Epic by Ginger Voight Read Free Book Online Page A

he was doing, he’d kill me and my son.”
    I glanced around at the photos on the wall, taking note for the first time of the dark-haired boy who starred in almost all of the photos. There were photos from every year of his life, leading up to the sullen, long-haired teenager I saw staring back at me from a photo on the bookcase.
    “Ronald’s dad died when Diego was a year and a half, which put him out of a job. The stress got the better of him. He was drinking all the time, so he was very volatile, against me and against Diego. He got us thrown out of more than one apartment until we were living out of a motel. The only money we had was what I was earning as a housekeeper, but it was gone almost as soon as I brought it into the house. He ended up knocking over a liquor store, and while he was in jail I took Diego and moved out. I filed for a restraining order.”
    She braced herself against the chair. It was clear she was struggling to breathe and it was painful for her. “So as you can see, I had nothing to offer you, Jordana. I never would have contacted you on my own. When your investigator contacted me, I almost couldn’t believe it. When he asked if I wanted to meet with you, I nearly declined. I’m a sick old woman with no money and a past littered with scandal you can’t afford.” Her eyes traveled to Jace. “Especially now.”
    Finally Jace spoke. “So why did you agree to meet with Jordi?”
    She smiled as graciously as she could. “How could I not?” Her eyes met mine. “Look at what you’ve become. You’re stronger than all your ancestors combined. You got that from your father.”
    I fought back tears of my own . It was something I had always suspected, or at least hoped had been true. “He would have wanted us to find each other,” I told her.
    She didn’t look convinced. “I hope that you have the answers you needed, Jordana. But if you don’t want to see me again, I’ll certainly understand. Maybe it would be best, considering.”
    “There’s plenty of time to think about that,” I said.
    Her face shadowed. “We always think there’s time,” she said. “I thought there would be time to tell Joey all the things I wanted to say before one of us left the planet. My biggest regret is that I never did.” She turned to Jace. “That is why I agreed to meet now.”
    She sipped once again from her cup. “I can’t say I’m sorry for giving you up, Jordana. Clearly the life you had with the Hemphills was much safer and kinder than anything I could have offered you.” She glanced over at the photos of Diego. “Diego is living proof of that.”
    “Will I get to meet him?” I asked.
    She shrugged. “He is a typical sixteen-year-old. I don’t see him much. He’s got music in his soul, like you. He plays in a band and he’s either practicing or performing. I’ve tried to talk to him about our situation, but he’s so angry at the world. Life hasn’t been easy on him. He would never say as much to me, but I think he’d rather I had given him up as well. Then he could be more like his successful sister.”
    She smiled but I could barely mirror it. I didn’t feel successful at that moment. I felt extraordinarily guilty. He was living the life I very well could have been living. I would have resented the hell out of me, too.
    It wasn’t much longer before Maya fatigued and was unable to provide any more missing pieces to my puzzle. Clearly the emotional strain of meeting me and confronting her past was overwhelming. It was a lot for me to swallow, and I didn’t have half of the health problems she apparently did. So Jace and I left before the missing Diego could appear. It was probably for the best. I felt so bad about their predicament that I was willing to write a check as big as I could spare.
    That guilt got worse after we checked into our luxury suite at a five-star hotel on the strip. It was unreal driving from Maya’s sad little house to the neon spectacle of Las Vegas