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SIENNA

When I pulled into the driveway, ht behind Dewayne’s truck I’d only been at work four hours, and Dewayne hadn’t called me to let me know my mother was here Because that was the only person it could be I hadn’t seen her in six years, and those last memories weren’t happy ones

And she was in that house with rabWhen I reached the door, it was locked The keys were in nition inthe door, I ran inside

"Micah?" I called out "Dewayne?"

No answer I couldn’t call her name What did I even call her? Moh the house, but it was empty No one was here Could they be at the Falcos’?

The front door opened, and I hurried back to the living rooray now Coray I had been born to my parents late in life and ray when I lived at ho Her face looked like it had aged ten years instead of six, and she was thinner

"Sienna," she said with an uneasy smile "You look beautiful"

I looked different too She’d sent off a sixteen-year-old girl I was a woman nooman with a child

"Where are Micah and Dewayne?" I asked

She looked hurt, but she covered it up quickly I would not feel guilty for that She had abandoned me I could never hurt her as badly as she had hurtcompared

"I don’t know I knocked and no one answered, so I walked around back, then heard a car drive up I didn’t recognize the fancy car, but it see well now, from the looks of it"

That meant Dewayne and Micah were at the Falcos’, and the moment Dewayne looked outside and saw my father’s car in the drive, he’d be over here fast I wanted hiiven us this house and given Micah that rooive her

"You never called I had hoped you would call," she said

"I knohat that feels like I had hoped you would call once too Or at least give a shit"

She flinched Again, I would not feel guilty She did this to us To me

"The Falcos know about Micah now, I take it? Since Dewayne is with him"

"Yeah They missed five years of his life because letters I sent never made it to them Aunt Cathy says I need to talk to you about that"

Mother looked as if that didn’t surprise her She otten a call from her sister about it

The door behind her opened, and Dewayne filled the space A fierce, protective glare was on his face, and his body was tensed and ready to defend me He stepped around htly "You okay?" he asked, his gaze softening for ulfed ured this would happen I knehen you came to see her the day before we took her to Texas that it wason her" Mother’s voice wasn’t condeone," Dewayne said, turning to look back at nant sixteen-year-old daughter, and the father of her child was dead I didn’t knohat to do I was trying to save her future She was too young toive upMicah was the best decision ofinsidemy son

She nodded "Yes, it was You knew better than we did You knew you could be a good mother A better ht to give him a life And you’ve done a wonderful job I’m proud of you I didn’t make you the wo with unshed tears, and I gulped down air to keep fro hi to behim how special he was and that he wasthe family other kids had You don’t know! You don’t knohat it was like! He needed you I needed you" The sobs stoppedanyined this moment a million times since the day she drove out of my life Never had it been like this Never had I broken down like this I was always resolute and strong I was always proud of myself and would show her I hadn’t needed them I hadn’t needed her But never did I break down and cry

The lost girl who didn’t kno she was going to do it alone was back She hadn’t been gone Not really All along she’d been there underneath the surface That girl was a fighter, but she was also hiding so much pain So much betrayal

"Your fatherhe was devastated We had tried so hard to protect you To keep you safe and away from bad decisions We trusted Dustin We trusted you But then Dustin was gone, and you were pregnant We couldn’t see another way"

I wiped at my eyes, and Dewayne soothed me with slow strokes down et through this I was strong I had grown up fast, and for a ain I needed to tell her what she had done to me And tell her what I had done for myself

I moved, and Dewayne eased his hold onme, and I wasn’t alone He would have been there back then, too, if he’d only been given the chance to know To be there He would have been How different Micah’s life would have been