Part 16 (2/2)
”An inoperable brain tumor.”
”Why didn't y'all tell me about her?”
”There was no reason to,” Cathy explained. ”Mark's first wife died several years before we married. She had nothing to do with our life, nothing to do with you. And, well, it made Mark unhappy to talk about Joy.”
”Did you mind that he'd been married before?” Seth asked. ”Were you jealous of her? Did you think Dad might have still loved her?”
”My goodness, what strange questions for a fifteen-year-old boy to ask.”
”I asked Granddad about her.”
”Did you?” She could only imagine what J.B. had had to say about Saint Joy. During the first few years of her marriage to Mark, she had been forced to listen to her father-in-law sing the woman's praises.
”He said Dad never got over losing her, that, well, that she was the love of his life.”
d.a.m.n, J.B. Why on earth would he say such a thing to Seth? ”I was never jealous of Joy. Your father loved me. He was happy in our marriage, and he adored you.”
Apparently remembering the good life the three of them had shared, Seth smiled. ”I sure do miss Dad.”
”I miss him, too.”
”Do you?”
”Of course I do. And I miss you, Seth.” He had given her the opening she needed. ”You know how much I want you to come and live with me. I'll be moving our furniture into the rental house tomorrow morning.”
Seth stared down at the floor. ”Granddad doesn't believe-”
”I don't care what J.B. believes. I need to know what you want. Do you want to come and live with me?”
”Granddad would never agree. You know what he thinks.”
”Yes, I know what he thinks. What do you think?”
”I guess I'd like to be two people.” He glanced at her quickly and then looked back down at the floor. ”One of me could stay here with Granddad and Nana and the other me could go live with you.”
G.o.d, she hated doing this, hated making her son choose between her and his grandparents. But it wasn't her fault that he was being put in this position. It was J.B.'s fault.
”But there's only one you-only one Seth Nelson Cantrell. As much as your grandparents love you and you love them, you're my son, not theirs.”
”Maybe, if we give Granddad time, he'll come around.”
”And if he doesn't?” Cathy knew that waiting for J.B. to change his mind would be like waiting for the sun to rise in the west and set in the east.
”I don't know. What do you want me to say?” Seth curved his right hand into a fist and punched it into the open palm of his left hand.
Cathy curled her hand over his shoulder. He looked right at her. ”I've hired a lawyer, Elliott Floyd. I want you to talk to Mr. Floyd and tell him how you feel about living with your grandparents and about the possibility of coming to live with me.”
Seth's eyes widened. ”Why did you hire a lawyer?”
”That's a very good question.” Elaine stood outside in the hallway, her hard gaze directed at Cathy.
”This is none of your business, Mother. This is between my son and me.”
”If you're thinking of suing for custody, I think you should know that I will side with J.B. and Mona, and I'll testify that I do not believe you're stable enough to-”
”You do whatever the h.e.l.l you have to do.” Cathy barely managed to control the anger inside her. ”And I'll do what I have to do.”
”Don't argue, please,” Seth said. ”Grandmother, don't say anything to Granddad and Nana about this.”
”I think they should know what your mother has planned,” Elaine told him.
”Please don't tell them.” When Elaine hesitated, Seth added, ”If I promise not to go and talk to Mr. Floyd, will you promise not to tell Granddad?”
Elaine smiled triumphantly. ”I promise. Now go on back to the living room and tell everyone that your mother and I will be along shortly.” Seth hesitated; then, without a backward glance, he left the room.
Elaine turned to Cathy. ”Think about what Seth needs, not about what you need. You've become quite a selfish person, haven't you? The daughter I raised never would have-”
”I'm still the daughter you raised, Mother. I'm the end product of all your years of tender, loving care. You can't imagine how much I learned from your example. You taught me exactly what kind of mother I don't want to be.”
Elaine gasped. ”I had hoped they could help you at Haven Home, but apparently they taught you that it's acceptable to be disrespectful to your mother. You have no idea how you disgraced me and J.B. and Mona when you pulled that stunt last year-going stark raving mad the way you did. That was bad enough, but then you had to check yourself into that place in Birmingham when you knew everyone in town would be aware of where you were. When I look at you right now, I don't know who you are, but you are not my daughter.”
”If that's the way you feel, I'm sorry. But I'm not going to let you and J.B. or even Mona keep Seth from me and try to turn him into a carbon copy of Mark. He's my son, and he is his own person. I'll fight all of you to see that he has a chance to spread his wings and soar with the eagles.”
”Soar with eagles. What are you jabbering about? You're talking nonsense again.”
”No, Mother, I'm telling you like it is.”
Cathy turned around and walked away, leaving her mother with her mouth gaping wide open.
Chapter Thirteen
The house on Madison was half the size of the parsonage where Cathy had lived with Mark and Seth. The church had provided them with a modern twenty-five-hundred-square-foot home that she had decorated in a simple, traditional style. Due to Mark's thriftiness, they had purchased inexpensive furniture, and only Cathy's flair for decorating had kept their home from looking like an a.s.sortment of yard-sale finds. Over the years, she had used her owner's discount at Treasures to buy a few antique items that had added a certain elegance to their home. She liked the idea of starting fresh now and being able to decorate this rental house without any input from other people, including her mother and mother-in-law. The movers had brought only the pieces of furniture she had chosen. She intended to sell the other items that were still in storage and gradually replace them with better pieces.
Ruth Ann had agreed to work at Treasures today, which she seldom did on Sat.u.r.day mornings, so that Lorie could help Cathy instruct the movers and begin the grueling job of unpacking a slew of boxes. At one o'clock, Lorie had left to relieve Ruth Ann, and Cathy had taken a short lunch break, eating a pack of cheese and crackers and downing a diet cola.
After unpacking a box filled with bed linens, she carried an armload down the hall and into the kitchen, where the compact washer and dryer were stored in a small closet behind louvered doors. She put the sheets and pillowcases in the washer and laid the folded blankets and quilts on the floor to be washed later. Leaving the washer chugging away, Cathy strolled through the house, taking her time to explore each room. The twelve-hundred-square-foot house had been built in the early fifties and added on to in the mid-sixties. The exterior was a combination of dark red brick and wooden s.h.i.+ngles that had recently been painted a muted moss green. One of the three bedrooms was tiny, only eight by nine. It would make a perfect studio/workroom for her. She could set up her drafting table and her sewing machine and add some bookcases along the back wall.
She intended to save the larger, twelve-by-twelve bedroom for Seth. The st.u.r.dy oak furniture that Lorie had helped her find through their connections with statewide antique malls and furniture outlets looked really good in there. Seth's old bedroom furniture, a gift from J.B. and Mona, had been some of the cheapest on the market because it was made from pressed wood. She'd sell the set for little to nothing or give it away.
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