Page 60 of Holly, Jolly, and Oh So Naughty

“Lady, I have no idea what on earth you are talking about!”

“And this is the house you keep?” She casts her judgmental gaze over the coffee spill.

A punch of shame worms through my chest and I dart forward, grabbing paper towels as I go. Why I’m letting some stranger make me feel judged in my own home, I have no idea, but in just a few words, she makes me feel like I need to deep clean my home from roof to cellar.

“Listen, you'd better start explaining yourself or I’m calling the police.”

“Adultery should be an offense,” she snaps. “I know women like you. Can’t find a man of your own so you go sneaking around with someone else’s, without a thought to the other woman, you harlot! You know he’s engaged, don’t you?”

I stop dead in my tracks, coffee-soaked towels in one hand, and stare at her.

“James?” I ask.

James suddenly bursts into the kitchen, his hair a wild mess. “Mom! What the fuck are you doing here?”

Mom?

“Don’t use that foul language with me,” his mother snaps. “You know exactly why I am here.”

“No,” James snaps, moving to stand between me and his mother. “I really don’t. You can’t just barge into someone’s house like this. This isn’t New York. This place isn’t one of your estates!”

“I can if I think you are in danger or I’m worried you’re not in your right mind,” his mother snaps.

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. His mother is here? What little he’s told me of her is enough to put me off her, but now she stands here, insisting that James is still engaged. My heart races so fast that I can see shadows pulsing on either side of me, and I brace myself on the counter.

“Iwasengaged, yes,” James says, then he turns to me. “But I broke it off right after my father died. My ex-fiancée has moved on.” He turns back to his mother. “I’vemoved on. Why can’t you accept that!”

“Because I know it’s not you, not the real you making these decisions. Neither is Bernice. You think she’s moved on with thecoffeeboy? Don’t be so ridiculous. James, you’re coming home with me. I’m not asking.”

“No,” James says. “I’m not.”

It’s a strange glimpse into the world James has been trying to escape, and a surge of conflicting emotions rushes through me. On one hand, I’m furious that she’s here when my daughter is just upstairs, and I am ready to throw hands if she dares move toward the stairs. On the other hand, I know James has been avoiding her, and I can’t imagine how I would feel if I lost Emma in a similar way.

But his mother is convinced he is still engaged and another shameful, dirty feeling washes over me despite James’s reassurance.

Am I the other woman?

As James and his mother argue, it quickly becomes clear that I’m not the other woman. His mother is just unable to let go of the engagement for some absurd reason.

“James, think about this seriously,” his mother says, trying to place a hand on his arm, but he moves away. “You have a family back in the city. You have responsibilities to your father’s business, to his legacy. You have people there who love and care for you, and here? Here, there is nothing.”

“That’s the lifeyouwant me to live,” James snaps. “I don’t want that life. Why won’t you listen to me?”

“You shouldn’t be here!” she screeches suddenly. “There’s nothing for you here!”

My heart stalls in my chest.

There’s nothing for you here, not with him.

Her screech jerks me back to seven years ago when I finally managed to get through to James to tell him I was pregnant, and instead, it was his mother. I hadn’t fully recognized her up untilthat moment, but she screeched at me the same way with similar words when I spoke to her.

I told her it was urgent and she pressed constantly until I told her the truth. That I was pregnant and James was the father. She turned cold and bitter, telling me James wanted nothing to do with me and that I had no future, no life in their family.

Then she made me an offer that still haunts me to this day, and a sudden coldness washes over my shoulders.

I want this woman out of my house and away from my daughter.

Their argument continues and the more they debate back and forth—well, it’s not really a debate. James is pretty clear in what he wants to do, but for some reason, his mother simply refuses to accept—pieces start to slot together in my mind.

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