Free Shield My Heart (Heaven Hill Book 9) by Laramie Briscoe Page A

feeling it has to do with Remy. I’m keepin’ my mouth shut though. If there’s one thing you and your brother taught me, it was I have no say. You’re gonna do what you want to do, and she’s worse than the both of you combined. I’m holding on until she turns eighteen because I know as soon as that happens, she’s spreading those wings.”
    Mandy thought the same thing about her sister. She’d been hopelessly spoiled by all of them. Tatum truly thought she could do anything she put her mind to. It wasn’t a bad thing, but in being spoiled, she’d never really known disappointment. Again, she wondered what would happen if she had a daughter.
    “Mom, how did you feel when you found out you were pregnant with me and Drew?”
    Of any question Mandy could have asked her, this was the most surprising. She’d never really hidden much from any of her kids, and she didn’t plan on doing so now. Collecting her thoughts for a minute, she bluntly gave her daughter the truth.
    “Really scared. My dad wasn’t the most understanding of men, and your real dad…” She trailed off for a moment. “I had no idea how he felt, what he would want to do. It was the scariest time of my life. Things happened and it ended up being just the three of us.” She closed her eyes. “But I don’t think I’d change anything. It led me to Liam. I wish I had met him earlier so that I could have given you a better childhood. There were some really hard times and situations I wouldn’t have put us in if I could go back, but…”
    “Everything led us here,” Mandy finished up for her mom.
    “It did.” Denise nodded, cherishing again the path their lives had taken. It hadn’t been easy, but it’d been worth it. “It ended up the way it was supposed to, and I have to believe that all the hard times were so I could appreciate the good ones. Liam was an answer to my prayers, even if I didn’t realize it yet.”
    Mandy’s tone was wistful, her eyes a little damp, as she thought back to all the things Liam had done for them. She remembered with clarity the day he’d come and gotten her and Drew from school when another kid had made a crude remark about her. Drew had hit him, he’d been suspended, and Mandy had been too embarrassed to stay there for the rest of the day. When Liam had come to get them instead of their mom, neither one of them had known what to do, but he’d ended up being just what they needed. He didn’t criticize and he didn’t judge. He’d taken them out for lunch and let them know it wasn’t a bad thing to stand up for themselves. “He did change our lives.”
    “In the best of ways.” Denise smiled, looking down at her wedding ring. “And he loves you guys like you’re his own. I couldn’t ask for more.”
    The look on her mom’s face was exactly what Mandy wanted. She wanted to be able to count on Dalton that way, for him to be the rock she could hang onto, but he just wasn’t that for her right now. He would be, she hoped, but not in the foreseeable future.
    “Are you okay?” Denise looked at her oldest daughter with critical eyes. Drew had come to her and told her he was worried, and Denise could tell why. “You’ve got dark circles on your face, and your smile doesn’t quiet reach your eyes. I know things are going on with Dalton. Is there anything I can help you with?”
    Mandy had never in her life wanted to beg her mom to tell her what to do. She wanted to lay all her problems down at her mom’s feet and beg her to make it better, but she knew that wouldn’t happen. This was her issue she had to deal with.
    “No, Mom. I’m not going to lie and say I’m good, but things are getting worked out. Dalton and I will figure it out.”
    “You sure you don’t wanna talk about it?”
    Mandy knew if she opened her mouth now, she’d spill everything, and her emotions couldn’t take it. Getting up, she walked over to her mom, bent down, and gave her a hug. “Thanks, but this is something I have