Chapter 6 - The Cost of Knowing Why
Knowing Darlene had lost her income made everything harder.
Maren had wanted a clean villain.
Someone who stole because she was selfish.
Someone easy to cut off.
Instead, she pictured her mother alone in the split-level house where Maren and Clara had grown up, staring at a mortgage payment she could no longer comfortably afford.
Clara felt it too.
“She should’ve told us.”
“Yes.”
“We would’ve helped.”
“I know.”
“That almost makes it worse.”
It did.
Their mother had trained both daughters to help automatically.
She hadn’t needed to deceive them.
But asking directly would have meant admitting weakness.
Darlene preferred authority to vulnerability.
That afternoon Clara almost broke.
“She’s fifty-six, Maren. What if she loses the house?”
“She has equity.”
“What if she can’t refinance?”
“She can sell.”
Clara flinched.
“That’s our house.”
“No. It’s Mom’s house.”
The distinction sounded brutal even to Maren.
But necessary.
The family house had become another tool Darlene used to define obligation.
Every Thanksgiving.
Every Christmas morning.
Every argument that ended with You girls have no idea what I sacrificed to keep this roof over your heads.
Clara looked toward June’s bassinet.
“What are you going to do about Mom seeing her?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You can’t use the baby to punish her.”
“I’m not.”
Clara gave her a look.
Maren felt defensive, then stopped.
“I don’t trust her in my house right now.”
“That’s fair.”
“I also don’t trust myself around her right now.”
That was harder to admit.
Clara softened.
“We need proof before we accuse her of something bigger than taking money.”
Maren nodded.
For the first time since childhood, the sisters had the same problem and no mother between them to interpret it.
That night, Clara sent Maren one message.
I’m done sending anything through her.
Maren replied:
May you like
Me too.
Ten minutes later Darlene called both of them three times.
