Mom Handed Us One Lease, So I Handed My Stepbrother My Bed novel · Chapter 16 of 24
Chapter 16: The Stove
Thanksgiving at the Kothmann ranch house is set for twenty, and that year it was twenty-two.
The long oak table ran the length of the dining room, with a turkey at one end and my mother's tamales at the other.
The Boerners sat across from us, in their church clothes.
Gretchen wore a cream sweater and had her hair in a smooth ponytail.
She had brought a pecan pie in a box from a bakery.
She had not looked at me since she sat down.
Jakob had put the envelope in his father's hand at the door, and Erwin had slid it inside his vest without a word.
Under the table, Jakob's boot rested against mine.
His hand lay in my lap, palm up, and I had my fingers laced through his.
Nobody could see it but me.
"Before we eat," Erwin said, and pushed back his chair.
He stood at the head of the table with a folded paper in his hand.
His eyes were already wet.
"I've written a few words," he said.
At the same moment, across from me, Gretchen rose too.
"Erwin, I'm so sorry to interrupt," she said, in her warm, careful voice. "There's something you need to hear, and it should come from family-"
"Sit down, Gretchen."
I was on my feet before I knew I had moved.
My chair scraped back, and every head at that table turned.
"I'll tell it," I said. "It's mine to tell."
Gretchen stood with her mouth a little open and her phone in her fist.
"Maricela," my mother said. "Mija?"
I took a breath and put my hand on the table.
"Erwin," I said. "I read your letter. I read every word."
"You did?" His voice cracked.
"I'm going to give you my answer in front of everyone, because you asked me in front of everyone."
The room was perfectly quiet.
"I will not take your name," I said.
His face crumpled, and I held up my hand.
"I'll be your daughter in every other way there is. I'll sit in the chair."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Mom Handed Us One Lease, So I Handed My Stepbrother My Bed are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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