Page 28 of Grumpy

Margery’s anger turned to confusion. “What?”

“Get. Out.” Unable to move his jaw, the words were spoken through his teeth. Grimm’s phone groaned between his hands as his fingers tightened into fists. Kelly quickly removed the breakable device before any real damage could be done.

“Jesse…” The way Margery said his name, like he was nothing more than a child who needed to have the world explained to him, it shifted something in his mind.

This woman wasn’t his mother. She wasn’t anyone to him. Not anymore. She’d knowingly kept something, someone, that he loved from him, and she damn well knew that doing so would hurt him if he ever found out. Was that why she’d pushed Kelly away from him, so there wouldn’t be a witness to her deception?

Grumpy had already said his piece, he’d already told her to leave. He wasn’t going to waste another breath telling her again. If she didn’t leave, Kelly could call Carlos and have Margery arrested for all Grumpy cared.

He turned to Kelly. His hands and voice were shaking so badly, he feared at first that he might be having a stroke. But she leaned forward, pressing herself against him and holding his hands between her own—and the world fell into place. The anxiety, the fear, the betrayal… It all fell away at her touch. They would face this, they would fix this, together.

“I can’t get my fingers to work right now. I need you to text Keys.”

Nodding, Kelly got his phone out of his pocket and used his face to unlock it.

“Jesse, stop this and talk to me!” Everyone in the room ignored Margery’s pleading cry.

As soon as Kelly pulled up his text thread with Keys, Grumpy said, “Her name is Madison Pierce. I call her ‘Mads’, but maybe she doesn’t go by that anymore. She’s enrolled at the University of Texas in Austin.”

Kelly typed it out, adding the part that she was Grumpy’s daughter, but didn’t send it until Grumpy nodded his approval. There was no point in hiding that fact. Keys would soon learn it, which would mean soon the entire club would, too.

“Jesse! I will not stand for this! You will face me! You will talk to me! I am your mother!”

Keys responded back immediately, saying he was on it and he would find out everything he could about Madison.

Kelly put Grumpy’s phone down and faced him. Her expression was kind, sympathetic even, and once again, Grumpy found himself thinking that she was far too good a person for the likes of him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” It wasn’t an accusation. Kelly’s voice was soft, gentle. It made Grumpy’s heart hurt because there was so much about both their pasts that was still unknown.

“See, clearly this so-called daughter of yours isn’t even that important if you haven’t told this skank about her yet!”

Grumpy moved. He’d been completely prepared to ignore Margery, completely cut her and her existence out of his life, but no one spoke about Kelly like that. Not even the woman who had given birth to him.

Except, Grumpy didn’t need to move because Ruth got there first.

Holding onto her walker with one hand, Ruth grabbed Margery’s left ear with the other. “Gey shoyn!” Though she shouted the words at Margery, her tone and expression were much kinder as she looked to Grimm. “You, zu din, get this farflucht reshaydim out of my home!” Using her hand on Margery’s ear, she forced Margery to stand.

Grimm immediately stood too, though from his confused expression Grumpy would guess he didn’t understand any of the Yiddish Ruth had just spewed. Even without the direct translation, the intent was obvious.

Margery looked to Grumpy, like she thought he would intervene on her behalf, but he literally sat back down and turned his back on her. “Jesse!” she shouted, appalled.

Kelly’s smile was loving and supportive as sounds of Grimm herding Margery out filled the house.

“Zol dir vaksn tsibeles fun pupik!” Ruth shouted just before the front door was slammed closed.

Grumpy tried to raise an eyebrow but it pulled on his face too much. “Do I want to know what that means?”

Kelly bit her lip like she was trying to keep from laughing. “Basically she cursed your mom to have onions grow from her navel.”

Grumpy blinked in surprise and intrigue. “Fair enough.” He touched Kelly’s cheek. “I’m sorry she spoke to you that way. She shouldn’t be taking her anger on me out on you.”

Kelly turned and kissed his palm. “I’ve been called a lot worse by worse. Don’t worry about it.”

Grumpy’s eyes narrowed as his face tightened for an entirely different reason. “Who?” he demanded, already dreaming of etching their names into bullets.

Before Kelly could respond, though, Ruth came back into the room. Neither Grimm nor Margery was with her, and thankfully she was using her walker. “Mameleh, are you okay?”

Grumpy had picked up that “mameleh” was Ruth’s nickname for Kelly, though he did not know what it meant. He assumed “sweetheart” or maybe something that meant “my daughter”.