Chapter 3

Our argument had gotten loud enough to wake my son and Nathan.

They opened the door and came out, and only then did I see that Nathan was wearing the new pajamas I'd just bought.

What made me laugh at myself even harder was that his pajamas and Bernice's, and my son's too, looked like a matching family set.

"You put on my pajamas. Did you think to say a word to me first?"

Nathan blinked, then finally looked down at himself.

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

"My own pajamas weren't dry yet, so Bernice brought over a set for me to wear."

"I didn't know they were yours. If it bothers you, I'll take them off right now and give them back."

And with that he made a show of starting to strip them off, until Bernice stopped him with a cry.

"Nathan, don't you dare take them off!"

"That set is a gift from me to you."

Nathan's face was all wounded feeling, but his hands didn't stop moving.

"No, I can't wear someone else's clothes."

"My older brother is in the middle of his temper right now. If I keep wearing his clothes it'll only make him angrier."

"I've got nowhere to live as it is. If he throws me out, I'll be on the streets."

Hearing that was like a knife going into my mother's heart.

She walked over and gripped Nathan's hands, her voice full of tenderness.

"Nathan, this will always be your home. Without my say-so, no one gets to drive you out!"

"Listen to me, don't take them off."

Nathan looked at me with a face full of difficulty, then looked at my mother.

"Mom, but, this, this…"

My mother understood at once, then turned her head and glared at me, fuming.

"Lucas, what are you doing standing there like a fool? Say something!"

I gave a cold little laugh. "And what exactly am I supposed to say to him?"

Her face was pure fury. "Apologize, obviously!"

"Ha! Apologize?"

My laugh was bitter, and both my hands clenched into fists.

"I thought you meant telling him he shouldn't have egged you on to hide gold bars in my gift basket, shouldn't have coached my son to turn away from me, and above all shouldn't have slept with my—"

Slap. A blow landed across my face and cut off the rest of what I was going to say.

I turned my head back to look at Bernice, and only then did I see the old kiss mark below her neck.

She was the one who'd hit me, all because I'd cursed their beloved Nathan.

"What nonsense are you spouting?"

"None of this is anything like what you're saying, and you're twisting black into white."

Nathan hurried over and planted himself between us.

"Brother, stop fighting, both of you."

"It's all my fault, I'm the one who set off your argument!"

"But I still have to tell you one thing, brother. I truly did not egg Mom on to put gold bars in your gift basket, and I never coached Toby to turn away from you!"

"If you really believe I did it, then I'll kneel down and apologize to you!"

And with that, he actually knelt to me.

Bernice and my mother were both frightened by the move and rushed to stop him.

"Don't kneel, you haven't wronged a single person."

My son was crying too, running over in short quick steps to hit and kick at me.

"I hate Daddy, I hate Daddy!"

"Get out of here, this isn't your home, Uncle Nathan is my daddy!"

I crouched down to stop his fists, and looked at this boy I'd treasured with a heart full of grief.

"Do you still remember who carried you to the hospital in the rain when you had a fever? I wrapped the raincoat around you so you wouldn't get wet, and came home soaked through myself and fell sick."

"Do you still remember that little designer suit you wanted? Daddy had no money, so I sold the car to buy it for you."

"It isn't that Daddy doesn't love you. It's that a father knows what responsibility means!"

But my son wouldn't hear a word of it, set on driving me out for Nathan's sake.

"I won't listen, I won't listen. If you don't leave, Uncle Nathan will leave."

And when it was my turn to be in trouble, my mother and Bernice just stood there, obedient and still.

They let me be cast out by my own son, and never stepped in to stop it.

By the look of it, they all wanted me gone.