“I saved us.”
Clear. Firm. Complete nonsense.
“From what?” Being penniless? All that begging and bootlicking, and Xavier still viewed her as expendable in the end. She recognized his disdain. That’s what all the feigning was about. “I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
She delivered the perfect over-the-top Isabel Clarke sigh. “Of course you don’t. You never did. You accepted and took, then demanded more.”
“That’s what little kids do. They need to be fed and changed. Given a bit of encouragement.”
She answered with an eye roll. All the haziness had disappeared. She was fully engaged and ready to fire her verbal cannon. “Oh, please. You’re a doctor. I did something right.”
“Yeah, I succeededbecauseof you.” I loaded as much sarcasm as possible into the words.
“Correct.”
“How did whatever is happening in your head become an indictment of me?” I’m not sure why I asked since every conversation devolved into this.
“When you hear the truth you’ll judge.”
“Probably.” It’s not like her actions ever gave me much choice.
She set the empty wineglass down next to the photo of Everly’s first visit with the mall Santa Claus. “Why do I even try with you?”
No way. I wasn’t sitting down for that shit. “When the hell did you try, Mom?”
“I followed orders. I did...” She shook her head. “You’ve never understood family loyalty.”
I waded through the bullshit to the horror at the meaty center of her comment. “What did you do?”
“You’re welcome.”
Patrick’s bones. The fire. Jeremy being missing. Aubrey coming back. I mentally searched for Mom’s fingerprints on any of those events but couldn’t see the faint impressions. “Mom?”
She paced, then stopped at the door. Made a swooping turn to face me again. “I protected Xavier while he was alive. I’ll hold this family together now that he’s gone.”
Which part? Half of us were still missing. “No one is asking you to do that.”
“Xavier did. He needed me to step in more than once.” Her uncharacteristically unreadable expression didn’t offer any clue. “Remember that.”
I doubted I’d think about anything else.
Chapter Forty-Three
Hanna
I blinked but Aubrey didn’t move. She’d snuck in. Now she hovered and haunted like an unwanted visitor in a Sleepy Hollow ghost story. I’d rather deal with an angry spirit. “Get out.”
She didn’t smile. Didn’t frown. She wore a neutral,you’ll never figure me outexpression. “This is my grandfather’s house.”
“Was.” I refused to believe she’d kept a key for fifteen years to a house she never lived in. “He didn’t leave it to you, which means you’re trespassing.”
“Look at little Hanna throwing around the legal terms.”
This bitch. “Let’s call the police and ask them for the official definition.” I slipped my cell out of my back pocket. I hadn’t put the thing down since Jeremy disappeared. If he called, I would not miss it. “I’m sure they’d love to talk with you again.”
“About this house. I have some questions.” Aubrey dragged a finger along the fireplace mantel. Scanned the books on the shelves framing the doorway to the dining room. Even frowned at one of the flower-covered pillows with the fringe on the couch.“Did you have to sleep with Gramps more than once to get the family fortune? For your sake, I hope not. But I fear you had to dive in and keep going until the supposedly unexpected little miracle happened.”
Nope.We were not playing the game on her terms. Not today.
