Page 63 (2/2)

As she stared at est bastard to have ever walked the earth "Mama Beth, I’m sorry," I murmured I wanted her to screa her in such a horrible way To hate e and, in a way, her life

Instead, tears streamed down her cheeks "No, I’m the one who is sorry, Nathaniel I’ize to ht her hand up to cup my cheek "You’ve been under a trery at you for the way you told me, I can’t be You’re , my heart breaks for you Hoish I could turn back ti"

"You were You just didn’t know the why"

Shaking her head, she said, "I wish your father was alive, so I could give hihed "Knowing hiood"

"It would have made me feel better" She wiped her eyes "He should have known keeping secrets never does any good Maybe things could have been different if he had only been honest" She glanced up at me "Maybe you’ll learn from his mistakes"

"What do you mean?"

"With Annabel"

"I don’t want to talk about it"

"I’ the truth fro run" She then opened her ar you and try to rown man, I allowed my mother to comfort me like the scared eleven-year-old boy wished he had been coo, and while I wished I could say that her talk had ain was too stubborn I retreated back into drinking, although I did s with the club and returned to my job at the pawnshop Of course, I wasn’t sober for any of it, but at least I was physically present

The next afternoon foundho insideback some liquid warmth, I put the flask back Just as I started up the stairs, I remembered I needed to feed Poe It had been two h he was doing fine on his own, I still gave hi hih he was a constant reminder of Annabel, I still wanted to see him