Chapter 2 - Everybody Out
For a second, nobody moved.
I honestly thought I had misheard her.
“What paperwork?”
Teresa smiled like she had been waiting months for me to ask.
“We’ll discuss that when you calm down.”
“No.”
I shifted Frederick higher against my shoulder.
“We’ll discuss it now.”
Aunt Betsy stepped forward.
“Connor, the baby needs quiet.”
I looked at her.
“Then why did you invite twenty people here?”
Her mouth snapped shut.
I turned toward the dining room.
Some relatives were suddenly fascinated by their plates.
Others stared directly at me.
There were bottles of wine on my table that I knew cost more than a hundred dollars each.
A tray of lobster sat beside shrimp, prime rib, and imported cheese.
This was not a simple birthday party.
This looked like a corporate event.
My mother raised her voice.
“Everyone stay seated.”
I stared at her.
“Mom.”
“This is Frederick’s birthday.”
“No.”
I pointed toward the kitchen.
“My son’s birthday is not my wife crying over a sink while he runs a fever.”
Amy whispered my name.
I looked back.
She wasn’t trying to stop me.
She was afraid of what would happen after everyone left.
That realization made me angrier.
I faced the room.
“You have five minutes.”
My uncle Howard stood.
“Connor, this is disrespectful.”
“So is treating Amy like hired help in her own house.”
Teresa slammed her glass onto the table.
“I paid for this party.”
“With what money?”
Silence.
Her expression shifted.
I already knew the answer.
“My money?”
She folded her arms.
“You send me money for the family.”
“I send you three thousand dollars a month to help Amy with groceries, utilities, and Frederick.”
Betsy laughed nervously.
“That’s basically Teresa’s money once you give it to her.”
Amy turned toward me.
“What?”
I looked at her.
“You knew I was sending Mom money.”
Amy shook her head slowly.
“No.”
My stomach dropped.
Teresa interrupted.
“She doesn’t need to know every financial detail.”
I ignored her.
“Amy, Mom has been getting three thousand dollars from me every month since Frederick was born.”
Amy’s eyes widened.
“Connor, she gives me four hundred.”
The room became perfectly still.
“What?”
“Sometimes five hundred.”
Amy looked embarrassed.
“She said that was what you sent for groceries.”
I slowly turned toward my mother.
Nine months.
Twenty-seven thousand dollars.
And Amy had received less than five thousand.
“Where is the rest?”
Teresa’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t interrogate me in front of everyone.”
“Where is the rest of my money?”
She stepped closer.
“I managed it.”
“Managed what?”
“This family.”
I laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
Then I pointed toward the front door.
“Out.”
Teresa’s face turned red.
“You cannot throw me out of a house I helped secure.”
There it was again.
The house.
The paperwork.
Amy looked confused.
So did I.
“What did you do?”
Teresa picked up her purse.
“I protected my son.”
Then she looked at Amy.
“From the woman who plans to take everything from him.”
I handed Frederick back to Amy.
“Everyone leaves now.”
This time, something in my voice worked.
Chairs moved.
Relatives grabbed purses and coats.
Betsy whispered angrily to Teresa.
Within ten minutes, the house was almost empty.
My mother was the last person at the door.
She looked straight at me.
“Ask your wife what she signed three months after Frederick was born.”
Then she walked out.
I turned toward Amy.
May you like
Her face had gone white.
---
