Misty Blue by Dyanne Davis Page A

would take me some place fun so I wouldn’t miss it.
    “Did it work?”
    “No. But I pretended. My brother wanted me to be happy. I knew that so I pretended that I was.”
    “I can’t believe no one ever came to check up on you.”
    “Believe it. No one cared. After a couple of visits the social worker assigned to us mostly called and asked if we were doing okay. If some miracle happened and a relative stopped by, Keefe would call Jerry and he would either come by or call back and it seemed like he was taking care of us.”
    “I can see why Keefe acts like he thinks he’s your father and why you love him so much. Sounds like he gave up his whole childhood for you.”
    “He did and that’s why I can’t ask him to do something that could make him uncomfortable.”
    “Mia, I still think that you’re wrong.”
    Mia closed her eyes for a second, opened them and blinked several times. She’d just told Damien of the things in her life that had caused her the most pain and she’d done it in a matter- of-fact manner, as though none of it mattered. That was the farthest thing from the truth.
    “Don’t worry,” Mia assured Damien. “Jerry is a good guy. And if it’s not Keefe, he’s my second choice. Like I said, he did a lot for us. He took a big risk giving us an apartment, putting all of the utilities in his own name. He helped Keefe get a car, took him for his license, and even put Keefe’s car under his insurance.”
    Damien wasn’t buying it. He was staring at her with a funny expression on his face. Mia sighed. She shouldn’t have to be trying to sell Jerry to Damien. But somehow she felt that was exactly what she was doing. When she could take his staring no longer, she rolled her eyes and asked, “What?”
    “I still don’t get that an adult would just leave two kids to fend for themselves. He expected a lot of Keefe. I’ll have to give your brother his props.”
    Mia smiled. “I’ll tell him that.”
    “Don’t you dare.” He looked over Mia’s head, then grinned. “I’m not trying to take anything away from Jerry but I know that people get money from the state to take in foster kids. It looks to me like the guy got money for the two of you without having to actually take care of you. I don’t think that’s right.”
    “Is that what’s bothering you? When Keefe graduated from high school, Jerry gave him all the money he’d taken out over the years for the rent on the apartment and he taught him about investing.”
    “Okay, so he’s not a bad guy. I always thought I had the worst family life imaginable.” He paused as he remembered, then quickly brought his attention back to Mia. “I guess I’m thankful that both of my parents stuck around. What about your mother?”
    “She actually came here a month ago.”
    Mia barely looked up as she answered Damien’s question. She didn’t want to see his eyes for she knew what would be there. Pity. She didn’t want Damien’s pity, only his love.
    She anticipated what was coming next. Any sane person would have a hard time believing that a mother would just walk out and abandon her two kids. After all these years, she still couldn’t believe it herself.
    “Your mother never came back until recently?”
    Damien had surprised her. He hadn’t asked how her mother could do such a horrible thing. She could kiss him for not asking, for providing her a way to give an answer that was factual. She didn’t want to deal with the emotional side of their mother leaving them, not now.
    “She started popping up right after Keefe graduated,” Mia explained. “She’d found out where we were. When she saw how well we were doing she’d come by needing money every few months. I wanted her to move in with us. Keefe didn’t. He hated her.”
    “Why didn’t you?”
    “I don’t know. I loved her, she was my mother.”
    “Did she ever say why she took off?”
    “Yeah, she said the situation was too hard on her, that she was only one person and she