Chapter 3 - The Boundary Drawn
The dining room fell into an icy silence. Even the children at the far end stopped clinking their silverware. Kristen stared at me as if I had spoken in another language. She was accustomed to my polite nods, my quiet retreats into the pantry, and my willingness to endure any slight just to keep my family under one roof.
“What did you just say?” Kristen asked, her voice dropping into a razor-sharp whisper.
“You heard me clearly,” I replied, stepping around the perimeter of the table until I stood directly behind Brad. “Brad, you have five minutes to take your coat and your car keys and step outside onto my porch. If you aren’t out by then, I will call the sheriff’s department to escort a trespasser off my property.”
Brad scrambled to his feet so fast that his chair screeched against the hardwood floor. His smug grin had vanished, replaced by genuine panic. “Kristen, what the hell is she talking about? Patrick, you said this was basically your place!”
“It isn’t,” I interjected smoothly before Patrick could stumble through an excuse. “The deed to this home belongs entirely to Gerald’s estate, of which I am the sole executor. Not one brick, not one floorboard belongs to Patrick. And certainly not to you.”
Kristen stood up so abruptly her wine glass wobbled, splashing a dark red stain onto the ivory tablecloth. “You crazy old woman! How dare you threaten my family on Thanksgiving! Patrick, do something!”
Patrick finally rose from the head of the table, his hands raised in surrender. “Mom, come on, you’re taking this way too far. It was a mistake, okay? Brad will give you your chair back. We can just sit down, eat, and move past this.”
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“Move past it?” I looked at my son, seeing the frightened boy he had become beneath his expensive suit. “You watched your wife carry my plate into a dark den like I was a stray dog looking for scraps. You sat there in your father’s place and didn't utter a single syllable to defend me. You didn't just give away my chair, Patrick. You threw away my respect.”
Before anyone could reply, the heavy front door swung open with a resounding bang, letting in a gust of freezing November air.
