“Yes. I wanted to let you know that I don’t blame you or have any harsh feelings toward you. I don’t think ill of you in light of what happened.” I was puzzled. I mean I know Mark left her for my mother, but why would she blame me?
“What are you talking about?” I questioned.
“I’m talking about Viviana, of course. Everything your mother did to ruin my marriage. The lies and the secrets. You’re aware that your mother claimed Mark was your father when you were born, right? You aren’t, of course, which we all know now. She said she had sex with Mark at a business convention but she didn’t. It was all a trap. She laced his drink so that he would pass out and she could set it up to appear like they slept together.” I blinked and coughed as the coffee that was in my mouth slid down the wrong hole. The liquid burned the entire way down my throat and my eyes began to tear from my coughing. I needed that burn; I needed it because I desperately wanted to scream out loud because of the things my mother did.
“I…” What could I say to Olivia that wasn’t already said? I understood all of it now. Why my mother was so hateful toward me, why her and Mark acted more like roommates than a married couple. Why Royal wanted to hate me and why he really did hate my mother.
“I’m sorry,” I spoke the words with honesty. I was so sorry for the things that my mother did to all of us.
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you had no idea. I thought Royal would have told you when he found out.” Hurt overwhelmed me. How long did he know? Months or days?
“I didn’t know that she did those things to you and your family. I somehow feel as if I’m intruding now,” I laughed nervously, feeling out of my element.
“You’re not leaving, Noelle.” Royal’s sleepy voice met my ears causing me to jump up out of seat. Coffee sloshed over the rim of my cup.
“Crap.” I clutched at my chest and quickly reached for the napkins sitting in the center of the table.
“Just because your mom is a raging bitch, doesn’t mean that you are. You’re nothing like her. Nothing. If you were I wouldn’t be so in love with you.” He placed a kiss against my forehead, and then walked over to his mother and wrapped her up in his arms. She sank into him the same way I did. Like she needed him to live.
“I wasn’t going to leave. I just didn’t know because you never told me. I don’t want to be a reminder of the pain.” My mom’s hate toward me made so much more sense now.
“You’re a reminder of the good that comes from evil.” Olivia spoke before Royal could. “We can’t hate you for someone else’s actions.” The sentence she spoke reminded me of the words I said to my mom before Royal came. We couldn’t judge someone based on their past. A checkered past didn’t make for a bad person. It just meant that somewhere along the lines you veered off track.
“I didn’t know she trapped him. I was never under the impression that Mark was my father. I love Mark like a stepdad, and he has always taken care of me but that’s it.” I didn’t know why I was defending myself when I knew that I didn’t have too.
“Stop. It’s okay.” Olivia’s voice soothed me like a salve over a bleeding wound. She was everything my own mother wasn’t. Sweet. Sincere. Loving. Things that I craved in my own mother for years.
“You’ve changed me, baby. Without the things that happened I wouldn’t have met you.” Royal winked at me. It was then that I realized he was shirtless. God, everything was so fucked up. I wanted Royal again, and I felt a barrage of emotions as I stared at him and his mother. It was like finding your home after being gone for years.
This was where I needed to be, and it all finally made sense.
“That’s very true, Royal. See, you have changed him, and I can guarantee that he never would have said that before,” Olivia laughed as she made Royal a cup of coffee too.
The conversation between them continued as I watched Royal make fun of his mother, laughter filled kitchen, happiness radiating out of both of them. They seemed so alive and happy with one another. It was such a different sight than I was used to seeing at home. We never joked or played around with each other in my family. I liked this.
“I knew she was the one you loved the second I opened the door and saw the look on your face as she walked in,” I heard Olivia whisper as Royal started making breakfast. I pretended as if I wasn’t listening. I had yet to say the words out loud to him. I couldn’t because if I did they may be jinxed.
“I bet you did, Mom, and you want to know something? I wouldn’t change how my life has been for the world, because all the pain I had to endured led me straight to her.”
Of all the millions and billions of people in the world I could end up with, I got Royal Black. My prick of a stepbrother to love.
Chapter Thirty-One
-Royal