Before she realized what she was doing, she ran after the woman, then reached out and grabbed the other woman’s arm, beyond caring about propriety and manners. “He is your grandson, Mama. Matt is my son.”
“He’s not my blood,” the old woman said bitterly, her face as white as a ghost’s. “Because you aren’t.”
Her words froze Faith in shock. “What?”
“You didn’t come from my womb,” the woman hissed. “And you turned out to be every bit the slut your mother was.” The woman wrenched her arm away and practically ran toward the little house. This time Faith didn’t try to stop her.
It felt as though a wrecking ball had just hit her in the very center of her chest. Faith was vaguely aware of Matt saying something, something he shouldn’t be saying. Some innate parenting sense had her mouthing an admonishment, but her words were lost in the inexplicable fog. It was as if her brain was shutting down in self-defense.
None of it made any sense. The woman’s words echoed in her head over and over again, drowning out everything else. Matt was talking, but she was incapable of hearing anything over the constant buzz in her ears. He led her away from the church, but she didn’t even realize they were walking until Matt pushed at her shoulders and guided her onto a park bench.
*
“Mom. Mom. Look at me. Jesus.” The words left his lips right before a string of curses that would have earned a raised eyebrow or two from the Callaghans. Matt pulled out his cell, realized it wasn’t turned on, and cursed again. It took less than a minute, but it felt like an eternity. The moment the start-up message faded, he hit a preprogrammed number.
It was picked up before the first ring fully sounded; Matt silently thanked God and prayed Kieran wasn’t too angry with him, and would still talk to him. Matt simply didn’t know who else to call.
“Kieran. Yeah, I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s Mom...”
“What’s wrong?”
“We’re in Georgia, and we just ran into Mom’s mother, except it’s not really her mother. She said some hateful things and Mom’s in shock or something... I don’t know what to do...”
“Are you someplace safe?”
Matt looked around. “Yeah. A park or something. Nobody else is around.”
“Good. Don’t let her out of your sight. Stay there and keep your phone turned on. I’ll be there in a few.”
“But we’re in - ”
Matt didn’t get a chance to finish before the connection ended. Obviously Kieran missed the “we’re in Georgia” part. He sank down next to Faith on the bench and tried to think. What should he do? Was it better to sit here a few minutes and hope his mother snapped out of it? Or should he try to walk her around a bit? They hadn’t checked into a motel or anything yet, so he didn’t even have a place to take her.
“Matt.”
Kieran’s voice roused him. Matt’s head snapped up, wondering just how long he’d been sitting there. It hadn’t seemed like five minutes had passed, but Kieran was in Pine Ridge...
Kieran kneeled in front of Faith. “Faith,” he said, his voice soft but commanding. “Look at me, sweetheart. Look at me.”
She blinked once, but there was no recognition in her eyes. “Shit,” Kieran muttered under his breath as he took in her pale complexion, the coldness of her skin. “She’s in shock.”
“When is the last time she ate?” he asked, shooting the question over his shoulder as Matt jogged behind them with their carry-ons.
Matt tried to think. The muffin she’d ordered at the diner this morning was untouched when they’d left. She hadn’t had anything the night before when they’d stopped at a restaurant on the way to the airport, saying she’d eaten earlier and didn’t want too much on her stomach for her first flight. Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually seen her eat anything.
Kieran cursed again. He led them to a sleek black rental sedan, instructing Matt to get in the back. Then he carefully handed Faith to him and climbed into the driver’s seat.
*
Kieran drove them back to his hotel, glancing frequently in the rearview mirror. The flood of relief he’d felt when the GPS on his phone came to life was now replaced with concern. He’d driven around the bus route for several hours, blindly hoping to catch sight of them when the GPS failed to pick anything up. The moment the app lit up, he’d hung a quick U-turn and sped back toward the blip which, thankfully, had been only a few miles away.
Thank God he’d been there. Matt was close to freaking out, and Faith was as pale as he’d ever seen her. When he’d scooped her up into his arms, he’d been shocked by how light she was. She’d lost weight since he’d last seen her.
“How did you get here so fast?” Matt finally asked. He sat in the three-room suite at the Marriott, staring at Kieran as he hung up the receiver after ordering nearly everything on the room service menu.