Read Online The Blue Room Vol. 5 by Kailin Gow - Free Book Online Page A

to see me again right away. But it's a
woman's voice: and one I don't recognize at that.
                Hello
Miss Atussi. This is Beverly Scrampton from the Los Vegas Hospice Network.
We're just calling to confirm that Genevieve Atussi has been discharged from
our system and is heading home. Thank you very much for your time. Bye now!
                My
mother – discharged from the hospice? But it couldn't be! I'd been so careful,
always so careful, about paying her bills on time, making sure they were paid
long before the first of any given month. At least, until my father took over
charge of her accounts....
                I
gritted my teeth. I was stupid to trust him. He'd vanished from our lives once
before; how could I not have seen that he would do it again? How could I not
have seen that the minute my back was turned he'd run off: leaving my mother
flat broke.
                Kicking
a cancer-stricken woman out of hospice care – some dad you are , I think
grimly.
                My
heart is pounding with worry. What is my mother doing now? How could she leave
the hospice without even contacting me directly?
                I
know what I have to do. There's no choice in the matter. I don't even ask Mrs.
Walters for permission. Something more important even than my life is at stake
here. I march straight out of the Blue Towers, cash in hand, and make my way to
the airport. Everything is passing in a blur: I barely even notice what I'm
doing, where I'm going. I book the first flight to Vegas and then I'm there.
Back home: in this arid desert landscape, with neon lights everywhere.
                I
don't even know how many car crashes I cause on the way. I drive like a maniac,
speeding full throttle down the highway, until I get to my mother's house.
                “Mom?”
My voice is tentative. I'm terrified of what I might find. “Mom – what are you
doing here?”
                The
door is unlocked.
                “Mommy?”
I cannot hide the shaking in my voice. “Are you okay in there?”
                I
enter the house. My mouth falls open.
                The
place is beyond a state.
                I've
never seen chaos like this: not ever. The place looks like it's been ransacked
– but nothing has been taken. Instead it's like somebody went through this
place, looking for something.
                Panic
floods through me. Who would do this to my mother: my sweet, kind, lovely mother
who has never done an ill turn to anybody all her life? I can't believe it.
                “Mom!”
I scream. “Mom!”
                “Staci...”
                The
voice is a weak one, but it's there. Overwhelmed by relief, I rush to the
source. My mother is in her bedroom, in her pajamas, curled up in a corner. She
looks so little and frail in her pajamas that I want to cry.
                “Staci...I'm
so sorry.”
                “Mom,
what happened? What's going on? Are you okay?”
                “I'm
so sorry....”
                I
pick her up. She is so light in my arms. I bring her to the bed and wrap her
tightly in the covers. “Mom, what's going on?”
                “I
should have told you the truth a long time ago, Staci.” Tears are rolling down
her cheeks. “I should never have kept anything from you. But I wanted to keep
you safe so badly – I didn't know what else to do...”
                “What
are you talking about?”
                “Your
father, Staci. He's a Tennenbaum.”
                A
what?”
                Then
it hits me.
                “Like
one of the Tennenbaums?”
                The
shady banking family that makes the Blues look like paupers.
                “I
told you some untruths about your father, growing