Read Online Mother's Day by Patricia MacDonald - Free Book Online

rubbed her arms briskly. “I’m sure you did. You were always good about taking your little sister along “
    Bill did not even seem to hear his mother. “Get out of here,” he said to Linda.
    “Now, Bill,” Alice protested.
    “No, Mother,” he barked. “No.”
    “But don’t you want to even know—”
    “Why she left? Where she’s been? I don’t give a flying fuck about any of it. I just want her out of here.”
    “Bill,” Glenda exclaimed disapprovingly.
    Linda blanched but did not look away.
    “Don’t use that language,” said Alice. “Not in front of the children.”
    “Well, I don’t want to leave any doubt in their minds about how I feel about this person. Their aunt, I suppose. You’re their aunt, aren’t you?” Bill spat the word out like another curse.
    Tears welled up in Linda’s eyes, but she stuck her chin out. “Yes, I am,” she said.
    “You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve showing up here.”
    “Son,” Alice cried furiously. “Don’t use that word in this house.”
    Bill turned on his mother. “That’s what you’re worried about? My bad language? Wake up and live, Mother. Do you remember what this…what she did to us? Have you forgotten that?”
    “It’s water under the bridge now, son,” Alice said, trying to soothe him. “We have to forgive and forget.”
    “Spare me the platitudes, Mother. I will never forget.” He strode over to Linda’s suitcase, picked it up, and took it to the front door. He jerked the door open and tossed the suitcase out on the front steps. “Get out of here, Linda.”
    “Bill, stop it this instant,” Alice cried. “She came to stay for a while.”
    “She’s not staying in this house,” said Bill.
    “Now, wait a minute,” said Alice. “This is my house. I guess I can say who stays here.”
    Bill glared at her. “The only reason this is still your house is because I went to work and helped you make the payments when Dad got too depressed to work.”
    “I didn’t realize you felt that way,” said Alice in an injured tone.
    “I’m sorry, Mother. I have no argument with you. But she can’t stay. If she stays, I go. It’s that simple. I will not be under the same roof as this selfish…” Bill bit back another epithet.
    Alice turned and looked helplessly at Linda. She saw at once that Linda expected her to stand up to him. But Bill was the man of the family now. And what he said about the house was true. “You didn’t actually say you were staying here,” said Alice.
    she said, “are you going to throw me out?” Her eyes filled again with tears.
    Alice looked hopelessly from Linda to Bill.
    “You get the picture,” said Bill with grim satisfaction.
    “But I came here to see you, to be with you,” Linda protested.
    Alice felt as if her heart were being torn apart. She could not look her daughter in the eye.
    Bill was unrelenting. “You should have thought of that about ten years ago. Where’ve you been, in a coma all these years?”
    Linda shook her head wearily. “Bill, I wanted this to be a time of healing old wounds. I thought we could try.”
    “You thought wrong,” said Bill.
    Linda looked back at her mother, but Alice was staring at the floor. “You’re not being fair to me,” Linda said.
    Bill snorted derisively. Alice did not reply.
    Slowly Linda went over to the door and looked out at her suitcase lying on the front steps. Bill drew back when she walked past him, as if afraid she might brush against him. “I’ll get a room,” she said shortly.
    “I’m sorry,” said Alice in a pleading tone.
    “Don’t be sorry,” said Bill. “It’s her own fault.”
    “I’ll call you, Mother,” said Linda.
    Alice wanted to say something. I love you. But she didn’t dare. Not in front of Bill. She tried to say it with her eyes, but Linda did not look at her. She wanted to embrace her again, but it would have to wait.
    “Don’t hurry back,” Bill said. Linda looked back at him ruefully as she stepped outside,