Queen Mom Rules novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Rule One

Junie's rules at dawn, Geraldine begging at the door, then Geraldine walks into the Harbor Line tower and sees her daughter's name on the wall.

At six on Monday morning my daughter was standing on a kitchen chair with a marker.

"Junie, that's the refrigerator."

"It's a poster," she said. "Poster Rule One."

She had written it in capital letters across the freezer door.

QUEEN MOM RULES. 1. NOBODY MAKES MOM SMALL.

"Who's the queen?" I asked.

"You, silly. You're the queen. I'm the guard."

"The guard gets cereal."

"The guard wants pancakes."

I was flipping the first pancake when the doorbell rang three times, hard.

My mother stood on my porch in last night's pearls and a camel coat, with no makeup and a purse clutched against her ribs.

She had never visited my house.

She had driven past it twice.

"Marlena. I need to come in."

"It's six in the morning, Mom."

"I won't be long."

She walked through my living room without looking at the books, the couch, or the drawings taped to the walls.

In the kitchen she saw the freezer door and her mouth went flat.

"Good morning, Grandma," Junie said. "I'm the guard."

"Go and watch cartoons, darling."

"I'll watch from here."

My mother turned her back on my daughter, which is a thing I have never forgiven her for, and lowered her voice.

"Mr. Brannigan has a woman with a magnifying glass who is going to look at my necklace this morning."

"Then let her look."

"You know what she'll find."

"I know what she'll find, Mom. Do you?"

My mother's hands were trembling around her purse.

"Give me yours," she said.

"Excuse me?"

"Yours. The one with the letters. Lend it to me for one hour. Nobody has to know."

She leaned closer.

"Your father's loan will be safe, the stores will be safe, and I'll give it back by lunch."

I turned off the burner.

"You want me to hand a stranger the necklace and tell him it's yours."

"It was always meant for this family."

"It was meant for me."

"Don't be dramatic."

"Grandma," Junie said, "you're being mean to Mom again."

My mother's eyes went to the freezer door, to Rule One, and something in her face turned hard.

"I raised you," she said to me. "I fed you for eighteen years."

Her voice shook.

"And the first time I ask you for anything, you stand in your little kitchen and judge me."

"The first time?"

"Marlena."

"You asked me for a lot of things, Mom."

"You asked me to be quiet at twenty-seven, when I told you I was having a baby."

"That was different."

"Was it?"

I took my keys from the hook.

"I'm going to work now. Junie, shoes."

"I'm coming with you," my mother said.

"No."

"If you won't help me, I'll watch you refuse. I'll stand right there and watch you take your little phone calls."

I considered pointing out that this was a threat.

Then I considered the look on her face when she saw the building, and I said, "Fine. Follow me."

Harbor Line sits on the river, twenty-six floors of glass with a green sign on top.

My mother parked behind me and walked into the lobby with her purse against her chest.

Eleven hundred employees work in that tower.

Maybe three hundred of them were crossing the lobby when the doors opened.

"Morning, Ms. Kettering!" the security guard called, lifting his coffee cup.

"Morning, boss!" said a man with a bike helmet.

"Ms. Kettering, the logistics numbers are in your inbox," a young woman said, passing at a half-run.

"Thanks. I'll read them at ten."

I hadn't planned the greetings, but there they were.

My mother stopped in the middle of the marble floor.

Behind the front desk was a wall of white stone, forty feet wide.

On it hung a photograph of me at thirty, holding a shovel, with a ribbon at my feet.

Underneath it in green letters were the words HARBOR LINE. FOUNDED BY MARLENA KETTERING.

My mother read it.

She read it again.

"That isn't you," she said.

"It's me."

"You answer phones."

"I used to answer phones, Mom. In a one-room office, the first year, when I couldn't afford to hire anyone."

Her lips were moving slightly.

Junie squeezed my hand and whispered, "Rule Two. Grandma has to read the wall."

"There's no Rule Two."

"There is now."

The elevator pinged behind us.

Leon Brannigan stepped out with a woman in a grey blazer carrying a leather case.

He had clearly come straight from the car, his coat still open.

"Ms. Kettering," he said. "Mrs. Kettering. I hope you don't mind. I thought it would save time if we did this here."

My mother clutched her purse.

"You can't just..."

"Mrs. Kettering, the necklace is my collateral. I'd like it examined now, in front of someone you trust."

He looked at me.

"And your daughter, I think, is the person you trust least. Which makes her the right witness."

My mother's eyes went around the lobby, to the guard, the staff, the wall, the stone with my name carved across it.

Three hundred people had stopped walking.

Slowly, she took the necklace from her purse.

The appraiser put on gloves.

She held the rubies up to the light, turned the clasp over, and was quiet for a few seconds.

"Mr. Brannigan," she said, "this is high-quality paste. Hand-cut glass in a gilt setting. It's about seven years old."

The lobby went silent.

"It's worth," she added, "maybe three hundred dollars."

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend