The Housewife Assassin's Garden of Deadly Delights by Josie Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

her.”  
    “Which one is Sara?” I ask.
    Mary opens her cell phone and clicks onto a web browser. A few more clicks and we’re looking at the school’s webpage for the girls’ varsity basketball team. She points to a girl standing center, on the front row:
    Oh boy. It’s Orgasm.
    “What do you know about her?” I ask.
    “Not too much. Juniors rarely mix with sophomores. They prefer to hang with seniors, if they can.”
    “I hope…” I don’t know how to put this delicately. “I hope they treat you with respect.”
    Mary shrugs. “It’s like most things in life, I guess. I’ll have to earn it.”
    “I think you have. I don’t just mean your hard work on Hilldale High’s junior varsity squad, Mary.”  
    She nods. She knows what I mean. She took the news that Jack wasn’t really her father pretty hard, and the news that her real father, Carl, was a traitor to his country even harder. Besides the mixed emotions toward Jack and me for living this lie for the past few years, she’s also had to endure the taunts of her classmates for Carl’s acts of violence and cowardice.  
    Her brother’s brush with death at the hands of Islamic terrorists put so much into perspective.  
    A little sweat can’t come between a mother and her daughter. As I wrap her in my arms, I whisper, “I’m proud of you, Mary.”  
    “I know, Mom.” She kisses my cheek. “And I also know there were times when I should have trusted you to do what was right for all of us. Thank you for bearing with me—and for forgiving me for being angry at you.”
    I bow my head. “’Every experience, even the tragic ones, are an opportunity to grow stronger.” I’d learned that first with my own mother’s death, then with my father’s, then through my marriage to Carl. And yet, I want to spare my daughter any more pain.  
    She doesn’t deserve the cruelty Sara may have in store for her. “Mary, should something happen that makes you at all uncomfortable in your place on the team, don’t feel you have to stick it out.”
    She looks up at me, curious. “Why would you say that?”
    I shrug. “Things don’t always work out the way we want. The varsity team seems so—so competitive. By that, I don’t mean just against their rivals, but amongst themselves too. You’re there to do your best, yes. But you’re also there to have fun. When you forget that, it’s easy to lose perspective.”
    “I won’t, Mom, I promise. Since the news came out about my father, I’m just happy to be accepted to anything at all.” Her smile fades. “I just…I just want to be normal again.”
    She will never be that.
    She will always be extraordinary.
    I keep the smile on my face until she’s halfway up the stairs.  
    To keep my mind off of what I can’t control, I pull out eggs, milk, and bread for my brood, who seem to be stirring upstairs.  
    Maybe when Sara and her friends know Mary better, they’ll change their minds about trying to make her miserable.
    Or live to regret doing so.

    This morning, I’ve added steak to the eggs for breakfast. It’s not just Mary who needs stamina for a long day ahead.
    Evan clomps down the stairs with Jeff on his heels and Trisha on his shoulders. She carries a three-ring binder holding her plant samples, each one pressed between two pieces of wax paper.  
    A big brother is just what Jeff and Trisha need in their lives right now. And considering what Evan has been through, no doubt having their adoration gives him something as well—say, self-respect after a year of living shamefully. Humanity rails against the sins of the father, but Evan is living proof that the sins of the mother can ruin a life too—but only if it kills all love.
    With all the love surrounding him now, he’ll weather this emotional tsunami.
    Still, he must deal with his mother’s request one way or another. I’ll break the news to him on the way to school.  
    “—and this is dill…and this is clover…and this is wild