To her complete and utter dismay, Adelaide actually looked satisfied. “Well, at least I won’t have to worry about those rumors.” She looked back to Mariana. “Now, you still need to come with me. One problem has been solved. Now, you just need to get back into church and behave like a young woman should. Come along, dear.”
“Did she just call the fact that I was beaten until I miscarried a… problem? One that she needed solving?” Mariana couldn’t believe this. “She actually said that, didn’t she?”
“Babe, I can make her leave if she’s upsetting you.”
“She’s pissing me off!” She turned to her mother. “Why are you here? Because I damned well know it’s not because you care about me. What’s happened for you to decide I’m suddenly worth saving?”
Marge smacked her gum as she set Mariana’s chocolate malt on the table in front of her. “I’ll tell you what happened. Someone told the folks in the women’s Sunday school group that you weren’t actually dead, Mariana. That Adelaide lied because she was embarrassed you were expecting. I think the preacher’s wife had a good long talk with her. From what I heard, Adelaide, you were supposed to ask forgiveness of your daughter and welcome her back into the holy flock. Not browbeat her and tell her you were glad she lost the child she was carrying.”
At this point, both Tito and Elena came around the bar, out of the kitchen, and into the dining area. “Adelaide Everly,” Elena said, disapproval in her voice. “If you think I won’t tell Brother Samuel and his wife how you’re acting, you should think again. You’re hurting yourself and your child. You should be horrified that your only grandchild perished in such a way!”
“I have my reputation to think of, Elena.” Adelaide sniffed as she looked the other woman up and down, like she found her lacking in every way. “Unlike others here, people actually look up to me and depend on my goodwill to keep them going.”
“Rubbish!” Elena said, her fists going to her ample hips. “You’re no more important than the rest of us, you’re just too self-centered to see it. Brother Samuel’s wife asked you to make amends with your daughter to help your poor rotten soul. As far as I’m concerned, you’re a lost cause.” Elena turned up her nose and went back to the kitchen.
“I really think you need to leave now.” Thorn’s voice was deep, the deadly side of him not far from the surface. While Mariana knew he’d never hurt her mother, she could almost wish he was the type of man who would, just to give her mother a brief glimpse at what her daughter had gone through. But then, the reason she loved him so much was because he wasn’t that kind of man. She could see he wanted with everything in him to rough up her mother for the way she treated Mariana. But he wouldn’t. Instead, he escorted her to the door with a hand at the small of her back. As he urged her outside, he gave her a hard look. Her mother stepped back.
“We need to get one thing straight.” Thorn didn’t shut the door and joined her in the parking lot. He obviously wanted witnesses to what he was about to say. “Mariana is my woman. She’s going to be my wife. How much, if any, role you play in her life is completely up to her. At the moment, you’re at exactly zero percent. I’m good with that. But I have a feeling that, one day when you’re old and alone with no one to check in on you or call to say ‘Happy Mother’s Day,’ you’ll regret what you did here today, and the day you left your pregnant daughter on the side of the road in the oppressive heat. If you never get to the point where you do regret it, then she didn’t need you in her life to begin with. Good day, Mrs. Everly.”
Thorn shut the door and turned his back on Adelaide Everly. Marian talked with Beast while Thorn was busy with her mother. She tried to pretend she didn’t care what he said, that she was engrossed in her conversation with Beast instead of hurt and angry at her mother. If she showed either, her mother would have won. She’d obviously come there to punish Mariana for getting a lecture from their pastor’s wife. If Mariana pretended indifference to her mother, then Adelaide wouldn’t feel like she was the center of Mariana’s attention, devaluing her in Mariana’s circle of importance. That was exactly the impression Mariana wanted to give.
When Thorn sat down, Beast reached over and squeezed Mariana’s hand. “I’m proud of you, little sister. You’re going to make the best ol’ lady for Thorn.”
“I’m going to try,” she said softly, looking up at Thorn. “It’s the least I can do since you’re so good to me.”
“Honey, I’ll always be good to you. I fuckin’ love you. Any day you can’t feel that when you’re near me, I have a fuckin’ problem.” He hugged her close to him and kissed her soundly.
Marge put their plates in front of them and grinned as she smacked her gum. “Don’t you worry about Adelaide none.” She winked at Mariana. “Them Baptist church ladies can cut you to shreds if you don’t behave the way they think you should. Adelaide’s in for a big surprise when she gets to Sunday school tomorrow. Got a feeling the lesson and Brother Samuel’s sermon will revolve around something along the lines of loving your family and not lying and telling the church your only daughter died just because you disagree with her life choices.”
Mariana giggled. “Would serve her right, but I honestly don’t care. Thorn’s right. She’s run off every single person who’s ever cared about her. I was all she had left. And she’s pushed me away too. I thought I’d feel even worse about it when I saw her walk through that door, but, honestly, it’s kind of freeing to know I never have to deal with her again.”
“Damned straight you don’t,” Thorn growled. “You just gotta deal with me.”
From the kitchen, Elena yelled, “She don’t gotta deal with you if she don’t want to. Honey, he gets outta line, you send him to me. I’ll make sure he knows how to treat his woman.”
“Uh, oh, Thorn,” Tito said with a big grin on his face. “That’s the first time I ever heard my Elena less than pleased with you.”
“Not fair, Elena,” Thorn called with a grin and a wink at Mariana. “I ain’t done nothing!”
“Just making sure you don’t. Mariana’s a sweet girl. You don’t treat her right, you answer to me.” There was a pause then she called, “If Thorn is mean to my girl Mariana, the first one to tell me gets the Marge special and the Elena special on the house!”
The diner erupted in laughter. Mariana knew she’d found her home. This club. This man. These people. They were good and kind. They might be rough around the edges, swear too much, and party hard, but they looked out for her and all the women that belonged to them. They were a family. And she was a part of it. She looked up at Thorn with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. “I love you so much, Thorn.”
“I love you too, honey. I always will.”
Mariana knew she’d always love him too.
Marteeka Karland
Erotic romance author by night, emergency room tech/clerk by day, Marteeka Karland works really hard to drive everyone in her life completely and totally nuts. She has been creating stories from her warped imagination since she was in the third grade. Her love of writing blossomed throughout her teenage years until it developed into the totally unorthodox and irreverent style her English teachers tried so hard to rid her of.
Marteeka at Changeling: changelingpress.com/marteeka-karland-a-39
Thorn (Salvation's Bane MC 3): A Bones MC Romance Page 12
