“She probably went back upstairs to bed.”
“We never saw her leave…I never saw her leave,” I said, staring down at the monitor in my hand.
“It’s possible she left when we were talking. You didn’t have your eyes on it the whole time.”
“I never looked away,” I told him, though I knew it wasn’t completely true. There may have been a second or two when I couldn’t have been watching.
“Let’s just go back to bed. We can talk to her in the morning.” He pulled my arm gently.
“No,” I said, a bit too loudly. “No. I need to see her tonight.” Panic set in. I stormed past him, hurrying up the stairs before he could stop me. My eyes burned with fresh tears as I rushed down the hall, my footsteps giving her warning that I was coming, but I didn’t care.
I thought for a split second about knocking, but decided against it, reaching my hand out for the knob and launching myself forward.
THUD.
I slammed into the door, the knob locked firmly into position as I ricocheted off the wood and backward. Jack was right behind me, taking hold of my shoulders. “Are you okay?” he asked, leaning down to examine me, though we both knew he couldn’t see much in the dark.
Just then, the door opened and Coralee stood in front of us, her eyes traveling up and down my body once. “What was that?”
“Why was your door locked?” I demanded.
“Perhaps because you seem to have an aversion to knocking.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Mom,” Jack interrupted us, cutting off the argument before it could begin. “Were you just in Rynlee’s room?”
She cocked her head to the side, and I sucked in a deep breath, feeling the anger swell in my chest. “When do you mean?”
“Just a few minutes ago,” I told her, just daring her to lie. If she lied, I’d have all the proof I needed that I’d been right. Finally, Jack would believe me—
“Oh, yes, I was. Sorry, did I disturb you?” Her eyes were wide with fake remorse.
“What were you doing in there?” I demanded. “Why were you in her room in the middle of the night?”
Coralee looked at me, then at Jack. “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but I think your daughter’s been in my room.”
“What do you mean?” Jack asked. “Why would you think that?”
She pressed her lips together, letting out a quiet ‘hmph.’ “Well, my favorite necklace has been missing for days. I caught the girl playing with it the other day up here and asked her to leave it alone. But it’s gone missing and, well, I assumed she took it.”
“Rynlee wouldn’t have done that,” Jack said. “She’s very well behaved. She wouldn’t have taken anything.” I looked up at him, surprised to hear him taking my side for once.
“Well, I’m not sure what to think, then. Unless you have ghosts, Rynlee seems the most likely culprit,” Coralee said.
“Like Jack said, she wouldn’t have taken it. She knows better than that. She doesn’t steal, and she’d have no use for your necklace. When did you find her up here?”
“A day or so ago,” she said, waving her hand in the air as if it didn’t matter. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
“She was in your bedroom?” I asked. Rynlee had never been one to travel to the other levels of our house, unless I was there with her, but lately, she didn’t even like to be out of the room I was in, so her accusation was especially ridiculous.
“Yes, going through my jewelry case. It would’ve been a harmless game of dress up for her, except most of my jewelry is very expensive.”
“Why didn’t you mention it to me?” I asked.
“Or me?” Jack added. “If she was caught in here, we would’ve wanted to address it right then.” He placed a comforting hand on my back.
“Well, Loren doesn't take kindly to the things I say, so I assumed it was a situation I could handle on my own.”
“I don’t take kindly to—”
“Mom, enough,” Jack cut in, sounding exasperated. “Did you find the necklace in Rynlee’s room or not?”
“No, I did not,” she said, her nose in the air. “It’s around here somewhere. Anyway, how did the two of you know I was in her room? She wasn’t in there.”
“She’s not in her room because something’s been scaring her at night,” I said. “Is that you?”
She dropped her jaw dramatically. “Of course not. I stopped rocking in my chair at night. I’ve made sure to keep quiet after she goes to bed so I wouldn’t disturb her.”
“She said someone’s been opening her door.”
“She said her door’s been opening,” Jack corrected. “Not that someone’s been opening it.”
“But how did you know Rynlee was gone if you haven’t been going down there checking?”
Coralee opened her mouth, then closed it again, and I saw a hint of defeat in her eyes. When she spoke again, I thought I’d won. “I heard her footsteps headed down the hall.”
“Why would you look for it in the middle of the night? Why not just come ask me?”
“I didn’t want her to get into trouble,” she said, her answer already prepared for that one. “And I couldn’t sleep knowing it was gone. It was a present from Malcolm.”
I nodded, my anger overflowing. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Her indifference to the torment she was inflicting on my family had driven me mad. I tried to channel my inner-Meredith for the sake of my daughter if nothing else, my blood boiling as I stared at her. “Do you enjoy this? You’re scaring her, Coralee! You’re scaring a five-year-old. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not—” she said.
“Loren—” Jack said at the same time. I looked up at him. “Look, we’re all just tired, okay? We’ll talk to Rynlee about the necklace in the morning and figure out what’s going on. For now, I have an early morning. Can we all just agree to go to bed?”
I tasted blood suddenly and released the inside of my lip from in between my teeth. Helplessness was not an emotion I carried well, but I’d felt nothing more strongly than that from the moment Coralee entered my home. “I want her out,” I said. “I want her out tonight.”
“You can’t kick her out in the middle of the night,” Jack argued.
“You can’t kick me out at all,” Coralee said, her voice filling the room. I spun to look at her.
I was done holding my tongue, done sitting quietly while she wreaked havoc on my life. I couldn’t do it anymore. I could feel the blood pooling in my palms as I clenched my fists and my nails broke the skin. Enough was enough. “Excuse me? This is my house. You’ve done nothing but make my daughter and me completely uncomfortable from the moment you stepped across that threshold. I can and will make you leave whenever I choose,” I looked at Jack, “so, I guess you have a decision to make. If you can’t back me up, I’m sorry, Jack, but you’ll have to go, too.”
He jerked his head back, just as surprised by my words as I was. “You don’t mean that.”
“I don’t want you to leave, but I can’t live like this. I can’t ask my daughter to live like this.”
“I’m not leaving,” Coralee said, her voice firm. “Would you really ask my son to choose between us? His only family?”
“If you leave, he won’t have to make that choice. But then, I think that’s what you’ve wanted all along.” I said the words before I’d thought them through, but once they were out, I realized I believed they were true. Getting Jack and me apart could well have been her endgame all along.
She pursed her lips, but didn’t say anything right away. When she did speak, her voice was soft. “You know nothing about me. How dare you presume to know what I want?”
“I know enough,” I said. “What is it? Am I not good enough for your son? Is that your plan? Run me off? Are you really petty enough to frighten a child to get that? She’s just a baby, Coralee! She’s innocent in all of this.”
“You’ve labeled me a villain from the moment we
met—”
“That’s not true! I wanted to get to know you. I wanted to feel like a family with you. I haven’t had that in so long…” My voice cracked suddenly. “Rynlee never got to know her grandparents. You were her only chance. I wanted this to work, Coralee, but you’ve made it abundantly clear that you don’t want the same thing.”
She folded her arms over her chest and glanced at the floor, nodding. “Well, I’m sorry if that’s what you think of me, Loren. But despite your putrid view of me, I wanted this to work as well. The only thing that’s ever mattered to me,” she reached out and touched Jack’s arm, “is that my son is happy. And I thought you made him happy. But since you two’ve been married, all you do is fight and argue. Apparently, you can’t even make time to be together as husband and wife because your daughter is always in bed with you—”
“What?” I demanded, looking at Jack, venom pulsing through my veins. “Seriously?”
His face began to grow pink. “Mom, that’s enough.”
“We are unhappy because we’ve allowed this dark cloud into our marriage.” I stepped toward her. “You are that dark cloud, Coralee. You are. And our sex life is certainly none of your business, but if you must know, you’ve been more of a distraction that Rynlee would ever be. She would’ve never been in our bed if you hadn’t been trying to scare her all this time.”
“Loren!” Jack yelled, his voice echoing through the house so much that I jumped. We both turned to look at him. “Both of you—I said that’s enough.” Before he could say anything else, I heard Rynlee’s cry from downstairs. We had woken her up.
I sighed. “I’m going to go take care of her.” I pointed at Coralee. “I mean it, Jack. This is the last night of this. I want her out.”
I didn’t bother looking at Coralee as I walked out of the bedroom and toward the stairs. I didn’t feel relief like I’d expected. I supposed I wouldn’t feel that until she disappeared from my house for good. But I’d finally said what I needed to—it was all laid out there, and Jack could do what he wanted to with it.
Either way, I was closer than ever to getting rid of Coralee, and that was all that mattered to me anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Loren
The next morning, when I woke, my head was heavy with sleep. Unlike most nights lately, I hadn’t had a nightmare and I hadn’t woken up multiple times. I’d slept soundly. I supposed going so long without sleep had finally caught up with me.
I shot up in bed, looking around the room for my missing husband. Beside me, Rynlee stirred. Her eyes opened, tiny fists moving to rub them.
“Momma?”
I smoothed her messy hair. “It’s okay, baby. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
Her mouth was already forming an ‘O’ as she gave in to a yawn. Within seconds, her head fell back on her pillow and her breathing had grown regular again. I slid from the bed carefully, freezing each time she stirred.
I tiptoed across the room, headed for the door, and then down the hallway. I could hear quiet voices on the floor below. Coralee hadn’t left, after all. I can’t lie and say I totally expected her to, but I couldn’t believe Jack hadn’t backed me up at all.
When I made it to the first floor, the talking ceased, and I heard footsteps headed my way. Jack stepped into the living room, his expression wary.
“Hey,” he said, waiting for me to make a move.
I was stony, my lips a thin line as I addressed him. “Good morning. What’s going on?”
“Mom wants to talk to you.”
“I have nothing to say to her, Jack,” I said. I was done with the half-attempts at making amends when things had gone too far.
“Just-just…hear her out. Please, for me?” His eyes were hopeful, his hands clasped together as if he were praying. “If you’ll just hear what she has to say, and then if you still want her out, I promise I’ll make it happen.”
Those words and those words alone were what made me agree. I nodded slightly, knowing nothing could make me change my mind. “Fine.”
At my words, her heels clicked across the hardwood, and I looked over, watching her enter the room. She wore the silver dress she’d been wearing the day I met her, and her long, gray hair was tied up in a bun. She smiled at me, an expression that looked so foreign on her face I had to do a double take.
“Loren,” she said, clearing her throat. She looked to Jack, who nodded encouragingly, before looking down at the floor to continue. “I, well, I’m sorry.” She paused, finally looking up. Her eyes weren’t the stone I was used to, instead there was warmth there I’d never seen from her. “I’m sorry for any distress I’ve caused you and your family. I’m sorry for disrupting your home and your lives. I hadn’t realized how much I’ve done to upset you until I spoke with Jack last night. He…he put things into perspective for me about how you feel, and I want you to know, it was never my intention to do this.”
I watched her mouth move, heard the words coming out, but I couldn’t feel what she was saying. It seemed like a dream, a script she’d been given. I’d heard it too many times from her. I wouldn’t change my mind. It was too late. “Thank you, Coralee.”
“And…I found the wallpaper. For the room upstairs. Jack said it came from a small boutique, that it was custom. I found one online that I’m sure is it. I’ve ordered it, and I’m having it reinstalled Wednesday. It was the earliest they could come. I’m terribly embarrassed by my actions. I had a yellow bedroom when I was a little girl, and then Malcolm painted our bedroom yellow after we bought our first home. I think…I think I just needed to feel at home again, but it wasn’t fair to you. I haven’t been in my right mind since Malcolm’s passing, and I’m truly sorry for the way I’ve behaved.” Her eyes grew wide and she reached behind her. “I have something for you. Both of you. As a way to make amends.” She held her hand out, a paper in it. I leaned forward, noticing the small picture of a cabin in the top, left hand corner.
Romantic Cabin Getaway, the headline read. I skimmed the small paragraph below it, reading about a hot tub and relaxing scenery all just a few miles from the city.
I glanced up at her. “What’s this?”
“I’ve booked you a cabin,” she cleared her throat, “you and Jack. And while you’re gone, I’ll have the wallpaper installed and an air purifier hooked up in my room to get rid of the smell. I’ve also got a very good tailor to come by and look at that quilt of your grandmother’s. I’ll work on getting out the stain, and she’ll repair the fabric. It won’t be as good as before, but we’ll make it so you have to look hard to see where the damage is.” She ran her finger across her palm. “I-I know I can’t fix everything I’ve done wrong, but I will do what I can to make this right.” I watched her glance back down at the floor, waiting for me to speak.
“Thank you, Coralee. This is very kind of you, but…we really can’t accept it.”
“Nonsense, of course you can. It’s a paid-for week away, no stress. And when you come home, your house will be returned to the way you had it.”
“Coralee, I can’t let you pay for this. You should be saving your money for when you’re back on your own. Besides, I can’t leave Rynlee alone. And I have the store to take care of.” I didn’t know her financial situation, but from the looks of the cabin, it hadn’t come cheap.
She waved off my concerns. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve been living here all this time and you haven’t asked me to pitch in with rent or utilities or even food. I’ve only paid for a few meals since I’ve been here, and you hardly ate them. It’s the least I can do. And I’m happy to watch Rynlee for you. And I can run whatever errands you need me to for the store. You deserve some time off. You can’t do everything without a break. You both need some time off together.”
I glanced at Jack. It was preposterous. If there had ever been a time when I shouldn’t have been allowed a day—let alone a week—off, this was that time.
“I just, I’m not sure I can swing it right now.”
&n
bsp; “What is there to swing?” she asked, her eyes blinking rapidly. “I’ve taken care of everything.”
Jack spoke up. “Lor, I really think we need this right now. We could never have done it for ourselves. We’d always find an excuse not to between Rynlee, life, and two businesses to run, but…it’s already done. We can at least enjoy it, right?” His smile was sad and unconvinced. He didn’t believe I would take it, but he needed me to.
I popped my neck, bouncing my head side to side as I thought. “I’ll have to try to get ahold of Meredith. I need to see if she can come back for the week. If not, I just don’t see how we could make it work. Becky can’t open and close with no lunch all week. It’s not fair.”
“I’m perfectly capable of giving your employee lunch,” Coralee said.
I disregarded her comment entirely. If she wasn’t capable of remembering basic things, why on earth would I trust her to learn and run my store in such a short amount of time? “And…as far as Rynlee, I think I’d feel more comfortable with Sarah keeping her. Or Meredith if she will come home. She’s just…she knows them, you know? They’ve taken care of her her whole life.” I said the words softly, awaiting the argument that would surely ensue.
To my surprise, Coralee’s lips formed a small, tight smile, her eyes unwavering. “Whatever you think is best.”
Jack looked at her and then to me, hope filling his face. He saw this as a new start, I knew. He thought things were good now, but I wasn’t so sure. I couldn’t get a read on Coralee and I didn’t know what her endgame was, but I didn’t believe her intentions were pure. My mother-in-law was a monster, and whether or not my husband saw it yet, her innocent act wasn’t fooling me.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Loren
Coralee wants us to go out of town for the week. She purchased us a cabin. Any chance you could come home and help with the store for the time being? Jack and I could really use some time.
The Mother-in-Law Page 13
