Chương 15
And somehow, everyone else had paid for it.
Emily squeezed my hand.
“We need to go.”
I nodded.
Then I looked at my mother.
“When I come back, nobody cleans anything.”
Her brow furrowed.
“What?”
“Not Emily.”
“Ethan, she’s going to the hospital.”
“Not Kayla either.”
I looked at all three sisters.
“Not Brittany.”
“Not Lily.”
They stared at me.
“If you make a mess, you clean it.”
Brittany gave a weak, disbelieving laugh.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“After all this, that’s what you’re saying?”
“No.”
I opened the door wider.
“It’s just the first thing that changes.”
Then I took my wife out of the apartment and left both of my parents behind with the truth they had spent six years avoiding.
By the time we reached the hospital, Emily’s contractions had spaced out again.
The doctor on call still wanted her monitored.
Nobody argued this time.
I sat beside her bed while Marcus and Renee waited down the hall with vending-machine coffee and enough tact not to come in unless we asked.
The room was dim except for the monitor.
Our son’s heartbeat moved across the screen in green lines.
Emily watched it for a long time.
“You’re thinking too loudly,” she said.
I looked at her.
“I’m not saying anything.”
“Exactly.”
I rubbed my palms together.
“I don’t know what to do with any of this.”
“You don’t have to do all of it today.”
“It feels like I do.”
“No.”
She turned her head toward me.
“You have to decide what happens to us today.”
That distinction mattered.
My mother.
My father.
The money.
The signatures.
The credit cards.
The letter.
All of it crowded inside my head demanding action.
But beside me was the one thing that had already been pushed aside too many times.
I moved my chair closer.
“What do you need?”
Emily looked surprised.
Then suspicious.
“Right now?”
“Right now.”
She thought about it.
“I need our home to feel like our home.”
I nodded.
“And I need you to stop rescuing people before they’ve even asked themselves whether they can stand.”
That one hurt.
“I do that?”
She gave me a look.
“Ethan.”
“Okay.”
“You pay bills nobody expects to pay themselves.”
“They expect it.”
“Because you taught them to.”
I looked at the monitor.
She continued gently.
“You thought being useful was the same thing as being loved.”
My throat tightened.
“That sounds like something Renee would say.”
“She did.”
I turned toward the door.
“Traitor.”
Emily smiled.
Then her expression softened.
“I love your family.”
“Even now?”
“Some of them.”
“That was fast.”
“I’m pregnant, not a saint.”
I laughed quietly.
Her hand found mine.
“I don’t want you to punish everyone because of what your mom did.”
“I’m not.”
“I mean it.”
“So do I.”
“What about the money?”
“I’m going to find out exactly what happened.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know yet.”
She squeezed my fingers.
“That’s allowed.”
The contractions settled enough that we were discharged by late afternoon.
Before leaving, I called Marcus into the hallway.
“I need one more favor.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“You’re developing a habit.”
“I need you to go back to the apartment with me.”
“I already planned to.”
“I also need boxes.”
That got his attention.
“How many?”
“As many as fit in your truck.”
Emily had been right about one thing.
I did not need to solve the entire family that day.
I did need to decide what happened in our home.
When we returned, the apartment was quiet.
Too quiet.
Teresa sat at the dining table.
Brittany was gone.
Kayla was packing clothes into a duffel bag.
Lily sat cross-legged on the floor beside an open suitcase.
For a moment, I thought they had made the decision for me.
My mother looked up.
“You’re kicking us out.”
I took off my coat.
“I’m ending the arrangement.”
“So yes.”
“I’m not putting anyone on the street tonight.”
She laughed bitterly.
“How generous.”
“I called Aunt Susan.”
That stopped her.
“You what?”
“She has room for you for two weeks.”
Teresa stared.
“You called my sister?”
“Yes.”
“You had no right discussing my business with her.”
“I told her you needed somewhere to stay.”
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
She did not believe me.
That was fine.
“I also called Brittany’s old roommate.”
Brittany, apparently listening from the hallway, stepped out.
“You did what?”
“She said you can stay there for a month if you cover half the utilities.”
Her face twisted.
“I’m not moving back in with Madison.”
“Then find another option.”
“I hate her.”
“Then this is excellent motivation.”
Marcus made a choking sound behind me that might have been a cough.
Brittany glared at him.
I looked at Kayla.
“You still work three days a week at the salon?”
She nodded cautiously.
“Four now.”
“Good.”
“I talked to DeShawn.”
Her expression changed.
Her boyfriend’s name.
“Why?”
“Because you told me last month he was looking for a roommate.”
“I was joking.”
“He wasn’t.”
Kayla covered her face.
“Oh my God.”
“He has a second bedroom available.”
“He snores.”
“You have earplugs.”
“This family is insane.”
“No argument.”
Lily closed her suitcase.
“What about me?”
“You applied for that receptionist job?”
She looked at Mom.
Then back at me.
“I didn’t finish the application.”
“Finish it.”
“What about until then?”
“Aunt Susan said you can stay with her too if you help with groceries and the house.”
Teresa shot me a look.
“You arranged my life.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I arranged fourteen days.”
“Same thing.”
“It isn’t.”
That was part of what I was learning.
Helping someone bridge a gap was not the same as building a permanent floor beneath them.
My mother stood.
“You’re doing this because of Emily.”
I looked at my wife.
She was standing near the doorway, tired but upright.
“No.”
Teresa’s face hardened.
“I am doing this because I should have done it months ago.”
She turned toward Emily anyway.
May you like
“I hope you’re happy.”
Emily’s expression barely changed.
