The Bride Wore My Nightmares Chapter 06
“Mom, this is all a gesture from Vanessa. Let me take it to the kitchen.” Ethan was as attentive as a model husband. “Vanessa, sit down for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
Oh, did he really think Vanessa was going to sit comfortably in our house?
Vanessa clearly knew as much, and just remained standing where she was, waiting for him to return.
“Whatever hole you crawled out of, go crawl back into it. Don’t invite trouble on yourself.” Mom’s eyes stayed on the TV; she didn’t bother even turning her head.
“Mrs. Callahan, I really do love Ethan. What happened back then — some of it was my fault, that’s why you don’t like me, but I truly was forced. If those girls hadn’t threatened me, why would I ever have hurt Maddie?” Vanessa brought out that tearful, tragic-heroine look again.
Ethan heard the exchange and came right over, taking her hand and standing beside her like they were united against a common enemy.
“Mom, I’ve already explained. Vanessa is innocent.”
Ha. What a beautiful word — innocent.
Mom snorted. “She says she’s innocent, so she is? You’re a 2L in law school. Where the hell did your brains go?”
I hadn’t said a word this whole time.
Ethan knew there was no point wearing his mouth out on Mom. He turned to me instead.
“Maddie, hand on your heart — how have I been to you all these years?”
I nodded. “Wonderful.”
Something lit up in Ethan’s eyes. “I’ve never fallen for a woman like this before in my life. Can you do this for me? Just this once.”
I swallowed the fire in my chest and asked, with a smile that didn’t reach my eyes, “So? You want her walking through this door? You want me calling her sister-in-law?”
Ethan started to nod. Vanessa jumped in first: “No, no, no — as long as you’ll agree to Ethan and me being together, that’s more than enough.”
“See how sensible Vanessa is, Maddie? Just say yes.” Ethan seized the opening.
The faintest flicker of triumph crossed Vanessa’s face.
Hah. There was probably no one in this world but that blind fool of a brother who couldn’t see through a woman’s little tricks.
I shrugged. “Whatever. Go to hell, both of you.”
And with that I turned around and walked back to my room.
“Get out — get out — get away from this house!”
Mom’s furious, aching shout chased after me: “Go wherever the hell you want. I’ll pretend I never gave birth to a son like you!”
The door slammed shut behind me, and the air in the house finally felt clean again.
Early the next morning, I got a text from Chloe telling me to get over to her place immediately.