The Mother-in-Law

by Modglin, Kiersten

  His hands moved to lift my shirt, and I saw the fire in his eyes that I felt in my belly as I sat up tearing the shirt from my body in one swift motion.

  He looked me over, his eyes growing wider as he sat up, his kisses covering my chest, my skin burning every place he touched. I wanted him. I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life. At that moment, nothing else mattered.

  Knock, knock.

  And just like that, the moment ended. I shoved back away from him, reaching for my shirt as he rolled me over, standing from the bed in an instant.

  “Just a minute,” I called, pulling the shirt over my head and praying Rynlee wouldn’t open the door just yet. Had I thought to lock it? Of course not.

  Before my shirt was completely covering my midriff, the door sprang open, and I was surprised to see Coralee standing in our doorway. Her makeup had been removed, her long, silver hair hung down around her shoulders, wet from a recent shower it seemed. It was the first time I’d seen her looking less than perfect.

  “Mom?” Jack asked, clearing his throat. “What is it? What’s the matter?”

  I watched him shift in place, shoving his legs from one side to the other to hide the physical proof of what we’d been doing.

  She looked at him with wide eyes and then, without a moment’s notice, she burst into tears.

  I moved toward her instinctually, but Jack was there first, his arms around her. “What is it?” he asked again. “What happened?”

  She let out a loud sob, her shoulders shaking. “I thought I could handle it. I thought if I kept myself busy today I could—but I can’t. I can’t do this anymore. I’m not strong enough.”

  “What are you talking about?” he asked, his tone soft as he cradled his mother in his arms, patting her wet hair. Jack was a nurturer. I supposed I’d known that after our first encounter when he’d bandaged me up, but watching it happen made my heart swell with pride. I’d always heard that you should find a man who treats his mother well, because that’s how you’ll be treated, too. And I did want to be treated this way—cherished, protected. Loved. I wanted to be loved. If Jack’s affection toward his mother was a sign of what I could expect for the rest of my life, I wanted to hold onto that with both hands.

  I moved forward, placing a cautious hand on Jack’s back to let him—them—know I was there.

  “Today’s our…anniversary,” she cried, sniffling loudly before she looked up to meet his eyes, then mine.

  “Your anniversary is in August,” he said, his brow furrowed.

  “Not our wedding anniversary,” she explained through her tears. “Today’s the day we met, the day of our very first date.” She stood up, wiping tears from her eyes.

  “I’m so sorry, Coralee,” I said, trying to offer comfort, though I felt I wasn’t welcome.

  To my surprise, the smile she offered seemed genuine. “Thank you. I’m sorry to come down here like this.” She was looking back at Jack then. “I usually feel okay, but today has been…”

  “Hard,” Jack finished for her.

  “Of course it has,” I added. “That’s totally understandable.”

  She didn’t look at me that time, but nodded slightly to acknowledge the comment. “I hate to ask this,” she said, playing with the sleeve of her robe. “It’s stupid, forget it.” She turned to walk away abruptly, but Jack stopped her.

  “What is it? Anything you need.”

  “Would you…Jack, would you come to my room and stay with me tonight? Just until I fall asleep. I think maybe talking with someone, a bit of a distraction, would help.” She paused as he looked at me, then added, “You can say no.”

  I froze, waiting to see what his answer was going to be. No matter what, I knew I couldn’t insert my opinion here, even if my opinion was that this was the most absurd request I’d ever heard. Instead, I waited, my eyes unblinking as I watched him survey my face.

  Finally, he turned back to his mother and sighed. “Of course. Maybe I can make us some tea, that always makes you feel better.”

  I felt my chest swell with hurt and confusion, my jaw locked tight. It was ridiculous. What an absolutely insane request. She was a grown woman. He’d been put off by Rynlee’s night terrors but his mother’s, sure, that was fine. I ran my tongue over my teeth, trying to calm myself down. I needed to find the resolve I’d been gripping so tightly to. She beamed at him, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. “Oh, Jack, what did I do to deserve a son like you? You always know what to do to make Momma feel better.” She patted his arm, then looked at me. “Is this okay, Loren? Can I borrow your husband for the night? You won’t miss him too much, will you?”

  I chewed the inside of my lip as the forced smile filled my face. “Not at all.”

  Her lips curled into a grin, her eyes cold and unmoving. Jack kissed my cheek, though I didn’t return the affection. He whispered that he’d see me later, and ushered her out into the hall. When his eyes met mine, I looked away, letting him know how angry I felt. He shut the door, though, apparently not caring.

  In the battle of me and Coralee, he’d chosen her.

  She’d won. We both knew it.

  But the game wasn’t over.

  It was just beginning.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Loren

  The following night when someone knocked on our bedroom door, I groaned in anticipation of seeing Coralee’s face again. Jack and I hadn’t spoken about his mother’s behavior the night before, and I felt I was in no position to bring it up unless he did, but I couldn’t let it become a habit.

  Jack was standing on the far side of the room, searching for the pajama pants he’d discarded when he’d gotten dressed that morning. “Just a minute,” he called, frantically pulling his pants from a drawer and pulling them over his legs.

  I stepped up to the door, my hand shaking with dread.

  I stared into the space where Coralee’s face should’ve been, then looked down with a gasp. “Ryn, what is it?”

  She twisted her foot in the carpet underneath her. “Could I sleep in here again?”

  “What’s wrong?” Jack asked, standing next to me now. He lowered himself so he was eye level to her and held out his hands. To my relief, she leaned into them, pressing her cheek into his shoulder.

  “I just want to sleep in here.”

  “Did something happen?” I asked, bending down next to them as well.

  “My door keeps opening,” she said.

  My blood ran cold at her words, though I tried to hide the fear from my expression. “What do you mean your door keeps opening?”

  “It won’t stay shut.”

  Jack sighed, glancing at me with a look that said I shouldn’t get any hairbrained ideas. “Let’s go check it out, okay?” He scooped Rynlee up, and together we headed down the hall and toward her bedroom. The door was open, and Jack pulled it closed.

  We waited.

  After a few moments, he twisted the knob and pushed it open, staring around the dark room. I reached beside him, running my hand along the wall until I felt the light switch. I flipped it on and followed Jack and Rynlee inside.

  Once we were in, Jack set Rynlee down, studying the latch. He ran his finger over it, watching the black metal piece slide in and out with ease. Afterward, he shut the door, moving around it to check the frame and hinges. When he was done, he stood back up. “Everything looks okay, Ryn. Maybe you just weren’t getting the door latched all the way.” His tone was patronizing and she nodded without argument, but the argument was present in my mind. She’d never had trouble latching her door before, and she’d lived in the room her whole life.

  Choosing my words carefully, I bent down next to her and wrapped my arms around her waist. “When did the door open, baby? When you first shut it?”

  She shook her head.

  “When then?”

  “When I woke up in the night,” she said quietly. I hated what Jack’s skepticism had done to my normally confident child. I looke
d up at him, waiting for him to explain it away.

  Right on cue, he said, “It was probably just the heat kicking on, the shift in air pressure can do that, especially in older houses.”

  I wrapped my arms around her tighter. I didn’t want to argue, especially not in front of Rynlee; she was dealing with enough. Still, I didn’t need him to tell me what was normal in an older house, particularly not this house. This was the house I’d grown up in, lived in my whole life—barring a few years of college—and raised my family in. I knew what was normal for it. Doors opening just because, wasn’t normal.

  Instead of throwing out all of the valid points I had to disprove his theory, I nodded and took my daughter’s hand as I stood. “Okay. Well, tonight you can sleep with us again if you don’t want to stay in here.”

  Her smile was small, but it was there. Jack nodded, his lips a tight line, but didn’t disagree. I knew he thought I was coddling her, rather than facing the issues head on—pot meet kettle—but I couldn’t help it. I believed Rynlee when she said something wasn’t right, and I was going to do everything in my power to prove it to Jack, too.

  “Hey, do you think you could take her up? I’m going to run downstairs and get a drink of water.”

  He nodded. “Sure.”

  When they headed down the hall, I pulled the door shut behind us and walked down the stairs toward the kitchen. When I made it to the kitchen, guided by the light above the stove until I reached the light switch, I turned toward the dining room rather than the sink.

  I hated to lie to Jack, even about something as small as this, but I was running out of options. I moved to the rounded window seat under the bay window in our dining room and lifted the seat, digging through old cords and batteries. Finally, I spotted what I was looking for—a flash of white near the bottom of the chest.

  I pulled the two pieces of the baby monitor out, dusting off the screen and the camera’s lens. It had been about a year since the camera had adorned Rynlee’s wall, but I was sure the nail was still there…waiting.

  I hoped Jack wouldn’t notice it, and I would explain it to Rynlee as soon as she did, but I hoped I could slide it back into place in her bedroom without disrupting anything.

  I flipped off the light and hurried back up the stairs, hoping my semi-formed plan would work. I opened Rynlee’s door and stepped inside, but stopped and sucked in a breath.

  The light to the tiny bedroom was on.

  I stared around, the hair on my arms standing up with fear as I waited for something to happen. The room smelled…musty, mixed with sage and lavender. It smelled like Coralee. I was sure I hadn’t noticed the smell before.

  I inhaled, furrowing my brow. None of it made any sense. I hadn’t been gone long enough for such an unfamiliar smell to have filled the air, yet it had.

  I shook my head to clear a voice that sounded strangely like Jack’s reminding me that it was probably just the smell of our heat kicking on, and walked across the room to where her shelf of stuffed animals hung. Rather than hanging the camera on the wall, where it would likely be noticed, I placed it in between a few of her toys, running the wire down along her bookshelf and plugging it in behind her mini-recliner.

  I glanced over my shoulder, the silence in the room deafening to my extra-sensitive ears. Every pop of the floor or creak of the walls caused me to jump. When I stood, I looked over my handiwork carefully. If they weren’t looking for it, I hoped they wouldn’t see it. Then, before I went to my bedroom, I turned on the monitor in my hands, looking at myself on the screen. It was a strange feeling, seeing myself there on the tiny, black and white screen, my back to the camera. I glanced over my shoulder, staring at the camera. It all felt surreal, but for the first time in a long time, I had a glimmer of hope as I stared into the screen. The woman there was strong, she’d survived the worst of the worst, and she’d survive this.

  No matter what, I had to survive this.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Loren

  I couldn’t sleep.

  Not that that was at all unusual lately.

  I sat in the oversized chair near the window of our bedroom with my feet curled up under me, a glass of moscato in one hand, a paperback I’d been meaning to read in the other. The monitor was balanced in my lap and every twenty minutes, the screen would go dark until I pushed the button to wake it up.

  Try as I might, I couldn’t bring myself to get into the story in my head, because I felt the imminent nightmare that had become my life growing more and more real. What was I going to do if I couldn’t convince Jack I wasn’t insane? What was I going to do if I truly was?

  I gave up, setting the book down on my lap and taking another sip of wine. I took a breath, running my hands over my face and sighing. I was stuck in a perpetual place of fear and confusion, and it all pointed back to the moment Coralee entered my life. But honestly, I wasn’t sure I could blame her for all of it. I wasn’t sure I couldn’t either, but I just…didn’t know. I didn’t do well with not knowing, truth be told. Especially not when it involved Rynlee. She was too important to just hang on by a thread, and that was exactly what I felt like I was doing.

  A yawn escaped my throat, reminding me just how little sleep I’d had in the last few days, but as much as I wanted to lie down, close my eyes, and let sleep take me, I couldn’t.

  I opened my eyes and lifted the monitor from my lap, tapping the top of the device to reawaken the screen. When the image came to life, I dropped the monitor instantly, my hands shaking, and pushed myself away from it as if the person I was staring at could come through the screen.

  Coralee stood in the center of Rynlee’s room, her head turning this way and that as she surveyed the dark space. Her movements were slow and methodical, as though she believed there was no chance she could be caught as she began to pace. She leaned against the far wall, her forehead pressed to it.

  What is she doing?

  I scooted forward on the chair again, picking up the monitor slowly, as if any movement might disturb her. But it wouldn’t. I had the perfect opportunity to catch her doing whatever it was she had planned.

  Part of me considered waking Jack up, but I knew if we interrupted her too early, there was a chance she could explain it all away. I stood, keeping my eyes on the screen as I made my way toward my nightstand, trading out the glass of wine for my phone. I turned on the camera, switching it to video mode and hitting the red button that would record my proof.

  I held the phone above the monitor as Coralee made one final round from one side of the room to the next before she disappeared to the right of the camera, where I could no longer see her. Had she seen the camera? I watched the screen closely, listening even closer. My heart thudded in my chest, my breathing shallow as I waited for her to pull the camera down, so I was staring directly into her eyes, or to hear her footsteps headed down the hall, demanding to know what I’d been doing spying on her, but it didn’t happen. The screen was blank and the room was silent.

  When it felt like my heart could take no more stress, I moved toward the bed, cutting off the video recording and setting the monitor on Jack’s bedside table.

  “Jack,” I whispered, shaking him. “Jack, wake up.”

  He stirred, rubbing his cheek against the pillow in a half-asleep state before his eyes fluttered open. When he saw my face, he shot up, letting out a yelp. “Jesus, Loren, what the hell are you doing?”

  “Something’s wrong,” I said.

  “What do you mean? What happened?” His voice filled with fear as he pulled the covers from his legs and pushed himself up in bed, his gaze searching the room for a threat.

  “It’s…it’s your mother. She’s the one who’s been in Rynlee’s room.”

  His eyes flickered distrust—I didn’t miss it—but he didn’t dismiss my concern. “What do you mean?”

  “I…well, I turned on her baby monitor in her room. Just in case, you know? And…she’s in there right now.”

  I pointed to the monitor
and Jack lowered his gaze to it, lifting it to his face. He was silent for a moment. “I…I don’t see anything, Loren. What do you see?” He held it out so I could look at the screen, though Coralee still wasn’t in view.

  “Nothing, of course. Not right now. She’s off screen somewhere. But she was there, pacing around.”

  “Are you sure you’re not just tired?”

  “I’m not!” I insisted, trying to reign in my frustration. “I have her on my phone. Look.” I opened up my gallery, clicking on the video and turning it over to him. He stared at the screen, his expression transitioning from denial to confusion within seconds.

  “What is she doing?”

  “I don’t know, but you believe me now, don’t you? That she’s up to something?”

  “Up to something?” He scowled. “Easy, Nancy Drew. Let’s just go down there and see what she’s doing. I’m sure there’s an explanation.”

  “What explanation could she have for being in Rynlee’s room in the middle of the night?”

  He shook his head, not offering an answer, but stood up and made his way across the room. I followed close behind.

  We made our way down the hall and into Rynlee’s bedroom, stepping into the dark and quiet room with gusto.

  “Mom?” Jack called, ending our futile search. The room was empty. I moved around quickly, looking for Coralee. I lifted the edge of the comforter. “Well, I don’t think she’s going to be under there,” he said, giving me a playful eye roll.

  I stepped into the closet, my chest heaving with heavy breaths. Two totes sat beside the built-in bookcase, and all of her clothes were shoved to one side again, but there was no sign of my mother-in-law.

  “Where is she?” I asked, spinning round in circles with my arms to my sides, the frantic fear swelling in my chest must’ve been evident on my face because Jack took a step toward me, placing a careful hand on my shoulder.