Chapter 3

After that, Mom was in the hospital for a long time.

Every day I waited for her to come home. I missed her so much.

But the mother who came back was not the one I had known.

She was quiet now. Nothing interested her.

She didn't run the household. She didn't ask about the company.

Only when Dad was in the room did something ignite in her, and it was pure hatred.

Rachel came often to sit with her, but nothing anyone did could make her smile again.

Until my birthday.

That was the happiest day I can remember.

For one day, Mom seemed like her old self.

She took me shopping for a beautiful princess dress. She made a little crown for me with her own hands.

She invited Dad and Rachel over, and the four of us had a warm, quiet birthday at home.

Mom's smile was so soft. I thought maybe everything was going to be all right.

But the next day, all of it shattered.

I woke to the sound of voices in the living room.

I peeked through the crack of the door.

Dad was on his knees. Mom stood over him, clutching a shirt.

"Daniel. Whose lipstick is on this collar?"

Dad kept his head down and said nothing.

Mom threw the shirt in his face. Her voice came out hoarse, like it wasn't hers.

"Have you been sleeping with someone else? How could you do this to me?"

He still didn't answer.

But from that day on, Dad never sat at our table again.

"Rachel. I lied to myself for years. I couldn't let myself believe that the woman he was seeing was you."

"I would rather have been wrong than have to prove it."

Mom's eyes glistened as she stared at Rachel.

Rachel sank to the floor, shoulders trembling.

Whatever guilt had lived in Dad's eyes vanished.

"Claire, that's enough. Rachel is already suffering. What more do you want?"

"When it comes down to it, wasn't going in there your own choice?"

"For you, I had my own mother sent to prison. I accepted that."

"But you're not exactly clean either. What gives you the right to look down on us?"

Mom's head snapped up. The hatred in her eyes could have burned them alive.

The room fell silent.

Rachel slowly got to her feet.

"Claire, stop pushing me. I don't want to destroy what you two have. I'll leave!"

She grabbed the little boy and rushed out of the house like a gust of wind.