Chapter 3

Arthur stared at me, dazed, clearly never expecting a word as unforgivable as divorce to come out of my mouth.

The commotion brought the mother-in-law running.

She saw the handprint on Arthur's face, and her narrow eyes bulged as she screamed, "You cheap little slut, you actually dared to hit my son! I'll tear you apart today."

She raised her hand to strike me. I didn't move. Out of instinct, my eyes went to Arthur.

The mother-in-law and I both had prickly tempers, and in those first two years of marriage she'd tried more than once to raise a hand to me. But Arthur used to shield me. Every time, before her palm could land, he'd already blocked it.

Arthur glanced at me and did nothing.

There was a sharp crack as her hand landed on my cheek.

The sting burned, my whole face on fire.

I stared at Arthur with a cold smile. Whatever five years of feeling there had been, it was gone now.

I swung my hand and slapped it hard across the mother-in-law's smug face.

"Divorce! Tomorrow we go to the village official and get divorced!"

The mother-in-law froze in place, then the next second she shrieked and lunged to hit me again.

Arthur suddenly stepped forward and stopped her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced toward where the magic lamp was kept.

"Mom, that's enough!"

The mother-in-law glared at me, refusing to let it go, grinding her teeth. "You little slut, you just wait!"

Then she flung Arthur's hand off and stormed away, seething.

Arthur knotted his brow and stared at me, then rolled over onto the bed with his back to me, his tone edged with resentment. "Divorce, divorce, it's all you ever say. Not even afraid the neighbors will laugh."

I looked at his curled-up back, twisted my mouth into a sneer, and let my gaze fall on the lamp.

Afraid of being laughed at, or afraid the lamp would stop working and he'd never reach the future again?

Ten days later, Arthur and the mother-in-law disappeared again.

But only three days in, they were back.

The moment she came through the door, the mother-in-law dropped to her knees in front of Arthur, wailing, slapping her own face over and over.

"It's all Mom's fault, all Mom's fault. Mom never should have taken my grandson out for a walk alone and lost him."

"Whatever grudge you have, whatever anger, take it all out on Mom. Just please, please don't leave Mom behind here."

"As long as you still take Mom to the future, Mom will slave for you, do anything."

Arthur stared down at her with a dark face. Dutiful as he'd always been, he didn't help her up. He let her kneel.

He looked down at her from above. "Still thinking about the future? You heard what Cordelia said. If we don't find Bobby in two days, she divorces me!"

The mother-in-law went pale, crawled forward on her knees a couple of steps to keep begging him, then the instant she turned and saw me, all the pitifulness dropped from her face.

Her eyes bulged and she started cursing. "Fern Smith, you jinx, you couldn't keep your own child, so now you're cursing my grandson."

"If anything happens to my grandson, I'll make you go into the grave with him!"

Furious, I hurled the kitchen knife in my hand down onto the floor and fixed her with a cold stare.

"Was it that I couldn't keep my child, or that some heartless bastards murdered him?"

The mother-in-law went white and dropped to the floor, her body shaking beyond her control.

The next second she burst into loud sobbing. "She's going to kill me, the daughter-in-law's going to hack her mother-in-law to death, there's no decency left in this world..."

I reached over and rolled up my sleeves, then shouted at the top of my voice, "You want a scene? Fine, let's get every neighbor here to judge it and see whose side is in the wrong!"

The mother-in-law's narrow eyes bulged and she was about to say more, but Arthur immediately pulled her to her feet, his face deadly grim. "Finding Bobby is what matters!"

He lifted his eyes toward the lamp and lowered his voice. "Mom, that method will definitely get Bobby back."