Chapter 1 - TOO TIRED TO CARE
The sentence landed harder than anything the surgeon had warned me about.
“Once she gets home, she’ll be too tired to care.”
I stared at Caleb while twenty-two members of his family suddenly found the floor fascinating.
Grace shifted against my chest.
My incision burned.
And my husband said nothing.
That silence answered every question.
“You knew,” I said.
Caleb stepped toward me. “Erin, I can fix this.”
“No. You can explain it.”
Ron snorted behind him. “There’s nothing to explain. Families celebrate babies.”
I looked at my father-in-law.
“This isn’t your house.”
His face changed.
Not much.
Just enough.
For six years, I had tried to keep peace with Ron Bailey because Caleb always said his father “didn’t understand boundaries.” Apparently, nobody had ever required him to.
I turned to Aunt Melissa.
“You said you didn’t know this room was mine?”
“I swear.”
“Take your suitcase.”
Ron’s eyebrows lifted.
Then I raised my voice.
“Everyone who does not live here needs to leave.”
The room beyond the hallway went silent.
Someone turned off the karaoke machine.
Sherry stepped forward. “Erin, sweetheart, you’re emotional.”
“No. I’m postoperative.”
“That’s what I mean.”
I nearly laughed.
Instead, I looked at Caleb.
“You have ten minutes.”
He blinked. “For what?”
“To clear our house.”
Ron slammed his plastic cup onto the hallway table.
“My family drove hundreds of miles.”
“They can drive to hotels.”
“Who’s paying for that?”
“Not me.”
That was when Caleb whispered, “Erin…”
There was something in his tone.
Fear again.
Different fear.
I looked at him.
“What?”
Ron smiled slowly.
And I knew I was about to learn something worse.
Caleb rubbed both hands over his face.
“Some of them already paid Dad.”
“For what?”
Nobody answered.
I turned toward Ron.
His expression told me everything before his mouth did.
“For rooms,” he said.
I thought I’d misunderstood him.
Then Aunt Melissa went pale.
Ron Bailey hadn’t simply invited relatives into my house.
May you like
He had charged them money to stay there.
And judging by Caleb’s face, my husband had known.
