Misty Blue by Dyanne Davis Page B

couldn’t take care of two kids. She said it was hard for her to have a life, that men left her because of us. She said she was only trying to be happy and that if we weren’t so selfish we’d see that and want that for her.”
    Damien’s glance slid over her and in spite of the pain, she felt the warmth of his love. Besides Keefe and her therapist, Mia had never told anyone the things her mother had said to her.
    “Baby girl, I wish I had been there for you.” Damien hugged her to his heart. “I guess you can be grateful that your mother never told anyone the truth, that your brother was taking care of you alone.”
    Mia smiled sadly. “She threatened. She told me once when Keefe got angry and wouldn’t give her money that she could make one phone call and I’d be back in foster care. By that time they couldn’t do anything to Keefe. But there was no way I wanted to go back, so I badgered him to give her what she wanted. I always did. It became a routine even after I’d graduated from high school and knew there was nothing she could do. I still got money from him to give to her.”
    “She never apologized for abandoning you and your brother?”
    Mia cringed. Even now she hated to use that word. She didn’t like people knowing or saying that her mother had abandoned them.”
    “No, she never believed she had anything to apologize for.”
    “I guess I’ll have to cut Keefe some slack. He did a good job of taking over after your mom left. I’ll give him that.”
    Mia smiled at Damien. “Actually he’s taken care of me my entire life. From the age of three, I can remember Keefe combing my hair, washing my clothes, getting my breakfast, making me say my prayers and letting me play with the big kids.”
    Her eyes suddenly felt gritty, burning with the torrent of tears just waiting to be released. She didn’t want to cry but all this talking about Keefe was enough to make her resolve crumble. He was her rock, the one person she’d counted on her entire life. The thought that he would abandon her as their mother had done was more than Mia could bear. She felt she was losing something precious and she wanted very much to hold on to it.
    “I don’t know what would have happened to me had it not been for Keefe.”
    “What about your father? Didn’t he ever try and help?” Damien asked, disbelief coloring his voice.
    “We have no idea who he is. Our mother won’t say. Once one of our aunts told us that when Mom was a teenager she took off and disappeared for several years and no one heard a word from her. When she returned she had us in tow. She never told anyone where she’d been or anything about our father. And it didn’t matter how many times we asked. Keefe said our father knew we existed and if he really wanted to, he could find us. So he told me to just forget about him. It was bad enough worrying about one absent parent. Neither of us had the energy or desire to worry about two of them.
    “You never wondered about him?”
    “Sometimes, but Keefe was always there. He was my father all the time and my mother most of the time,” she added, then closed her eyes and looked away.
    “Come here, baby girl.” Damien’s arms circled Mia and he crooned to her. “Looks like parents can really mess a kid up. We’re going to have to make sure we don’t do that to our kids. I promise you, Mia, I’m going to be a good husband and a good father.”
    “I know that.” She opened her eyes and looked at him. “I never had a doubt that you would. So do you want to tell me about your parents?”
    “Next time, baby, but just so you know, a good chunk of my life has been spent trying to figure those two out.” He laughed, “Maybe that’s the reason I fell in love with you. We both had hellish childhoods and lived through it.”

Chapter Five
    Keefe couldn’t keep still. He paced the rooms of his apartment glaring at Ashleigh, though he wasn’t angry at her. “Can you believe that?” he asked for perhaps