On the Line (24 page)

“Shut up, Mason.” Nathan slid his chair away from the table and stood abruptly.

“Or what, Nathan?” Mason jeered. “You’re not going to do anything. You always play
by the rules, regardless of what they are.”

Nathan glowered menacingly at his brother and Mason stopped laughing.

“You shouldn’t have agreed so easily to the captain’s orders, but you did and now
you’re suffering,” Mason said coolly. “You have no one but yourself to blame for
this.”

“So this is what this dinner was all about, Mother?” Nathan snapped. “So you could
talk about Janelle and my daughter in front of me and make me feel guilty that I’m
not a part of their lives? Are you trying to torture me further? What were you trying
to accomplish?”

“I’m trying to push you into doing
something
, Nathan,” Nancy said calmly as she rose.
“That little girl needs a father. So does her brother. The one they had was a monster
and they deserve better.” She looked at her eldest son, and Nathan saw the turmoil
in her usually steady green eyes. “Are you better than him? Or will you continue
to abandon them the way you have so far?”

Nathan felt her words like a punch in the gut. He drew his shoulders back and walked
around Jackson. Without a word to anyone, he left the house. Yes, he was definitely
going to do something about this.

Right now.

Janelle pulled into the driveway, exhausted. Why she had agreed with Andrew’s request
and taken Zoe to therapy with Zach, and then thought it would be great if the three
of them had dinner before they came home, was beyond her. Therapy had been brutal
to watch, dinner had been painful to sit through with Zoe talking nonstop and Zach
not saying anything, and now all she wanted to do was have a glass of wine, take
a hot bath, and crawl into bed with a good book.

At least they had beaten the rain home. A small positive, but at this point she’d
take it.

“Oh, crap,” she whispered to herself when she spied the car sitting in the driveway.
It was her mother’s car, and uneasiness slithered down her spine.
“Kids, I want you
to go into the house as quietly as possible and go straight upstairs to bed. I’ll
tuck you in as soon as I can.”

“Are we playing the quiet game, Mommy?” Zoe asked.

“Excellent idea, sweetheart. The quietest one gets a quarter.” Janelle parked her
minivan beside Kelsey’s Jeep, under the protection of the carport. She pushed the
button for the side door to open then reached in and quickly unbuckled Zoe, and the
kids climbed out. “Remember, quiet game.” Janelle put her finger to her lips and
they all tiptoed up the steps and across the front porch.

If she wanted any idea of what Mary was saying to Kelsey, she had to catch her in
the act. After each of their mother’s visits, Kelsey was quiet and wouldn’t talk
about it. It had gotten a little better since Nancy had started visiting, but Mary
had also been scarce. That was fine with Janelle.

Janelle opened the front door and motioned for the kids to come in and go upstairs.
She set her keys on the side table in the entryway, toed her sandals off and left
them beside the steps, and quietly made her way toward the kitchen.

“Mom, I’m not staying here, I have a career in California. I’m supposed to start
working on another movie in June,” Kelsey was saying as she turned toward the coffee
pot. Janelle smelled the fresh, hot coffee and her mouth watered.

“You haven’t worked on anything, except
him
, since November. What kind of career
is that dear? You can do better,” Mary stated as Kelsey poured herself a cup of coffee.
Mary continued, “Zach needs stability now. You owe it to him to settle down here,
become a mother, find him a—”

“A what?” Kelsey snapped as she turned around. “A father?”

Janelle’s heart nearly stopped. Was her mother encouraging Kelsey to stay and be
a mother to Zach? Was Kelsey agreeing so easily? No wonder Kelsey never wanted to
talk about it.

Mary nodded her head. “Not right away, of course.”

“Of course.” Kelsey rolled her eyes as she sat down on the bar stool and stared into
her mug.

“He needs a good, strong, male role model in his life,” Mary said sweetly. “And,
since
you’ve
deprived him of another father, I think you need to take on the responsibility
of finding one for him.”

“He has Dad,” Kelsey muttered as the same thought crossed Janelle’s mind.

“Your father can’t be here for Zach twenty-four-seven. Zach needs a stable influence
that can be around for him all the time,” Mary argued. “Think of all the little things
that your father did for you and your brother and sister. Softball games, scouts,
vacations, tucking you in at night, comforting you when you had a nightmare.”

“Janelle is perfectly capable of doing all of that,” Kelsey said, her knuckles turning
white as she gripped her mug. “And I will help when I’m here.”

Janelle silently released a breath. Her sister was standing up for her. Kelsey wasn’t
plotting with Mary to take her son away. She almost felt giddy.

Mary remained quiet until Kelsey looked up. Before her eyes fell on her mother, she
made eye contact with Janelle. Janelle put her index finger to her lips and saw a
slight nod of Kelsey’s head as she turned her attention back to their mother. Mary
had apparently been waiting for Kelsey to completely focus on her because as soon
as Kelsey looked at her, she continued.

“True,” she agreed, “but what will you do when he’s a teenager? How will he learn
to treat women properly? Are you prepared to deal with puberty without male guidance?”

“Mother,” Kelsey hissed, “that’s years away.”

“All the more reason for
you
to settle down now. You start dating again and when
the time comes, maybe he’ll have a decent father figure.” Janelle saw her mother’s
shoulders lift as she held her hands up like she’d just figured it all out, and thought
it should be common sense.

Kelsey pressed her lips tightly together and looked at her coffee mug again.

Janelle rolled her eyes and stepped into the room. “And where do I fit into this
equation, Mother?” she said smoothly.

Her mother spun on the stool so quickly she nearly fell off of it when she met Janelle’s
glare. “Janelle,” she gasped. “What are you doing home so soon?”

Janelle glanced at the clock, more for emphasis since she had a pretty good idea
what time it was. “It’s seven thirty, it’s hardly early.”

“Where are the children?” Mary asked, seeming to regain her equilibrium.

“I decided to leave them with Andrew. I told him I wasn’t responsible
enough to be
their mother and maybe he should find them someone more qualified.” Janelle let a
savage grin form on her lips. “You know, in case your prospects don’t work out.”
She motioned to Kelsey and was more than happy to see her mother’s face turn pink.

“Janelle, I never meant to imply you weren’t a good mother,” Mary blustered as she
rose to her feet.

“No?” Janelle questioned. “Funny, that’s what it sounded like. Kelsey, what did you
think?” Janelle looked at her sister, who was trying not to smile too widely.

“Yeah, sounded a lot like that to me too,” Kelsey readily agreed.

Mary pulled her shoulders back and pursed her lips together until her color returned
to normal. “I was just saying that it’s about time Kelsey took some responsibility
for her actions. Zach is her son, and now that he knows it, she needs to step up
and do what’s right by him.”

“Zach is
my
son and she has already done what was right by him, Mom. She gave him
up for adoption to give him a better life,” Janelle argued.

“So she could run off and play movie star,” Mary snapped. “She ran away from her
problems, and you let her do it. And we won’t even talk about your behavior, Janelle.
You’re both an embarrassment.”

Janelle let out a growl of frustration. “She didn’t run away, I pushed her out the
door. I offered to adopt Zach so she would leave.”

Mary audibly gasped and Kelsey covered her mouth with her fingertips.

“Of all the stupid things, Janelle. Adopting him ruined your marriage. Why would
you do such a thing?” Mary asked.

Janelle was slightly surprised by her mother’s perceptions. Janelle knew that was
when her marriage began to crumble, but she hadn’t thought that her mother had picked
up on it too. “I wanted Kelsey to follow her dreams and get out from under your thumb.”

Mary’s jaw tightened as her eyes narrowed on Janelle. “Just what do you mean by that?”

“You know exactly what I mean by that,” Janelle replied. “You disowned her, you kicked
her out of your house, and you still took every opportunity you had to demean her.
If you thought I was going to let her put up with that for the rest of her life because
she was raising a child on her own, you don’t know me that well. I hated the way
you treated her when she was pregnant,
and I knew that you would always treat her
with disdain and condescension if she stayed. She had a dream and I wanted her to
follow it. She never would have given Zach up to a stranger, she would have wondered
about him for the rest of her life. I adopted Zach so she could still be a part of
his life and she could pursue her dreams and maybe even have a chance at a happy
life.”

“I never would have prevented that,” Mary said defensively.

“You’re kidding, right?” Kelsey rolled her eyes.

“Mom, you’re doing it now. She’s made her choices and Zach has a mother—me. Let her
be his aunt and let me worry about taking care of him.” Janelle folded her arms across
her chest as she felt her energy begin to wane. Her mother was always so exhausting.
“Now, if you’re done trying to run our lives, I need to tuck my children into bed.
I think you should go.”

“You’re both stubborn as mules, don’t know what’s good for you, let alone your children,”
Mary muttered to herself as she quickly made her way to the front door. “Damn hardheaded
girls, you get that from your father,” she continued, and her mumbling only stopped
when the door closed behind her.

Janelle turned to find her sister standing beside her, her lips pursed tightly.

“I think that went well,” Kelsey said as she looped her arm through her sister’s.
“Now let’s tuck your children into bed so we can open a bottle of wine.”

Janelle laughed lightly as she let Kelsey lead her up the steps. They took turns
tucking the kids into bed then headed back downstairs to settle in for a glass of
wine and maybe a movie. When her feet hit the floor behind Kelsey’s, Janelle noticed
a pair of headlights pulling into her driveway.

“Now what?” she mumbled as she walked out onto the porch. When she recognized the
vehicle driving toward the house, everything in her froze.

Seventeen

What was he doing there? Janelle was not in the mood or the mindset to deal with
him tonight. Since he’d started giving her the silent treatment, she’d started building
a wall around her heart. The mortar wasn’t quite set yet and seeing him now only
threatened to topple it before it could harden.

“Who is it?” Kelsey asked as she followed Janelle out the door.

“It’s Nathan,” Janelle muttered through clenched teeth. She inhaled deeply and decided
her relaxing evening would simply have to wait a little longer. “Go back inside,
I’ll deal with him.”

Kelsey rested her chin on Janelle’s shoulder as she gave it a supportive squeeze.
“Be nice,” she said as she pulled away. “I’m here if you need me,” she added, and
Janelle heard the front door close. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure her
sister was gone then turned back around as Nathan’s truck stopped in front of the
house.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Janelle snapped as soon as his door was closed.

Nathan looked up at her across the hood of his truck and fell back a step. She watched
him regain his composure and begin to walk toward her, his eyes focused sharply on
her.

As her heart sped up, Janelle crossed her arms and continued to glare at him. “What
are you doing here, Nathan?”

“Such a hostile greeting. What’s wrong with you?” He stopped in front of the truck
and held his hands out to his side.

Janelle’s jaw dropped. “What’s wrong with me?” she sputtered. “Seriously?” When she
saw his brown head bob, her frustration bubbled into a slight rage. “You give me
the silent treatment, completely ignore me for four and a half
weeks, and then decide
to show up here unannounced and I’m supposed to be okay with that?”

“Silent treatment?” Nathan scoffed. “I sent you a letter, didn’t you read it?”

“No, I didn’t read it,” she snapped and watched the frown on his full lips deepen.
“I wanted you to pick up the phone. Just answer the damn question so you can leave.
Why are you here?”

“Why do you think I’m here, Janelle?”

She rolled her eyes. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t have asked. What I
think
is that
you’re here to see your daughter,” Janelle stated. “But she’s tucked into bed already.
If you’d
called
, I could have told you not to bother coming by.”