Elkin Brothers Christmas The Complete Series - Leslie North Page 0,165

alone, then you’re vulnerable. If your photography business went under, what would you do?”

Susan pressed her fingertips to her lips as if she was sick with worry about Rachel’s business. “It seems to me your career is hanging in the balance, and if you were to lose all your work, then you might not be able to care for Scott.”

Her son ran around the living room in a wide circle and dropped to the floor to play with a set of blocks, oblivious to the conversation. No doubt Susan would have a problem with the way the blocks were arrayed on the carpet. It wasn’t photo-worthy, and things always needed to be photo-worthy, just in case.

Keep cool. Don’t give her the satisfaction of losing it on her. “I will always be able to care for my son,” Rachel said in the most even voice she could muster. “If my photography studio had to close, I’d find another way to make money.”

“And how long would you go without?” Susan raised her hands in front of her like Rachel was committing to closing the studio today, with no plan. “If you didn’t have the money to take care of Scott, then you know that we, as your parents, would have to step in.”

Step in. Such small words, but they packed an enormous threat. Stepping in meant using all her power as a senator to take custody of Scott. Rachel saw it play out before her eyes—the court hearings where she’d get steamrolled, no matter how good a lawyer she hired. The inevitable ruling in her mother’s favor. Even her mother loading Scott into the back of her car, the same pinched look on her face. Her mother would consider it her highest duty to raise Scott “properly.”

The threat made her sick. “I don’t think that’s in Scott’s best interest. Or yours.”

Her mother’s eyebrows shot up. “Having an out-of-wedlock single mother as a daughter who is also an unfit mother would be the last thing that would look good on the campaign trail, especially if that daughter wound up talking to the press. What would people think?”

Rachel pretended to think about it. “They might wonder how a woman like you raised such a terrible child.”

“This kind of talk is completely unnecessary.” There—there it was. She was leaning back on her own self-righteousness. “You know I would only do this to save Scott from harm.”

“He’s not in danger of being harmed.” This time, some of the acid in her heart leaked into her voice. “If you think that, then you’re delusional. And you should back off right now before I have you removed from the building.”

Her mother sniffed, and for a moment, Rachel felt the woman who had been so domineering all her life rise like a giant shadow that encompassed the room. It was like she was sixteen again, and in trouble for missing curfew by five minutes, only the stakes were so much higher. “Fine.” A tight reply from her mother. “I only wanted to discuss things with you. You’ve been having a difficult—”

“Mom.” She kept her voice sweet because Scott was in the room, but she couldn’t have felt less sweet. “I’ll have you removed from the building. And while I wait for security to arrive, I’ll call the local news.”

“You are insufferable.” Susan turned on her heel, giving a cursory wave to Scott, and wrenched open the door. “I’ll wait for you to come to your senses,” she said over her shoulder, and then she was gone, out into the winter morning.

When the door shut behind her, Rachel felt like a book was closing, or a doorway—or both. That chapter in her life was over. Her mother had crossed too many lines this time, and in a way, it freed her. She did not, under any circumstances, have to keep entertaining the woman who had threatened to try and take custody of her son.

“Mama. Pick up,” Scott said, and Rachel scooped him up into her arms and pretended to tickle his belly. This made him laugh, a deep belly laugh. Rachel never actually tickled him and that was a game between them. I’m free, she thought wildly. We’re both free. She reached for her phone on the table next to the couch, flipped through the contacts, and blocked her mother’s number.

Yes. She had never been more triumphant, except on the day that she gave birth to Scott—that was the strongest she’d ever been in her life. Except for now. “I