A few because I had convinced myself I would come home the following year instead.
All that time, I had been trying to build her a better future.
She had simply wanted her son at the table.
A few days later, the first prospective buyers arrived.
Lucas and Janelle did everything they could to sabotage the viewing.
Trash appeared in hallways that had been clean earlier.
Music suddenly blasted through the house.
Lucas told one couple the property was involved in a complicated legal dispute.
When the buyers drove away, he followed me into the driveway.
“We’ll do it every time.”
I stared at him.
“As many buyers as you bring, we’ll scare them off.”
Mason stepped forward.
He handed Lucas an envelope.
“What’s this?”
“A formal notice to vacate.”
Lucas opened it.
“You have thirty days,” Mason said.
That evening, more pieces of the truth began emerging.
Lucas was drowning in debt.
Credit cards.
A sports car.
Designer watches.
Luxury clothing.
Parties.
He had spent years trying to impress Janelle’s family.
Mr. Miller constantly compared him with wealthier relatives. Lucas had apparently responded by creating an elaborate illusion of success.
My money helped finance it.
So did Mom’s deprivation.
When Janelle discovered the overdue notices hidden inside Lucas’s desk, their argument shook the house.
“Did you pawn my grandmother’s bracelets?” she screamed.
Lucas looked cornered.
“Answer me!”
“I needed the money.”
“You pawned my jewelry?”
“I did all of this for you!”
“For me?”
“Your father never stopped comparing me to everyone else! Every time one of your brothers-in-law bought something, you wanted something better.”
Janelle stared at him.
“So that justified stealing from your mother?”
“No!”
“You let her go hungry so you could pretend to be rich!”
“And you loved pretending with me!”
Silence followed.
For perhaps the first time, they were forced to look directly at what their obsession with appearances had cost.
That night, a violent rainstorm rolled through Red Creek.
I went downstairs to check on Mom.
Her bed was empty.
So was the small canvas bag where she kept her clothes.
“Mom?”
No answer.
I searched the bathroom.
Kitchen.
Garden.
Nothing.
Within minutes, Valerie and Mrs. Gable joined me.
Neighbors drove through nearby streets.
Even Lucas climbed onto his motorcycle and began searching.
For two hours, rain hammered the town.
Then I thought about the cottage.
I drove there as quickly as I could.
And found her beneath the porch overhang.
She was soaked.
