Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
This was a version of me she’d never met before, and she was clearly blown away by it. Even had to take a step back. I’d been kind and quiet and nonconfrontational up until this point, but my compassion had officially expired. I didn’t understand how his mother could be so warm but his sister ice cold. “I’m tired of watching Constantine be the favorite. I know you’re close with my mother and think she’s the greatest woman ever, but you don’t know her like I do. My whole life, I’ve watched her favor him. And now that you’re pregnant, she acts like she doesn’t already have grandchildren. She doesn’t spend time with them. When I’ve asked her to help me with childcare, she tells me they’re my responsibility and to figure it out. But I know it’s because she resents me for getting divorced. For choosing an asshole she vocally disapproved of. She shuns me and lets me drown just so she can prove her point—told you so.”
That was the last thing I expected Beatrice to say, and her words packed a punch.
“You come in here, and she acts like she doesn’t already have a daughter. I heard you and Con had a fight, so you stayed here for the night. When my husband left me and I needed her, she told me to learn from my mistakes.” Her voice started to rise as it was packed with emotion. “She didn’t open her home to me, a home that Constantine bought that I could never afford to give her. It just hurts that she clearly loves you more than me, simply because you’re marrying Con . . . than she does her actual daughter. I’m drowning, juggling work and being a single mother, and she never offers to help me, and the only time I get to myself is when my brother lets them climb all over him for twenty minutes so I can have a damn glass of wine.” She dropped all of her problems on me in a few breathless sentences, a catharsis she needed for years. “Don’t misunderstand me, I love my boys and wouldn’t change anything, but I feel like my mother punishes me, when I’m the victim of poor judgment. There’s nothing my mother wouldn’t do for Con, but there’s a very limited number of things she’d do for me.”
I remembered when I’d first met Con, he said he was his mother’s favorite. Said it in a joking way, but even he recognized it. Now I felt guilty for snapping at Beatrice during the couple of minutes she had to herself. “Beatrice, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine,” she said. “You’re right, I’ve been a total cunt to you.”
My eyebrows rose at her brutal honesty and emotional intelligence.
“My anger should be reserved for my mother, but the problem is, she doesn’t give a shit. When I give her the silent treatment, I never hear from her. When I try to talk to her about it, her eyes fill with so much annoyance like I’m burdening her. There is no solution to this problem. I just have to accept that my mother resents me far more than she loves me.”
“Have you talked to Con about this?”
“No.”
“Maybe you should.”
“It’s not his problem.”
“I think if he knew this is how you felt, he would make it his problem, Beatrice. You’re his sister and he loves you.”
She looked out the window to the terrace and took another drink of her wine.
“When the baby comes, I’m going to be home all day. You’re more than welcome to drop off the boys a couple days a week. I’m happy to watch them. Constantine will be there too, so it won’t just be me.”
She slowly turned to look back at me.
“And I’m sure Medusa would love to have someone to play with.”
“You don’t have to do that, Aurelia.”
“I know, but we’re family. I’m happy to help you.”
She stared at me for a few seconds, her gaze hardening in confusion, then softening when she saw the sincerity on my face.
“I would love to get to know my nephews too. I can tell Constantine thinks the world of them.” I glanced out the window. “They’re still climbing all over him as we speak.”
Beatrice brought her wine closer to her chest, then looked down into the contents.
“We could watch them overnight too, if you want to go on a date . . . and see where that goes.” I waggled my eyebrows. “Friends make sure friends get laid.”
She burst into a quiet laugh, like she hadn’t expected me to say that in a million years. “Yeah, it’s been a while.”
“Then let’s work something out. I know Constantine would be happy to help.”
“I don’t know. Men aren’t usually the ones handling the childcare.”
“Well, I know he’s different.”
“He used to run Rome and hang people from the Pantheon for violating his laws . . . but sure,” she said with a chuckle.