It had been a week or so since it happened. Seeing Baxter taken away, Iona couldn't put it out of her mind even if she was being a friendly cashier at Family Fare.
It was hard to understand what happened to her so-called brother. Maybe she didn't know him at all. Maybe she never did. She'd never tell Micah all the troubles she'd had with him growing up. She didn't want him to know how he'd physically touched her during her youth. Yes, she was far older than anyone knew, but she wouldn't talk about those days.
Those days when he came to her room when she was asleep. She didn't want Micah to know that person and it made her sad to think what she'd learned and how low her self-esteem actually became.
She did her best to go on. To smile, but it was hard when bitter tears kept coming. She felt so bad for Ivy. What had really happened to her?
Thankfully, Bom and Brian took Ivy in. She was with her baby son now. That had to count for something. Also, Lenny and Baxter were in federal custody. She didn't know what all that meant, but it was good to see them locked up.
She wasn't sure what would happen to Baxter's house (his mother's house). She didn't really care.
Of course, her brother Diago was full of questions and she didn't have all the answers. Actually, she didn't want to know all the answers.
But there was Micah by her side. They didn't have much, but they had each other.
Truly, the last person she ever expected to take her in. Yet he'd been there for her from the start of all this. He didn't like Baxter. In fact, he told her he hated him.
She knew she should hate Baxter too, but he was family. Oh, how she didn't want him to be family.
"You have a brother, and he's letting you live with him," Micah reminded her they were going nowhere. She was Diago's sister, not Baxter's. "We can make a home here."
Iona truly wanted to believe that, but she still had to face the fact she'd never really had a normal life with Baxter.
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