Chapter 21 (ii)

It stung to hear her say that. In the midst of the rising tension and the unspoken solidarity the three of us had cultivated against my father…I was still unwanted. My mother’s concerns weren’t for me, but for my brother whom my father was threatening to take away. What he did with me had nothing to do with her and wasn’t the sort of thing she would kick up a fuss over…but God forbid the wind brush too harshly against her precious Matthew’s skin.

Tears prickled at the eyes, but I fought to retain my composure. She didn’t want me, it wasn’t news. It didn’t make my father better.

“He’s my son, too, and he’ll be better off with me, you abusive bitch!”

My mother shot to her feet, a new fire blazing behind her eyes. She stormed up to him as unrestrained as the wind and, when she drew close enough, she shoved him in the chest. “Try to take him then! See what happens; go ahead. I&rsqu