Page 12 of Bitter House

She twists her lips with a response I can’t quite read, so I press on.

“I never meant for any of this to hurt you. Believe me, I was just as shocked as you are about the house, but I have to trust that there was a reason Vera left it to me. To us,” I correct myself before Cole gets the chance. “It may belong to me, but you’re welcome to visit any time. I’d love it if you did.”

She sighs. “You just don’t get it, Bridget. The money is one thing, but the house is…it’s what she worked for. Fought to keep after our father died when my uncle wanted it, when the original Bitter family tried to take it back. It was mine. Maybe not for the first few years of my life, until my grandparents died when I was a teenager, but it was my home nonetheless.”

“Regardless”—Cole steps in again—“the house belongs to both of us. If you’d like to make us an offer to buy it, we can’t stop you. But we won’t just be giving it to you, and it will take both of us to agree to sell it, which we haven’t done. We aren’t taking any part of this decision lightly. We want to respect Vera’s final wishes.” With that, he turns and holds out an arm. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we were just getting ready to have dinner, and you’re interrupting.”

Aunt Jenn bristles, her shoulders going stiff as she stands. Her eyes dart to me, and I shake my head. “He’s right. I know emotions are running high right now, and we all just need some time to cool off. Maybe we could make plans for you to visit on another day.”

She huffs. “We’ll see about that.” With that, she marches from the room, shoving Cole’s arm away when he attempts to pull the door open for her.

When the door shuts, I turn back to him, but he’s already returning to the kitchen to stir the soup.

“Did Vera really not leave anything for Edna in the will?” I ask, following close behind him.

He glances over his shoulder. “She didn’t leave her any money.”

“But she left her something?”

His head bobs up and down. “Some jewelry, I think. Her old clothing. Mom didn’t want any of it, so it’s all still here at the house for us to sort through. That wasn’t why she was here.” The defensive tone of his voice catches me by surprise.

“Okay. I’m not saying it was. I was just asking a question.”

“I don’t like the fact that Jenn thinks Mom was using Vera. If anything, it was the other way around. You saw how much she did for this place. For all of us.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “I know that, but Jenn doesn’t. She wasn’t here for most of it, not once Vera sent her away. I think it’s normal for her to be…concerned. You didn’t have to be so mean to her.”

“Oh, I didn’t? You mean after she insulted the both of us and my mom? What exactly should I have done, Bridget? Offered for her to join us for dinner? Clearly that was your plan.”

“She’s family. And she’s upset. Understandably so. It’s a tense time for all of us.”

He rolls his eyes, jaw set. “She hadn’t spoken to Vera since you were, what? Ten years old? The fact that she got an inheritance at all was more than generous?—”

“She’s her daughter. Of course she got an inheritance. And she’s right. Staying away wasn’t her choice. Vera sent everyone away, just like she did me. It wasn’t always like that before. If I was old enough when she cut ties with everyone else, I would’ve been sent away at the same time.”

“I’m sure she had her reasons, and I’d bet they had something to do with money. You were just a kid. You couldn’t have seen or understood everything.”

Something about the way he says the words makes me pause. “Do you…know what they were? Her reasons for sending her family away? For never speaking to any of us again?”

There’s a pause, a twinge in his shoulders—hardly noticeable—before he shakes his head. “Of course not. I was just a kid then, too. But I trusted Vera, same as you.”

That was my first mistake.

He spins around. “Look, I know I have no right to send people away from a home that’s only half mine, but if she’s going to be here, she can’t disrespect my mom. Or you, for that matter. Can we at least agree on that?”

“Me? Really? You’re the only one who can do that?”

He lowers two bowls from the cabinet, ignoring me, and prepares our dinner. All the camaraderie we shared moments ago is gone, and we’ve remembered who we are.

“I’m not all that hungry,” I tell him as he places the bowl in my hand and turns off the stove.

“Suit yourself.” He shrugs, moving past me and out of the room. Minutes later, I hear the door upstairs shut, telling me I’m alone.

CHAPTER SIX

BRIDGET

After dinner, I step outside and walk across the front porch, leaning up against the stone railing. The evening air is cool and quiet, except for the sounds of crickets and frogs singing from somewhere in the woods behind the house. Down beyond the gate, I can vaguely see the lights of the houses next door. It must be some of the women who were here before—the ones I don’t know.

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