After Mother Died, the Don Followed Her

The room got really awkward.

Everyone kept sneaking looks at Daddy and Auntie Benita, afraid to make a sound.

Daddy gave me a vicious stare.

His eyebrows pushed up and then squeezed together, like a heavy mountain pressing down on my head.

I didn’t know whether I had said something wrong, and I didn’t dare ask.

He loosened his tie. “Don’t talk nonsense, kid.”

He swept his eyes over the people around him. “The rest of you aren’t children. I won’t bother spelling it out.”

They bowed and scraped and fled the room as if they couldn’t get out fast enough.

I wasn’t talking nonsense. They really had been kissing out there.

But Daddy was so angry now that I didn’t dare say anything else.

Back home, Daddy told me to go play in my room, because the grown-ups needed to talk.

I peeked through the crack in the door, scared they would pick on Mommy.

Daddy sat in the middle, and Auntie Benita pressed up against him and lit his cigar.

Mommy sat alone at the far end of the couch, a long way from them.

“Charlotte.” Daddy blew out a big mouthful of smoke. “I want Benita to move in.”

Mommy stared at him as if she hadn’t heard right.

Daddy said nothing, and just turned the glass in his hand.

Auntie Benita hooked her arm through his and smiled. “Charlotte, don’t take it the wrong way. It’s all for Isabella. She needs time to adjust.”

Mommy let out a cold laugh.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got the medical team lined up. They arrive next month. They owe me that much.”

Daddy didn’t look at her. He was busy studying the glass in his hand.

“They say there’s an eighty percent chance of a cure, but you never know. Best case, you get better. But if—”

He stopped, as if he had lost track of what he wanted to say.

After a moment, he spoke again.

“If you die, I want Benita to be Isa’s new mother. Letting her move in now is so Isa can get used to it early.”

I hid behind the door, blinking and blinking.

Die? What was die? Was Mommy going to die in three months?

I didn’t understand it, but Mommy must have, because she wasn’t surprised at all.

Mommy shook her head. “As long as I’m alive, that woman doesn’t set foot in this house.”

Daddy got angry all of a sudden and smashed the glass on the floor.

It shattered, and a shard cut Mommy’s calf, and the blood ran out.

I burst into tears and ran out of the room, screaming, “My cup!”

Mommy rushed over right away and scooped me up.

Auntie Benita came too. “Don’t cry, Isa. Auntie will buy you ten more just like it.”

I screamed at her to go away.

She didn’t understand anything.

That cup was a present from Mommy, and it was my favorite cup.

Daddy lost his temper, and the cup made Mommy bleed.

I didn’t like it anymore.

Auntie Benita shot me a quick glare, then turned and gave Daddy a wounded look.

Daddy put his arms around her, but his eyes slid sideways and stuck to the blood on Mommy’s leg.

He looked as if he were worried about Mommy, but what he said was not.

“Grow up, Charlotte. Think long-term. This is all for Isa.”

“I’ll give you a week to decide. Don’t disappoint me.”

Mommy thought about it, kissed me, and said calmly:

“I’ll give you my answer right now. Fine. Sign the beach house over to me, plus a hundred million, and I’ll agree.”

Daddy froze.

He looked a little hurt.

Was it because Mommy didn’t care about him anymore?

Before, when he didn’t come home at night, Mommy would be sad.

When she saw him with Auntie Benita, she would fight with him.

Now Mommy didn’t fight anymore, so why did he look hurt instead?

Daddy suddenly ground his shoe down on the shards, and the soles let out a thin shriek.

“Fine. I get it. So that’s all you’re worth.”

He lifted his head, and his eyes were a little red.

“We’ll do the paperwork tomorrow. I don’t care.”

Then Daddy left with Auntie Benita.

I held on to Mommy’s neck and looked at the shards all over the floor, and I felt sad.

The cup was broken, and you can’t glue it back together.

Daddy and Mommy were like that too.