Queen Mom Rules novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Brunch

Cassidy's dining room had a table for twelve, and all twelve chairs were taken.

I saw aunts, uncles and two cousins I had not seen since my grandmother's funeral.

My father sat at one end with his hands folded, looking like a man waiting outside a principal's office.

My mother sat at the other end in a cream blouse with a gold chain at her throat.

Junie held my hand under the table and kicked her feet.

"Marlena," my mother said, once the mimosas had gone round. "Thank you for coming."

"You said you wanted to put me in my place."

My aunt on my mother's side inhaled sharply.

"That was Cassidy's phrasing," my mother said. "I wanted a family conversation."

She folded her napkin.

She lifted one finger.

"On Monday you staged an appraisal in front of strangers, with a friend of yours holding the loupe."

"Mr. Brannigan is not my friend."

"He kissed you in an elevator," my sister said.

"How do you know that?"

"The man with the mail cart is my husband's cousin."

I closed my eyes for a second.

My mother went on in the voice she uses at club meetings.

"You bought your father's mortgage behind his back, and you're using it to frighten us."

She looked around the table.

"I'm asking you, in front of your family, to give him the note as a gift."

"Give it to him."

"Yes."

"For free."

"He is your father. Where is your sense of duty?"

Several heads nodded.

My uncle, my mother's brother, said, "Blood is blood, Marlena."

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