Chapter 14 - An Unsolicited Visit
Three weeks into my sabbatical, I was sitting on the porch of a small lakeside rental I had taken near Lake Lure. The morning sun was reflecting off the calm water like liquid glass.
A knock sounded at the courtyard gate.
I walked down the stone path, expecting a delivery from the local lumber yard where I had ordered wood to build furniture.
Instead, standing on the other side of the wrought-iron fence was Eleanor Vance.
My mother.
She wasn’t wearing her pristine cream-colored hat or her designer sunglasses. Her hair was pulled back loosely, gray roots showing through the blonde dye. She looked smaller, weathered, her shoulders sloped in defeat.
“Mason,” she whispered through the iron bars. Her voice shook with a frail, pleading cadence.
I didn't open the gate. I stood ten feet away, hands in my pockets, my expression unreadable.
“What are you doing here, Eleanor?”
She flinched at the use of her first name. “I… I came alone. Richard doesn’t know. Mason, your father had a minor stroke two nights ago. The bank is foreclosing on the Charlotte house. The creditors are calling every twenty minutes. We’re losing everything.”
“I know,” I said calmly.
“He’s your father!” Eleanor cried, tears suddenly spilling down her wrinkled cheeks. “I’m your mother! We raised you! We gave you everything! You can’t just watch us lose our home while you sit on millions of your grandfather’s money! Arthur was my father-in-law! That money belongs to the Vance family!”
“Arthur left that money to me because he knew Richard would gamble it away,” I said. “And he left it to me because he knew you would sit on the couch and watch Richard break my bones without ever calling for help.”
Eleanor’s mouth opened, then snapped shut.
“I didn’t do anything to you,” she whimpered. “I took you to the hospital.”
“And you told the doctor I fell down the stairs,” I replied, my voice steady, cold, and clear as ice. “You made me lie in that emergency room bed while my bone was splintered, and you whispered in my ear to protect your social club memberships. You were just as guilty as he was. Maybe worse. Because he was a monster, but you were supposed to be my mother.”
She gripped the iron bars, her knuckles white. “Please, Mason. Just fifty thousand. Just enough to save the house.”
“Leave, Eleanor,” I said. “Before I call the police and have you arrested for violating the restraining order.”
She stared at me, seeing for the first time that her tears had lost all power over me. She slowly backed away from the gate, stumbled down the driveway, and drove away in a battered sedan that was a far cry from the luxury cars of my childhood.
I didn’t feel rage. I didn’t feel vengeance.
May you like
I only felt peace.
***