Free Asher by Effy Vaughn

his happiness for her. Maybe…” I stopped and stood up. “Momma, I love you but I can’t talk about this. Not right now,” I said leaving my plate on the table and heading for the door. If Steel could run out, then so could I. Facing Momma right now wasn’t possible.
                  “You found them letters, didn’t you,” Momma’s words stopped me just as my hand touched the screen door and I froze. Letters. She knew about the letters. Then she knew…
                  What the fuck?
                  Turning around I looked at her and saw the sadness in her eyes. “What letters, Momma?” I asked needing her to confirm to me that she knew about those letters. The ones that meant she shouldn’t have let me or Steel anywhere near Dixie Monroe.
                  “The letters from that woman to your daddy. I didn’t know where he hid them. But three years ago you found them,” she nodded as if I had confirmed this. “I wondered once back then when you looked so miserable and heartsick, but then I thought no, surely not. If you found something like that, you’d ask me about it. But you didn’t, so I figured it was something else. But I see I made a grave mistake.”
                  Dropping my hand from the door I stared at my mother. She knew. But she…  “Why would you let us… let me… be with her that way if you knew?” I asked trying to process the fact that my mother had knowingly let me commit incest.
                  Momma stood up and shook her head. “I’d have never let such a thing happen. That girl ain’t your daddy’s child. Luke Monroe has a paternity test that proves she is one hundred percent his child. Millie Monroe was the most beautiful woman in the county. She could seduce a sane man like nothing I’d ever seen, but that woman was insane. Mentally screwed up. She set her sights on your daddy and that meant she was gonna have him.
                  “Your daddy was a man. That’s the only excuse I got for him. I forgave him a long time ago. Understand that. He never stopped trying to make it up to me. He did love me. He just let sexual temptation get the better of him.”
                  If my daddy were still alive, I’d go kill him right now. Listening to my momma talk about him being seduced by another woman infuriated me.
                  “Millie came to the barn one day when I was gone to the doctor and well… she did some things any man would have a hard time turning down. Your daddy made a mistake. Then,” she sighed, “Millie came back and did it again a few more times and your daddy was weak. So, when Millie got pregnant, we didn’t know. We all knew it could be your daddy’s child. He admitted it to me. Everything he’d done. I was pregnant with Steel. I had three babies I was taking care of and money was tight. Your daddy used Millie as an escape from the reality of life. I thought I’d leave him for awhile, but he was so pitiful and I loved him so much. It took a couple years but I finally forgave him. Anyway, when that little girl was born, I wanted a paternity test and so did your daddy. If that baby was his, we needed to know. But it wasn’t. She was all Luke Monroe’s.”
                  “Holy fuck,” Bray swore, reminding me we weren’t alone. My brothers were all sitting there listening to this too.
                  “Can’t believe I was even born. You shoulda killed him,” Dallas muttered.
                  Momma turned around and faced them. “I loved that man. He loved and adored all of you. He was a good man who had a weak moment. He made a mistake and I forgave him. It don’t change the fact you were his whole world. He loved each of you.” Her hard tone was determined. She meant what she was saying. I wasn’t sure I could ever forgive the man but he was gone now and being mad at him was pointless.