Chapter 4

Linda's mouth fell open. She never saw that coming. Her lips trembled with rage. "Fine. Great. Look at you, a big man now.

"You'd throw your own mother away for some woman who isn't even family? All those years. Down the drain."

She started crying and slapping her own thighs, putting on a full performance.

David looked worn out. He didn't argue anymore.

He came into the bedroom and wrapped his arms around me. "Babe, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have gone through any of that. It won't happen again."

I let him hold me. I said nothing.

Moving out? I doubt he would actually go through with it.

Sure enough, the next morning, Linda pulled a complete turnaround.

She made me breakfast. Oatmeal and scrambled eggs. Her face was still hard, but at least it wasn't cold pickles this time.

David was thrilled. "See? My mom's all bark. You talk to her, and things will work out."

I looked at his eager, hopeful smile, and my chest ached. Did he really not see it? Or did he choose not to?

Linda's so-called change of heart was a temporary fix. She'd pull in her claws to keep her son close.

She wasn't being kind to me. She was performing for David.

And so we lived day after day in this fake little peace.

I made myself eat. I made myself sleep. I did my best to look normal.

David believed I was getting better. But I knew the truth. Inside, something had already died.

*****

Another sleepless night. I woke up thirsty and slid out of bed, careful not to disturb David.

The living room was dark, but a warm strip of light glowed from the kitchen doorway.

I moved closer. Voices drifted out. David and Linda.

What were they doing up this late?

I stopped. My feet wouldn't move. I found myself pressing closer to the door.

David's voice came through, low and irritated. "Mom, keep your voice down. You'll wake Claire."

Linda hushed her tone, but it stayed sharp. "So what if she wakes up? Am I lying?

"Who's she fooling, walking around looking half dead every day? It was a miscarriage. Does she really need to drag this out forever?"

David sighed. "Mom, can you drop the act? She's been through enough. The doctor said she's not well."

My heart lurched. The act? What act?

Linda let out a cold little laugh. "Act? I'm telling the truth. That baby was never right to begin with.

"Who knows if it was even a Brooks? All that crying and moaning over that little mistake, what a curse on this house."

A bomb went off inside my skull.

Everything after that blurred into a high-pitched ringing.

Never a Brooks? Mistake? My hand went slack. The glass slipped through my fingers.

It hit the floor with a sharp crack, the sound splitting the silence of the night.

The kitchen went dead quiet. The door flew open.

David and Linda stood there, frozen, their eyes dropping to the broken glass at my feet.

I stared at them. The man I once loved more than anyone. The mother-in-law I once respected. In that dim yellow light, their faces looked twisted and unrecognizable.

Now I got it. I understood it all.

All those months of torment and fake concern. They were a mother and son putting on a show meant for me.

My heart shattered right there, scattered like the shards across the floor.

My world broke apart. And then, in an instant, it snapped back together.

All the suffocating pain, the endless questioning of myself, the heavy weight drained out of me like water pulling back from shore. What remained was cold and empty.

I looked at the two of them standing before me.

David's face was pure panic. He reached for me. "Claire, let me explain. It's not what you think."

Linda hid behind him, her eyes poisonous but also scared, as if she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

I didn't take David's hand. My gaze went past him and locked onto Linda.

"Say it again." My voice came out so calm that it frightened me. "What did you say? Say it again."

Linda shrank back. Her lips moved, but nothing came out.

David stepped between us, his voice anxious. "Honey, calm down.

"My mom talks nonsense sometimes. She's old, she doesn't think straight. Don't listen to her." He tried to take my hand.

I pulled away. "David, step aside."

I looked at him. For five years, I loved this man. Now he felt like someone I barely knew.