She frowned at this, and I could see she was thinking. Actually considering. I pulled out all the stops, dropping to my knees in front of her.
“Mom, I’m still in college. But one day, I’m going to get married.” Without warning, the image of Elise Cormier’s face flashed through my mind, catching me off guard. My gut quickened in a way that had me holding my breath. Something must have shown on my face because the look in my mother’s eyes changed.
“Coleman… is there someone?” Her light blue eyes actually sparkled.
“W-well, I-I…” I stammered then stalled. I licked my lips and tasted Elise.Christ, she’s sixteen!“No… no… but there will be someday.”
For the first time since I’d burst into the bathroom, my mother’s smile unfurled. “Yes…” She nodded, reaching up and laying her hand on my cheek. “…there will be. And you’ll be a wonderful husband to her and loving father to your children.”
I’d never tried this tactic before, but I went for it now. I shook my head for dramatic effect. “Mom, I won’t be able to bring my family around if he’s still like this.” I’d never pictured this future family before. And, yeah, I was talking right now to get my mother to do something she’d never agreed to. But I knew as I spoke the words, they were true. No way in hell was I letting my someday wife and children around my father. “No way in hell,” I swore aloud.
Her smile fell, and her brow creased. My mother’s gaze unfocused as though she were seeing grandbabies. Her grandbabies that needed to be protected. “No…” Her voice was all breath. “No, of course not.”
This might actually work.
I grabbed my mother by the elbow. “Mom, it’s not too late for him. It’s not too late for you. Please.” I’d begged her before, but we’d never gotten this far. Hope spurred my pulse. “Leave with me so we can give him the chance to get better.”
For a moment, I saw her begin to surrender. But then doubt crept back over her features. “I don’t know, Cole. It’s Christmas. Let’s wait—”
I squeezed her arm. “Mom, we can’t wait. I’m not letting you wait.” We were doing this. To hell with waiting. To hell with Christmas, as if it had ever meant anything real to us. “We’re leaving tonight. Just trust me.”
“But, Cole…” She pressed her lips together and shook her head.
I took her by the shoulders gently so I wouldn’t hurt her. “We’ll go. Tonight. We’ll stay in my apartment. He’ll know that one way or the other, this is over.” My steady gaze moved between her uncertain one. “It’ll be his to decide how this unfolds. Either he gets help or he gets the hell out of our lives.”
“I-I need to explain it to him. I can’t leave him without a word.”
“Mom. No.” I shook my head. He couldn’t know we were leaving. That would never work. “You can call him in the morning, but you cannot tell him before we are out of the house. You know he’ll freak.”
The pinched look she wore told me she knew all too well. Finally, she nodded. “Okay… Okay. We’ll go stay with you.” But then her look turned defiant as she took me in under her brows. “But just for a few days. To prove a point. If he’s not ready to get help, I’m not ready to leave him for good.” Her composure slipped then, her chin trembling.
“Fine. That’s fine,” I lied. Once I got her and Ava to New Orleans, I’d find people to help her. An attorney. A therapist. I’d call the police and press charges. Get a restraining order on the bastard. With a little distance, we might be able to get her to see things clearly.
I plucked a tissue from the pewter box on the bathroom counter and dabbed it under my mother’s eyes. “But for tonight, we just have to act like everything's normal.”
She sucked in a shaky breath. “But how will we… do it?”
In this moment — as in so many before — my mother seemed to me like a child of five. I couldn’t remember a time when I hadn’t felt responsible for her. The fact that it was supposed to be the other way around just seemed like a cosmic joke.
“I’ll take care of everything. We’ll leave after he’s asleep.” I studied her expression to see if she could handle this. She gave me a tight nod, but she didn’t protest. “For now, we need to get back out to the party like we normally would.”
Mom took the tissue from me and made to stand, but she moaned and gripped my forearm.
I helped her to her feet as carefully as I could. She probably had a broken rib. In the morning, I’d take her to a clinic in New Orleans for X-rays. That was when we’d get the police involved. Maybe they could even issue an arrest tomorrow.
Wouldn’t that shock the shit out of him?
I had to admit I was looking forward to that.
“Can you stand?” I asked, turning her toward the mirror. We stood side by side, looking at our reflections.
Mom’s face had gone ghostly white, but she nodded all the same. “I’ll be fine,” she rasped.
Fuck waiting. “We can go right now. Just get Ava and walk right out of here. He wouldn’t dare try to stop us.”
But she shook her head almost violently. “I willnotdisgrace this family like that. We’ll leave tonight. After everyone is gone.” Some of the color had come back to her cheeks, and her gaze held mine through the glass. I could see she’d do whatever it took to keep the illusion intact. Pushing her on this would not help.
“Okay.”