THIEF: Part 6 by Kimberly Malone Read Free Book Online

you when you told her Gordon…”She paused, sucking air through her teeth.“After you told her about the rape, she called me.Remember, I was dating that lawyer in Chicago?”
                  I didn’t remember the lawyer—truth be told, there’d been more than one, in Jane’s dating roulette—but I nodded anyway.
                  “Your mom called me for advice, so I put Louis on the phone, and he walked her through all her options to have Gordon arrested.But without physical proof, she knew he’d get one of his friends to post bail, and she was afraid of what they’d do when he was out.She had to get you out of the house.I offered to take you in, but before your mom could talk to you about it…you’d left.”
                  I thought of that day.My sixteenth birthday, me standing on the porch and promising myself I’d never come back.For the next few years, I stole, lied, and charmed all my friends into letting me crash on their couches.A couple nights, I even slept on the street.
                  “Your mom told me she didn’t even want to find you,” Jane continued, “because as long as she didn’t know where you were, neither would Gordon.She knew you could care for yourself, one way or another.”
                  Anger flared in my chest for a second, remembering some of the “or anothers” I had to do to get by.Panhandling, which was more shameful than stealing.Eating abandoned food off of café tables and, once, an actual trash can.Giving male acquaintances from high school blow jobs just for a hot shower and place to spend the night.
                  Jane didn’t know this, but she seemed to pick up on my resentment.“Now, I know that probably wasn’t the best choice.But your mama really thought it was, at least in the circumstances as she knew them.Gordon scared her.She was terrified to leave him—didn’t want him to go after you again.So she stayed with him as long as she could stand it.”Jane looked at me sideways.“She did it for you, Erin.And right or wrong…it was a sacrifice.Her way, I guess, of trying to make up for every time she’d failed you.Even though she knew it didn’t come close.”
                  “I didn’t know that,” I said quietly.“I thought she just…didn’t care.”I wiped my tears away with a tissue, probably the hundredth I’d gone through in this house, then added, “I’m still angry, though.”
                  “That’s all right,” Jane nodded.“I’m angry at her for a lot of stuff, too.But knowing why she did what she did helps a little, doesn’t it?And even if it doesn’t…all her mistakes aren’t for nothing, Erin.”
                  I thought about Silas's mistakes.I was still angry at him, too.But Jane was right.Knowing the “why” of things helped, even it was just a little bit.
                  Jane hooked her finger under my chin, making me look at her.“Good or bad, the choices your mama made turned you into who you are today.And I know you’re scared about having this baby, and maybe doing it all on your own—which you won’t be, by the way, because Killian and I are here for you, no matter what you need—but you can handle it.If nothing else, you won’t make those same mistakes she did.”
                  “Already have,” I muttered, then laughed bitterly.“I’ve chased my kid’s father away.Or he’s going to be in jail.Either way, I picked something wrong.”
                  Jane didn’t have a platitude or secret story to answer that.Stupid thing was, I kind of hoped for one.
     
     
    Against my better judgment, I tell Silas where I am now, the next time a number from Mexico calls my phone.
                  “I can’t wait to see you,” he says.“I—I really am sorry, though.About you and Alex.”
                  “Me too.”I pause.“Sorry, I