Helen snorted. "Your roof? This was my father's home. Don't you forget that."
James raised his voice, "I got this house in the divorce settlement. It is my home. Let's not have you forget that!"
She threw her arms over her chest again and folded them. "It doesn't change the fact that you kicked our sons out, for any short amount of time or for any reason. You kicked both our sons out. Only one of them is sleeping with the girl."
"You didn't want Logan with you?"
"Of course, I did, but I wasn't given the chance to make sure that he came to me. He showed up one day, stayed a day, and took off with his cousins. I thought my son wanted to see me and I relished that time with him. I had no idea he was supposed to be there the entire break."
"He couldn't stay, not when he supports their relationship."
"Then kick the girl out!" Helen yelled.
She wasn't ladylike anymore, nor did she remain cold. The fury had taken over, and she was heated in anger. Her chest rose up and down at a rapid rate.
"She's my daughter," Analise yelled back. She started forward, but James crowded her back to the sink. "This is my home now. This will be my husband. My daughter will stay in my home. She has no other home to go to."
Helen reared her head back. "Are you kidding me?"
James closed his eyes.
Analise's eyes bulged out, even more enraged. She tried to launch herself forward, but he blocked her with his body. As she started to crawl over him, he turned to face her. He tugged her back down. She twisted around his side and snarled, "Get out of this house. Get out right now!"
"No," Helen clipped out. "Garrett told me about your quick little divorce, but as far as my private investigator knows, you haven't married my ex-husband yet. So, no, this isn't your home. You have no legal right to throw me out either, although I shouldn't be surprised. Isn't that what you do? Throw people out when they don't fall in line and pretend you're not crazy? Isn't that why you really kicked my sons out or why your own daughter isn't living here anymore?"
The room fell silent.
David and Analise were divorced. It was final.
I shook my head. I'd process that later.
Then Helen's cruel snicker filled the room. "I can't believe your nerve. You don't think I didn't come here with the facts? Do you not have any idea of who I am? You're going to be my sons' stepmother. You better get your act together, honey, because if you harm one hair on my sons, I'll slap you with a lawsuit. And you won't have any chance at winning because your insanity, Analise, has been well-documented."
"Shut. Up." But Analise paled, and the words slid were whispered from clenched lips.
"Oh, yes, honey." Helen's control was back in place. She drew upright. Her chin lifted, her jaw squared into place, and her shoulders smoothed so her suit was impeccable once again. There were no wrinkles. She was a glossy version of an ice queen. "You don't think I'm aware of how you threatened Garrett from seeing his daughter? That if he even tried to make contact with her, you would take your daughter and disappear so he'd never find her again." Her eyes shifted to James. "I don't think there was much merit in that threat, but it scared the hell out of him. Or maybe," the cruel smirk on her face appeared again, "there was another reason Garrett would be scared for his daughter. Tell me, Lise, have you ever hurt anyone before?"
A cold sick feeling was spreading inside. I looked up in slow motion…Helen continued, but her voice sounded far away. I heard a whooshing sound, and it grew louder and louder. I shook my head. It was only me. It was only in my head. I needed to clear it away. I needed to hear what else she had to say.
"It's not like you've tried to kill yourself? It's not like a week later your daughter was hospitalized with evidence that she'd been beat up? You didn't do that, did you? My PI certainly thinks you did, but there was no condemning evidence and your own daughter was too scared to say anything." She continued, in a nightmare, "Where was your husband at that time?"
"Stop, Helen."
She ignored James. She was only getting started. "He had left you, but he came back, didn't he? She wasn't his real daughter. He had no way to protect her so he took you back. And the way you screwed him over later, cheating on him and getting James to fall for you. I should take lessons from you. No, I shouldn't because you're crazy. Your own daughter can't even be in the same room with you anymore. I know that you've hit her again. You slapped her twice four months ago. Have you done it since?"
All the blood was gone from my mother's face. She clutched onto James with white knuckles. Her knees buckled, but he held her up and looked over his shoulder. "Stop, Helen." H He said it with more authority this time.
It worked.
Helen stopped, but she cast a wary look at me as I stepped up next to her. Then she added in a soft voice, "I'm sorry that you have such a bitch for a mother, but you might want to look into her divorce settlement. I think there'd be a few things that might interest you."
"That's enough, mom."
She turned around. "What, Mason? If you care for her as much as you say you do, you'd want her to know that the man who raised her isn't allowed to speak to her, not until she turns 18." She lifted an easy shoulder. "I would've gone for it too. He's being paid to stay away from his daughter, but she's not even his real daughter. He bides his time, waits around, and then he can talk to her all he wants. He's only got to wait another week and a half. And Garrett, who knows what she really threatened him with before he went back to Boston."