Chapter 4

The door opened.

An older woman came in wearing every piece of jewelry she owned.

She was Alex's mother, Carol Grant.

Her eyes swept the room like radar the moment she was through the door.

Then they landed on me. She asked, "Jane, why are you still standing there?

Her brows pulled into a knot. "Can't you see that we're all here? Where is dinner? Why aren't you cooking?"

She had used that same commanding tone throughout all twenty years of my marriage.

Lily ran over and took her arm like a drowning woman reaching for a rope.

"Mom, you're finally here. Look at Jane. She's out of her mind today. I asked her to make dinner and she acted deaf, and then she locked herself in her room."

Carol's mouth went hard.

She looked me up and down with those shrewd eyes.

"Jane, do you think you're too big for this family now? You don't even listen to me anymore?"

Alex was quick to pour oil on it.

"Mom, don't be angry with her. She had a bad day at work, and she's taking it out on us. She makes 1,600 dollars a month and walks around like she's somebody."

The three of them worked together without a single missed beat.

They nailed me up as ungrateful, lazy, and impossible to live with.

In the past, I would have panicked by then.

I would have apologized and explained, and then escaped into the kitchen to cook a huge dinner and put their anger out.

But that night I did none of it.

I stood there and watched them perform.

It was like watching a bad comedy that had nothing to do with me.

My silence made them angrier.

Carol threw her handbag down on the couch.

"Have you gone mute? I'm talking to you. Don't you want to live in this house anymore?"

I finally answered.

I looked at her, and a thin, mocking smile came to my mouth.

My voice was level and flat. "Carol, I think you have one thing wrong."

Carol stopped short. "What?"

"Whose house is this?"

My words dropped like a pebble into still water.

There was no wave, but every person in the room went stiff.

"What do you mean by that?" There was caution in Carol's voice.

I walked toward her, one slow step at a time.

"What I mean is this. My parents paid the down payment on this apartment. I pay the mortgage every month. And the deed has one name on it, which is mine. So tell me, Carol. Whose house is this?"

Alex went a dark, ugly red. "Jane, what are you talking about? Your parents put in 33 thousand dollars. You call that a down payment? You make 1,600 dollars a month. How would you carry a 4,000 dollar mortgage?

Don't stand here humiliating yourself."

He was rattled.

He was afraid of what else I might say.

Lily started shrieking as well. "Jane, how can you say something like that? We have all lived here for years, so of course this is everyone's home. You're so selfish."

So I was the selfish one.

I nearly laughed out loud.

I looked at Alex, and my eyes were full of pity.

"Right. How would I carry a 4,000 dollar mortgage on 1,600 dollars a month?

"Alex, haven't you always said you were out there earning for this family?

"Then tell me. Have you put one cent into this house in all these years?

"Apart from that second credit card with a thousand dollar limit, what have you ever given me?"

Alex had no answer for any of it.

Panic went across his eyes.

Carol saw her son losing and stepped forward at once.

"You're a woman. Why do you count every penny so carefully?

"My son is out there building a career. Doesn't he get to keep his pride?

"A man earns money for the big things. Do you expect him to bring it home and let you count it?

"Besides, you married into this family and you live in a Grant house. Isn't that how it works?"

So it was a Grant house.

My smile got sharper.

"Carol, maybe your memory isn't what it was.

"I'll say it one more time. This apartment is mine.

"It has nothing to do with your family at all.

"I let you stay here because Alex is my husband, and you're his mother.

"But that has changed."

I stopped and let my eyes move over every stunned person in the room.

"I'm not happy anymore.

"So I'm not cooking.

"If you're hungry, order takeout or go out."

"And if living here doesn't suit you."

I let the words stretch out.

"The door is right there. You can go whenever you like, and I won't stop you."

When I was done, I didn't look at the expressions they were making.

I turned and walked to my son's room.

There was still a bed in there.

From that day on, it was my bedroom.

"This is unbelievable!"

Carol was screaming behind me.

"Alex, look at the wife you brought into this family. If you let her back through that door tonight, you're no son of mine."

Alex started shouting right after her.

"Jane, you stop right there. You explain yourself."

I didn't turn around.

I closed the door softly behind me.

The sound of it shut every scream and curse outside.

The world went quiet again.

I knew that was only the beginning.

The hard fight was opening its first act.

And this time I wasn't going to back away.