I See You by Patricia MacDonald Read Free Book Online Page B

won’t eat them. Everybody has dietary restrictions. Except for Christina Shelton. Her husband was Jock Shelton, the senator. Did I tell you that?’
    ‘Yes, you mentioned it,’ said Hannah. She knew that her mother was most pleased to be living in the same complex as the widow of a senator. Even more pleased that she belonged to the same group of ladies who regularly played bridge together. ‘Well, give them to Christina, then.’
    ‘Oh, she’s off in the rehab. Since she broke her ankle. I don’t know what’s taking so long.’
    Hannah didn’t know, and didn’t care. ‘So, how are you, Mother?’
    ‘Well, to be honest with you, a little beleaguered lately. Everywhere I go, the TV is blaring, and I have to answer the same question. “Isn’t that your granddaughter accused of killing that man?”’ She shook her head. ‘That Troy Petty was a nice enough young man but he was entirely unsuitable. As I told her when she first started seeing him, if you dive into the trough, there’s no point in complaining about the muck. Of course, you’re the ones who gave your approval to this unsavory situation. How could you have even allowed her to get tangled up with a low-class fellow like that?’
    Despite her many marriages, Pamela still saw herself as the arbiter of correct social behavior.
    Hannah sighed. ‘She’s an adult, Mother. She lives her own life. She makes her own choices.’
    ‘Oh for heaven’s sakes, Hannah. She’s the definition of a child. She still lives under your roof, like a schoolgirl. Why shouldn’t you have a say in what she does and whom she sees?’
    Hannah counted to ten. ‘She needed our help to go to medical school, OK? Between her studies and the baby, she wasn’t capable of handling it all herself. Of course we agreed to help her.’
    ‘Well, you didn’t do her any favors. And in my opinion, you should have let her stand on her own two feet a long time ago, when she went and got pregnant. That would have taught her a lesson.’
    ‘I thought you might give her the benefit of the doubt, Mother.’
    ‘Oh, don’t misunderstand me. Lisa is a brilliant girl. She’ll land on her feet when this trial is over. You’ll see.’
    Hannah took a deep breath. ‘Well, yes, but until she does she’s going to need a bit more help. We are trying to work it out but this attorney is very expensive.’
    Pamela tilted her head back. ‘Ah, so now we come to the heart of the matter. I was wondering to what I owed the pleasure of this visit.’
    ‘Mother, that’s not fair,’ said Hannah. ‘You act as if I only come when I want something. That is just not true.’
    ‘Splitting hairs,’ Pamela declared.
    Hannah knew better than to argue. She had often withered under her mother’s contemptuous gaze. In fact, she wished she could just get up and walk out right now, but the memory of Adam’s worried eyes as he went over their finances cemented her to her seat.
    ‘How much this time?’ Pamela demanded wearily, as if she had been constantly besieged by Hannah in search of money. There was no use in reminding her that they had only asked her twice before for any money in the course of their marriage, and both times, they had paid her back.
    Hannah did not want to discuss it. She got up, pulled the bill for Marjorie Fox’s retainer from her purse and put it on her mother’s white French-style writing desk. Pamela set her chair in motion and whirred over to the desk.
    ‘You don’t have to give it to me now,’ said Hannah.
    ‘Let’s get it over with,’ said Pamela grimly.
    ‘We’ll pay you back as soon as we possibly can.’
    Pamela sniffed, and proceeded to write the check. She waved it at Hannah, who was forced to reach for it and lift it from her fingers.
    Hannah looked at the tidy sum which her mother proffered. ‘Thank you, Mother,’ she said. She folded up the check and slipped it into her wallet.
    Just then, there was a wail from the patio, and Hannah looked out. Sydney had