Blinding Rain, Season 2, Episode 7 (Rising Storm) Read Free

it’s not.” Celeste’s eyes simmered with both pain and fury. “It’s never the time or place for lies.” Lifting her chin but not looking away from Ginny’s eyes, she said, “Kristin, put the order on my account. Travis will take care of it.”
    She turned for the door.
    Still standing near the counter, Sara Jane looked at Kristin, then at Ginny. “I’m sorry,” she said in a low voice. “She’s going through a really rough patch right now. I talked her into getting out of the house for a bit to get flowers for Aunt Payton. I-I didn’t know this was going to happen.”
    “It’s okay,” Kristin said softly.
    But it wasn’t okay. Anger flared inside Ginny as she watched Celeste walk toward the door. Anger and a sense of self-preservation she knew she needed to start listening to—if not for herself then for Little Bit.
    “Celeste, wait.” She hustled—okay, waddled—after Celeste and reached Jacob’s mother just before the woman pulled the door open. Stepping in front of the door so Celeste couldn’t leave, she pinned the older woman with her eyes, not letting Celeste strike out and run away this time. “I know you don’t want to hear this but I’m going to say it again anyway. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I hurt everyone. I made a mistake. I’m human. Humans make mistakes. If I could go back and change what I did, I would. But I can’t. All I can do is try to be a better person now. No one feels worse about what happened than I do.”
    Celeste’s eyes narrowed. “I find that very hard to believe.”
    “It’s true.” Protectively, Ginny placed a hand on her belly to settle Little Bit, who was still flopping around like a Mexican jumping bean. “I know you don’t want to believe it, but I loved your son. He was my best friend. He looked out for me. He kept me grounded. Even when I made stupid choices or got myself in trouble, he was always there for me, lifting me back up and making sure I knew someone cared.”
    Tears burned Ginny’s eyes, and it took everything she had to blink them away instead of letting them fall down her cheeks as she forced herself to go on. “I wasn’t perfect, but neither was Jacob, and no one knew that better than he did. I don’t know what would have happened between me and Jacob if he hadn’t died, but I do know what he’d say to me now if he were here. He’d tell me I was a complete idiot for what I let happen with the senator but he wouldn’t want to crucify me for it. He’d want me to do exactly what I’m trying to do now—which is to pick up the pieces I let shatter and make things right for this baby. Jacob had the biggest heart I’ve ever known. Deep down I know he would have forgiven me eventually, especially knowing there’s a chance this baby could be his. And whether you want to believe it or not, there is still a chance this is his baby. One I’m holding on to with everything I have in me.”
    Celeste stared at her long minutes in silence. At the counter, Kristin and Sara Jane didn’t move. Ginny wasn’t even sure they breathed. She herself was having trouble breathing as she waited for Jacob’s mother to say something—anything.
    “And what if that child inside you is not Jacob’s?” Celeste finally said. “What then?”
    Ginny swallowed hard because she didn’t want to think about what would happen if this baby wasn’t Jacob’s. But she had to. She had to start thinking about the future and how she was going to protect Little Bit from the senator should the paternity test confirm her greatest fear.
    Reflexively, she smoothed her hand over her belly, trying to settle herself and Little Bit at the same time. “Then I’ll still love it because that’s what Jacob would want me to do. He’d want me to be the best mother I could be. Just like you were a great mother to him.”
    Celeste’s eyes filled with tears, and her lip quivered. Looking quickly away, she blinked rapidly and cleared her throat. In a raspy voice, she