did you … get that way?”
Ethel sighed. “A man. Your father, ironically.” Ethel sighed. “My mother always told me that nothing good was ever going to come from falling in love with a married man, and she was right.”
“My dad was a married man?”
“Yeah, he told me he was going to leave his wife. That he was in a miserable relationship and hated it. Promised me time and time again, and then I had you, and those visits got less and less, until one day I went to him, and he told me I was nothing but a whore. I was only good enough for a good time, and no man in his right mind was ever going to settle down with me. He said there are two kinds of women—the kind you marry and the kind you fuck and dump, and I was the kind you fucked and dumped.” She did a quick cross sign on her chest. “Sorry.”
“You’re asking for forgiveness for cussing?” Nikki asked.
“A lot has changed. Like I said, I go to church. So, after that confrontation with your dad, I moved here, and the rest is history. I needed to earn money, and people had already known I was seeing a married man. They didn’t know my side of it, just knew what they wanted to believe, and the rest, as they say, is history. I don’t even know what I was trying to prove to him, to myself. It got out of hand, and went so wrong. I never wanted to be a bad mother. Never wanted to say that horrible stuff to you.” Ethel sighed. “I hope one day you can forgive me. I know that is going to take time and I’m not asking for it now. But one day.”
“Have you been to see my dad?”
“No,” Ethel said. “I’m finally free of all of it. I’m not going to drag myself down that pit. He said his piece, and I responded appallingly. I could have handled things a lot differently.”
“I’m sorry,” Nikki said.
“You’ve got nothing to apologize for. I’m the one who should be doing the apologizing.”
She looked at her mother and saw that she had changed. Nikki was truly grateful she had knocked on her mother’s door.
Right at that moment, there was a bang on the door that made both women jump.
“Who on earth could that be?” Ethel asked, and made her way toward the door.
Nikki got to her feet, as she had a rough idea of who it might be, but she didn’t want to believe it could be him.
Her mother opened the door, and Nikki heard him.
“Is Nikki here?” Hawk asked.
He didn’t sound happy.
She leaned against the wall as Ethel held the door firmly within her grip. “And you are?”
“I want to know if Nikki is here. Are you Nikki’s mom? Nikki Brown?”
“I’m Ethel Brown, and Nikki is my daughter. I take it you’re Hawk?” Ethel asked.
“She is here. Nikki!” He started to shout her name.
“Will you keep it quiet? You will wake my neighbors and it is already late.”
“From what I hear, you never used to have a problem with waking the neighbors. Don’t start giving me your high horse, pedestal talk—”
“Enough,” Nikki said, stepping behind her mother. She might not have outright forgiven her mother, but she was not going to sit idly back and listen to someone else talk bad about her. Especially not Hawk. She was not going to allow anyone associated with her, to potentially spiral her mother and send her back on that dark path. Ethel didn’t deserve it.
She stared at Hawk, and all the pain of knowing he’d cheated came flooding back to her. How could she have fallen in love with this man?
Chapter Fourteen
Nikki’s mom was not what Hawk imagined. There were no men waiting on the lawn, and from what he saw of the house, it looked like it had been cleaned up. Whatever was going on here, he didn’t have the answers, but he did want Nikki.
She was wrapped up in a pair of cute heart pajamas, her hair pulled back into a messy bun at the nape of her neck. She glared at him.
“Honey, I can call the cops,” Ethel said.
“It’s fine, Mom. I’ll talk to him.”
“Please take him into the dining room or kitchen. I don’t want him loitering outside my door.”
Nikki nodded and stepped back.
Hawk didn’t care how he got into the house, only that he had, and he was finally able to talk with Nikki.
Her mother’s home was clean, and this was not what he was expecting. He thought it would be filthy. Nikki going to her mother’s would be a last resort, but this place was clean. It was spotless. Something had clearly happened with her mother, and he didn’t know the details. Nikki wouldn’t lie to him.