Inferno

~87~ More Pieces

Taylor's POV

My heart is completely broken for Ellie. I actually want to throw up. Why does most of her family have to be so evil? I will never understand how she managed to become the woman that she is having them as her family. Alex and Liam must have been her saving grace. My saving grace.

Once Billy left, she just stands there. Silent. Trying to process. The kids are shaken. They don't normally see their mom like this. Liam has...Many times. Ellie is a completely different person than she was when she was raising Liam. She's more gentle. All of us refer to that side of her as "Ellie Freeman." Don't get me wrong, we absolutely adored Ellie Freeman, but Ellie Preston is so much more. She's everything.

Her little crack about the dish had us chuckling. It helped ease the tension a little bit. She walks over to the wall and just looks at it. I'm going to have to have Wes help me repair this one. The damage is above my area of expertise. We're going to have to repaint too. This is going to be a process.

"We'll get it fixed, baby girl" I say as I come up behind her and hold her close to me. She just nods.

"Ellie, I promise you I knew nothing about this" Jake says, panic in his voice.

"I know. I could see the shock on your face" Ellie says without looking at him.

I immediately see Jake relax his posture.

"You didn't need to do that" she says, turning around and looking at him now.

"Do what?" He asks, confused.

"Break ties with him. I never expected, or wanted that" she says, her eyes filling up with tears.

Jake comes up to her and pulls her into a hug.

"I know. I can't believe he did that to you. I'm so sorry, Ellie" he says, kissing her head.

She pulls away and wipes the tears that have started falling. "I wasn't kidding. Whether they come back in a few months or not is irrelevant. He's not welcome in my home anymore. If you change your mind, you and I will be fine. Hear me?" She asks sternly.

Jake just nods and wipes another tear from her cheek.

"Ugh, this place is a mess" she says as she sniffs and walks to the table. The food that was on her plate is everywhere. Justin's too, from standing up so quickly and knocking it off.

We all just silently start picking up the glass and the food. Ellie says nothing else as she starts clearing the table and doing the dishes.

I let her be. I know her well enough to know that she has to inwardly process this for awhile. She isn't one who likes to talk through her problems.

"The glass in the living room is everywhere. It's going to be hard to get it all up. Someone's going to slice their foot" Jake says quietly to me.

I just sigh as I go and inspect the damage. The mirror that was on the wall was massive. He's right. There's no way we will get up every sliver. We're all going to have to wear shoes for days.

Jake and I start working on the glass.

"Should I be concerned?" I ask him quietly.

He looks at me and thinks for a minute.

"Taylor, I haven't seen the woman since I was 12. I have absolutely no idea. That's why I'm so mad. He gave a woman he hasn't seen since he was 11 all of Ellie's info. I don't know if you're safe or not. I really don't know" he says, shaking his head in disgust.

"Should I get Alex involved?" I whisper.

"Might not be a bad idea. Especially since she's driven by the house. It's probably just curiosity...But I don't know. No stable woman would leave her kids" he says, shaking his head.