When I stepped into the Kade foyer, everything was dark and my heart skipped a beat. Maybe she wasn't there? A part of me didn't want her to be there, but I heard her move and my heart skipped over another beat.
There she was. She was in a chair at the table. The moonlight filtered in through the large windows behind her.
She spoke first, as if nothing happened. "Hello, Samantha."
I scowled, but hid it in the next breath. "Hello."
"No mother? No Analise? What have we come to?"
I readied myself. "So bright and cheery, it's like you've never done a thing to hurt me or my family."
She sucked in her breath. "It was my family too."
"No, mom. Your family is yourself, maybe James since he hasn't left you. But I doubt that'll last. You'll do something to push him away. You'll cheat on him, kill his baby, attack him even."
"You watch your words." Her tone was stone cold. "Right now."
"Fine."
"Fine."
A moment of silence passed between us, but there was so much I wanted to say.
"So you called me for this meeting," she prompted me.
My heart went flat. I couldn't say what I wanted to say, not to her. She wouldn't listen. She would defend. She would attack. She'd never listen so I sighed in surrender. "I want you to agree that you'll stay away from me."
"If?"
"What?"
She leaned forward. Her eyes sparkled in the moonlight, and I saw the rage in there again. It was contained now, for the moment. I wondered when it would come out again. Then she sighed from irritation. "You came to me. You want me to stay away from you. I'm guessing there's something that'll come after that. You want me to stay away from you if…if what? If you come back? If you move in with David? What's the if? What do you want, darling child of mine?"
"For one, never refer to me as that again. It'll be like we're not related. Do you understand?"
"Crystal."
I winced. A knife slipped inside of me with that one word, with the chilling tone of her voice. I tried to ignore the pain. I was the one who needed to act like we weren't family. I needed to forget her, forget that she had ever been my mother.
"Is that it?"
I could hear the rolling of her eyes. I gritted my teeth against it. "I think James is a good man."
"He is."
Her dark silhouette straightened in the chair. There was pride in her voice now.
I added, "Mason and Logan will not move back in with their father unless I come too. You know that and James knows that. And you know that James wants them here."
She murmured, softly, "He loves them very much."
My teeth gritted together. She didn't get to act like she cared. "Stop. Just stop. They're not your boys. They're not your family. You are lucky to have their father love you, but they will never accept you." I drew in a shuddering breath. "They'll tolerate you, if I ask them to. Or they'll make your life hell, and after Mason heard his mom, he wants to. He's waiting for the chance to make you pay. I know the only reason he hasn't is because he's been worried about me." I leaned forward and placed my elbows on the table. It was cold against my skin. Goosebumps slithered up and down my arms. "So I have a proposition for you."
I waited as she sat there. I waited for her reaction.
"What?" She lifted her shoulders, her tone snippy.
Anger exploded in me. I wanted to reach across the table and grab her. I wanted to slam her head down, and I wanted to keep doing it until she cared. But she never would. So I sat there, and I counted to ten for patience.
When I felt something resembling it, I waited another ten, and then started, "I will move back in if you agree that there is no relationship between us. We will live in the same home, but that's it. I'm no longer your daughter. You're no longer my mother. You have no say with me, whatsoever." I tried to ignore the pounding in my chest. "When I spend time with David, you will say nothing. You will do nothing."
Her mouth tightened.
I didn't care. "When and if I go to Boston to see Garrett, you will say nothing. You will do nothing. It's as if I'm not even your child. I will only be your future stepson's girlfriend, who lives here. That's it. And you won't say a word about this to James. If you do," a layer of tears rested over my eyes. They were ready to fall, but I kept going in a hoarse whisper, "if you say a word, I will allow Mason and Logan free reign on you. They can do anything to you that they want."
As she paled, a sick darkness started in me. It grew as I continued, "They won't just hurt you. They'll take him away from you."
Her eyes closed. Her arms started to tremble so she wrapped the ends of her nightgown around her. She seemed so tiny in that moment.
Again, I didn't care. I murmured, "You know what I'm saying is true. You have manipulated everyone in your life, and you have hurt everyone in your life. There's a trail of damage behind you, to me, to David, to Garrett, to whoever impregnated you." A wall of ice was forming around my heart. "You are manipulating James. You should leave him because you're hurting him."
"I'm not," she whispered.