Blake snorted. “God, I was such a young idiot.”
“We’re all idiots when we’re young.” A pause. “I married my high school sweetheart, after all.”
Blake looked over at him. Though his attention was on the road in front of them, his hands were fisted around the steering wheel. She knew she’d lose him again once she told him how not the sweetheart she truly was.
“We never married,” she said after a moment. “The day after graduation, we withdrew as much money as we could because, hey, it was our money, right? I figured I’d go to school after I lived a bit, you know? As for Chris? I don’t think he ever wanted to go back to school. He just wanted to party and live off his parents like his dad had done before he’d found his path. So he drank, and I drank with him. He smoked, but I didn’t since I never liked the taste. When he started doing drugs because some of his friends did, he scared me, and I broke up with him and ran back to my parents. They wanted nothing to do with me. Not that I could blame them. They disowned me, hit me, and called me a whore. So I lived on the streets for a couple weeks before I found a job as a receptionist at a tattoo shop and tried to figure out my life.”
She let out a breath.
“Chris got clean and I went back. I was so freaking stupid. I quit my job because Chris’s family paid for his lifestyle, while my parents threatened my life daily. His parents figured if they let him party it out, he’d come back to them. I don’t know if he ever would have, even if things had turned out differently. I was worse than an abuser, I was an enabler. I tried to get Chris off drugs, but it was never enough. When I got pregnant, I ran. I didn’t want my baby to be a part of that.”
She closed her eyes.
“Chris OD’d a few days after I had Rowan. He never met her, never knew I was having a girl. I was so scared someone was going to take her away from me, but they didn’t. I had a job, a roof over my head, and the determination to keep her.”
“That’s fucking brave of you, baby.”
Blake shook her head. “Not brave enough. My parents died in a car crash a few years ago. Slick roads and too much drinking. I never wanted the house, and I’m still not sure about what the will says about Rowan. Or frankly, me. But I don’t want anything to do with that place. They moved out of it when I came back the first time. The last time I stood in that foyer, my mother called me a whore and my father backhanded me. And when I left, they left, too, not caring about the building. That’s why I freaked out that first day when I got there.”
“Jesus.”
“Rowan’s never seen it. Never seen any of her grandparents. I’ve hidden her from my friends and moved around from job to job to make sure Chris’s parents couldn’t find me. I haven’t changed my name or anything that could get me in trouble, but I’ve done my best to keep under the radar. But when the estate came up, I knew my days of running would be over.”
Graham pulled into his driveway and shut off the car. “They aren’t getting Rowan.” His voice was low, a little gravely.
“I don’t know how I can fight them. They have so much money and power, and I’m a piercer at a tattoo shop. My baby is such a smart little girl, and so freaking amazing, but if they get their hands on her, they’ll shut off the light that makes her my Rowan.”
Graham turned in his seat and cupped her face. “I’m not letting you lose your child, Blake. We’ll figure it out.”
Tears filled her eyes again, but she blinked them back. “I didn’t think you wanted any part of this.”
Graham ran a thumb under her eye. “I don’t know what I want or what will hurt less, but I can’t walk away when you need me.”
Before Blake could say anything to that, another car pulled up, and she stiffened, only to scramble out as Murphy got out of the passenger seat. He opened the back door, and Rowan piled out, her little legs running full steam to Blake, who had her arms open.
“Mom! What’s going on?” Rowan asked, her body shaking. “Are we running again?”
Her daughter had always known to be careful, and that things could change, but she’d done her best to shield her daughter from a past that would hurt. When Rowan was older, she’d tell her everything.
“Let’s talk inside,” Graham said as he made his way to Blake’s side. “Hi, Rowan, I’m Graham.”
Rowan’s eyes widened as she looked up, all the way up at Graham. “Hi. Your beard is really long.”
And despite the brevity of the situation and the fact that Blake had no idea what she was doing, she laughed.
Maybe, just maybe, they’d figure this out.
At least, she hoped.
12