On the Line (21 page)

“She’s such an angel, Janelle.” Nancy grinned at her as she sat back down at the
table after putting the kids down for their naps.

“Thank you,” Janelle replied with a small nod of acknowledgment.

“She has her father’s mouth. And the twinkle in her eye reminds me of his, too,”
Nancy continued.

Janelle felt a tug on her heart. She had noticed those things in Zoe as well and
had secretly cherished them. She should have expected Nathan’s mother to pick up
on the similarities.

“And she’s so smart. Both of them are. You must be very proud.” Nancy gripped Janelle’s
hand on top of the table as Janelle nodded again. “You’ve done so well with them
both.”

“Thank you, they make it easy.” Janelle smiled fondly. “Zach helps by
letting her
help him with his homework. He teaches her as he works, and her mind is such a little
sponge. She absorbs everything.”

“Nathan told me about that, how he watched Zach teaching her math one afternoon.”

Janelle’s lips fell slightly. She pulled her hand away from Nancy’s grip as she glanced
at the table. She was torn between wanting to continue to talk about Nathan and wanting
to end the conversation that moment. It was nice to know he’d talked to his mother
about her children, especially since Nancy had been such a help to Janelle early
in Zach’s life. And it made her traitorous heart skip a beat. She was still mad at
Nathan—he’d abandoned her when she’d wanted him around and was using his suspension
as an excuse to continue to avoid her.

“He’s fond of both of them, you know,” Nancy said, and Janelle thought she heard
a slight reassurance in her voice. “He always talked quite a bit about them before
. . .”

At the abrupt end to the sentence, Janelle looked up at Nathan’s mother, saw the
tension lines in the corners of her eyes and her pursed lips. Janelle opened her
mouth to ask about Nathan’s well-being, but Nancy met her gaze and the expression
softened.

“You probably don’t want to talk about him,” she said lightly. “I can’t say I blame
you. He’s being more stubborn than he should be right now, and we’ve all told him
so.”

“Yes, we have,” Charlotte agreed from across the table where she sat with her sleeping
infant in her arms.

Janelle held back her laugh as Kelsey giggled.

“So, we won’t talk about him right now. How are you doing, Kelsey dear?” Nancy asked
and they all turned to look at Janelle’s sister as Kelsey gasped.

“I’m . . . uh . . .” Kelsey looked at the table and shook her head. “I’m fine, I
guess.” She shrugged.

“You look tired,” Nancy stated. “Are you sleeping well?”

“Um,” Kelsey replied as she looked wide-eyed at Janelle.

Nancy rose from her chair beside Janelle and walked around the table. She sat down
next to Kelsey and grasped both of her hands. “I know this hasn’t been easy on you,
has it?” she asked, and Janelle saw the tears fill Kelsey’s eyes
as she looked at
the older woman. Nancy released Kelsey’s hands and gave her a hug. “Oh, sweetie,
it’s okay.”

Janelle’s mouth fell open as her eyes began to sting. She heard her sister’s sobs
as Nancy mumbled things for Kelsey’s ears only and allowed her own tears to fall.
She glanced across the table at Charlotte who was watching her mother-in-law and
Kelsey with sympathy in her eyes. Janelle’s heart swelled with something she couldn’t
quite place.

All she knew was this woman, Nathan’s mother, was showing Kelsey and her more love
and support than their mother had bothered to give them ever. This kind of support,
the kind that brought meals without being asked, or offered a shoulder before the
first tear was shed, wasn’t something they were used to from their own mother, let
alone anyone else’s. It felt wrong that it should come from someone outside of the
family. At the same time, it was coming from Nancy Harris and that seemed to make
it right.

“He’ll be back for you. A man doesn’t follow you across the country and put himself
in harm’s way if he doesn’t love you more than life itself,” Nancy said. She’d pulled
back enough to cup Kelsey’s cheeks in her hands. “And don’t let anyone tell you you’re
not deserving of that. It does a great disservice to him, treating him like he doesn’t
know his own mind.”

Kelsey smiled.

Janelle’s chin dropped. For the first time since Patrick left, maybe for the first
time since she came home from the hospital, Kelsey smiled a smile that lit her whole
face. Janelle released a long, slow breath as Nancy turned to her.

“You both deserve more happiness than you’ve been dealt so far. I think it’s time
you both reach out and grab it,” Nancy said as she took one hand and reached for
Janelle.

“Encouraging my daughters to behave badly again?”

Janelle’s head snapped up to the figure looming in the doorway between the dining
room and kitchen. How had Janelle not heard the door open? “Mother,” she said when
her mouth was no longer a desert. “How did you get in?”

“The door was unlocked, Janelle. It really wasn’t hard.” Mary’s upper lip curled
as she folded her arms across her chest. “What are you doing here,
Nancy? Come to
corrupt my daughters a little more? Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage?”

“I did damage?” Nancy stood and stepped around Kelsey, blocking her from Mary’s view
as Kelsey swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “What might I have done, Mary?”

“You encouraged that home-wrecker of a son of yours to come in and ruin Richard’s
marriage. Don’t think I don’t know how often you visited her. And how often Nathan
was there, ‘fixing’ things around the house.” Mary took a step closer. “That affair
was your fault. You should have just minded your own business and left Janelle alone.
She and Richard were doing fine before you came along.”

Janelle caught a glimpse of Kelsey’s gaping mouth, saw Charlotte cover James’s ear
with her palm, and opened her mouth to argue with her mother.

“Is that really what you think?” Nancy said calmly, beating Janelle to the punch.

She was also doing it much steadier than Janelle probably could have. Her heart was
racing in her chest, her breathing quick and shallow.

“That’s what I know,” Mary hissed. “Richard never had one complaint about his life
at home. Everything was perfect until you and your good-for-nothing son came in and
ruined it for him.”

Nancy shook her brunette head. “Do you even hear yourself ? Richard’s marriage was
ruined? Richard never complained? Have you even considered that Janelle wasn’t seeing
things the same way?”

“Janelle knew how things were supposed to be,” Mary snapped. “Her job was to keep
him happy and raise his children.” Mary turned her glare to Janelle. “It shouldn’t
have been that hard.”

“Maybe it didn’t help that your son-
in-law
was turning into your father, well on
his way to claiming the title of ‘town drunk’ for himself.” Nancy’s control started
to slip and her volume rose slightly as Mary’s mouth fell open. “Yes, you may have
thought he was hiding it, but we all saw the signs. At least those of us who were
paying attention,” Nancy spat as she cast a quick glance toward Charlotte and James
and nodded toward the door.

Charlotte quickly stood and gave Janelle a soft smile as she slipped out of the dining
room through the door to the living room.

Nancy turned back to Mary, and Janelle saw her shoulder lift and fall
slowly. “Janelle
was not happy, and if you’d bothered to visit her instead of singing Richard’s praises
all over town, then you might have known that. Why you preferred him to either of
your lovely girls is beyond me, but the whole town was, and still is, aware of your
preferences. Just as they were well aware of his nightly bar-hopping and the way
he bet on everything he could.”

The blood drained from Janelle’s face and she gasped. She’d thought no one else had
known about Richard’s drinking. She’d apparently thought wrong.

“He would never have needed to do that if she’d supported him,” Mary argued.

Numbness settled over Janelle as she watched the two women argue over her past. “Enough,”
Janelle said quietly. She rose from her seat and approached Nancy. “Thank you, for
everything. Zoe’s birthday is next Friday, and we’re having a party the following
day. I would love for you to join us.”

“If
she
comes, I won’t be here.” Mary puffed her chest up and glared at her daughter.

Janelle looked at her mother and carefully pondered her words. “I’m willing to risk
it.” Mary’s eyes widened, and Janelle cringed at the menace in her look. She turned
back to Nancy. “And Charlotte, James, and Mason as well.”

“We look forward to it, dear.” Nancy turned and hugged Janelle. “I should go now,”
she whispered as they embraced, and Janelle nodded her agreement. They separated
and Nancy turned to Kelsey who now stood beside her. “Remember what I said. You deserve
it.” She hugged Kelsey then left the room.

Janelle heard the door close and turned to her mother. “What do you want?” She sat
down and Kelsey took the seat next to her.

“What was she doing here?” Mary snapped.

“Visiting her granddaughter,” Kelsey answered with a grin. “Can’t deny her that,
can we?”

“Stay out of this. I’m having a conversation with your sister,” Mary growled. “Don’t
you have a phone call to wait for? Or maybe he’s not going to call you today. Perhaps
he’s found someone to warm his bed in Paris and no longer needs a harlot like you.”

Janelle watched the grin fade from her sister’s face, replaced by a look
of stricken
horror. “Now you’re just being nasty for the sake of being nasty, Mother. Tell me
what you want and leave,” Janelle said. “I’m not really in the mood to talk to you
right now.”

“But you’ll talk to her?” Mary scoffed. “You’ll entertain your lover’s mother, but
not your own? What an ungrateful daughter you’ve turned out to be.”

“Ungrateful?” Janelle leapt to her feet and her voice rose. “What have you given
me to be grateful for? Your condescension? Your unwavering disapproval? Your name-calling
and mudslinging?” Janelle crept toward her shocked mother. “Please. Forgive me,”
she added lowly with a snarl.

“I came for Gladys,” Mary started as she backed toward the kitchen.

“She’s not here.” Kelsey’s apparent boredom soothed Janelle slightly.

“She wants her mother’s ring. Richard gave it to you and she wants it back,” Mary
continued.

“I don’t have it. I left it at the house when I moved out. I put it on top of his
dresser. If it’s not there, he did something with it,” Janelle answered with a shrug.

“Check the pawn shops,” Kelsey added. “He always needed money.”

Mary’s lips pressed tightly together and her face began to mottle. Without another
word, she turned and stormed out of the house. The door slammed behind her, and Janelle
cursed as she looked at the ceiling and prayed the kids didn’t wake up from their
naps early.

She glanced in the direction of the front door. It would figure that her mother would
come for something related to Richard. Janelle plopped into the chair and wondered
how long it would be until her mother either stopped asking for things for him or
just stopped visiting altogether.

She folded her arms on the table and laid her forehead on them. “Why do we put up
with her?” she muttered, trying to keep the whine of frustration out of her voice.

“Because she’s our mother,” Kelsey answered matter-of-factly. “And if we didn’t,
she would do her best to separate us from Dad.”

Janelle silently agreed, although she didn’t think her father would make it easy
for her.

“Do you remember when we were kids?” Kelsey’s quiet voice broke
through Janelle’s
thoughts. Janelle lifted her head to find her sister’s elbow on the table, her head
resting on her fist, as she looked blankly out the window.

“What, specifically?” Janelle asked as she pushed herself up.

“When we played princesses, Sean was always our dragon slayer,” she continued, a
smile stretching her lips. “He loved pretending to come to our rescue.”

Janelle chuckled to herself. Their brother, the middle child, had always loved pretending
to be their knight in shining armor. “He said he did, anyway.” She focused on the
wall behind her sister. “And if I remember correctly, it was always you he ‘rescued’
first.”

Kelsey laughed as she nodded. “Of course he did, I was the baby.”

Janelle chuckled along with her, but as their laughter faded, she was left with the
emptiness his memories always left behind. Janelle was the oldest and, even if Sean
didn’t like it, it had always been her job to protect both him and Kelsey. But Janelle
had failed Sean the night he’d needed her most. He’d died when they were in college
because she couldn’t be there for him, because she hadn’t been looking out for him
the way she should have been.

Kelsey’s shoulders lifted then she released a long, slow sigh. “Sometimes I wish
he were still here to slay the dragons for us. He always made dealing with
her
tolerable.”

Their mother had always been the one thing Sean actually could protect Janelle from
if he chose to. Janelle could only nod her agreement.

Fifteen

“How did your visit with Nancy go?” Janelle asked Kelsey as they prepared for dinner.
Janelle was making macaroni and cheese and sautéing chicken as Kelsey set the plates
on the kitchen island. Nancy had arrived as Janelle was leaving to take Zach to therapy
earlier, and Kelsey had invited her to stay.

“It was nice,” Kelsey said with a slight smile. Janelle didn’t know what Nancy had
said to Kelsey on that first visit, or the two visits since, but Kelsey’s spirits
seemed to be lifted. For that alone, Janelle was thankful.

“What did you talk about?” Janelle added the powdered cheese mix to the milk and
stirred as the noodles cooked.

“Nothing in particular, really, just whatever came to mind. She watched Zoe play
and colored with her for a while. She asked me a few questions about working in movies
and, of course, Patrick. She said she’s looking forward to meeting him,” Kelsey said,
and Janelle thought she heard a hitch in her voice.