I shake my head. He hasn’t. Missy reaches for her purse. Slipping her hand in she pulls out a picture for me to see. The picture has five smiling faces, two of which I recognize as their parents. Each sibling has a resemblance to either one. Hudson looks like his father, Missy like her mother and Ten is a mixture of both.
“Our parents were in a head on collision with a drunk driver. They both died on the way to the hospital, the airbags didn’t deploy. The driver walked away without a scratch,” she takes a deep shuddering breath. I’m know this is a difficult subject for her to talk about. “I was barely eighteen, Hudson was fourteen and Tennessee was eleven. We didn’t have much in the way of family. The boys were placed in a foster home while I filed for guardianship. It took a year before I was granted custody of them.”
Her brown eyes glistens with tears, my heart aches for her. Their parents must have meant a lot to them, they look so happy in the photo. I lace my fingers with hers, giving my silent support.
“The courts gave me so much shit that first year and I struggled to make everything right. I worked two jobs but it wasn’t enough. The boys wanted to sell the house, find something more suited to our budget,” her voices wavers and she looks down at our hands. “We were drowning. The mortgage, the upkeep and various bills, it was too much for the meager pay I brought home. As much as I didn’t want to, selling the house was our only option. I set aside a substantial amount for the boys’ college funds and I cut back on my hours to be home more often with them. The boys had another plan for the money though. Since I was the one supporting them, they thought it would be better if I had a job that was more career-oriented. They wanted me to go to school, so I enrolled in a technical school for nursing. Hudson was sixteen and looking for an after school job to help out since I’d have to let one of my jobs go to accommodate a class schedule.”
I sigh, wishing I knew this kind of dedication in my life. The love and support they have each other through such a difficult time in their lives was inspiring. Maybe if my parents had given me siblings I wouldn’t have had such a lonely childhood.
“It was shortly after this period in our lives that everything changed for Hudson. Crystal walked into his life,” she drags in a breath and her body tenses. I could tell she didn’t like Crystal at all. In fact I was sure there were many people in their lives who had the same regard for her. I want to push, to ask Missy more but it’s not her place to tell me this story. Missy shakes her head and looks at me from the corner of her eye. She laughs nervously. “What you must think of me telling you sad things when this is a day of celebrations and beauty.”
I reach for the pad of paper I carried around today, letting go of her hand to write.
I think you’re courageous, giving up your life to take care of your brothers. There aren’t many in the world that would be so selfless. The support you gave each other...I wish I had known that.
She laughs nervously again and refuses to meet my gaze.
“I did what I had to do, for my family,” she sounds far away again. Thinking about it isn’t easy for her. “You do have support Alice. You just have to accept it.”
My breath catches in my chest as she finally looks at me. She means it too.
“Now, are you going to buy this gorgeous dress, or are you going to trying on more?”
I stand on shaky legs, moving towards the dressing room. This was the dress, no doubt. I feel like a woman in it and if that is the point of this shopping expedition then we’ve met our goal. I drag in a breath and turn back to her. I want to say the words, in fact, I almost do. I never felt this close to anyone in my life before. Not until now, with Missy. When I look at her, she isn’t just Hudson’s sister anymore. She’s my friend, probably the first real friend I’ve ever had.
“Thank you Alice, for listening. I haven’t talk about them in a long time,” she stands and puts her arms around me, hugging me tight. She gives me a lighter laugh, her nervousness gone. “I don’t know who benefitted more from this day, you or me. It’s nice having a woman around to do girlie things with. You can’t imagine what my life is like with so many alphas around.”
I giggle silently, offering her a bright smile.
Chapter 14
Alice
To say I’m nervous would be an understatement. What I feet is far more than nerves and underneath it I’m excited. I’ve never been on a date.
This isn’t a date, my mind whispers but I ignore it.
I’m the kind of girl who dreamt of being courted and wooed. Erik never took me out and he definitely wasn’t the wooing type. He didn’t care what I wanted and he made it clear pretty early on if I wanted him in my life then I had to let go of a lot of my fantasies. Rather, he expected me to accommodate him and his beliefs. As the young, dumb and starved for attention girl I was, at the time I didn’t know any better.