Katherine stood up so forcefully that her chair almost fell over. “You don’t know the sacrifices I’ve made for this family.”
“The hell I don’t. You’ve made sure we understood and paid for them every day from the moment we exchanged our vows. I’m just glad it didn’t completely ruin Braylee and Stephanie. In spite of us, they seem to be making much better choices than you and me.” He stood too. “I’m not doing it anymore. I mean it. You are going to get some help, or I want a divorce.”
The shock of James Hinsdale’s statement was felt around the room. Divorce was not a word Katherine thought she’d ever hear him say. “You can’t be serious? After all these years? After I’ve given you my youth, now you want a divorce?”
“I’ve never been more serious.”
The moments ticked by as they stared at one another.
In one motion, Katherine swept the dishes in front of her across the room. Plates, cups, bowls, everything, went flying and shattered on the floor. Katherine fell back against the wall and started to scream out in a guttural tone that came from deep within her soul. “Whhhhhy? Why…why…why?” She slid down holding her body tightly until she sat on her behind. Her cry no longer sounded human but more like a wounded animal. That glassy-eyed look Braylee saw not just earlier, but over the years of her childhood was back. Her mother was slipping back into a dark place where no one could reach her. She curled up into a ball and leaned up against the wall.
Instinctively, Braylee became that little girl who had to calm her mother when she’d fall into one of these episodes. Katherine’s hands clutched her knees, and her head lay on the wall, she kept saying something, but Braylee couldn’t make it out. At first, it was sounded like garbled mumbling. When she was younger, her mother would rock and cry out over and over again. “I’m sorry. Don’t hurt me. I’m sorry. Don’t hurt me.” Braylee always thought that was about her father.
The mumbling was getting louder, and she could make out the words more clearly. Katherine was still saying, “I’m sorry. Don’t hurt me,” over and over again but this time, there was another word added to it. It stopped Braylee’s heart. She was saying, “Mama, I’m sorry. Don’t hurt me.” Had her mother hurt in some way too? Was her mother’s hatred towards her really about something else? Braylee couldn’t watch it anymore; she stood to help her. Stephanie was in tears. Both of them were. Her father put his hands up stopping Braylee in her tracks. Katherine was his wife.
Mr. Hinsdale bent down to the floor and attempted to soothe her by rubbing her hair off of her face and speaking softly to her. “It’s alright baby. It’s alright.” He hated to see Katherine, the mother of his children, and still the love of his life in this way. He spoke over his shoulder never looking away from her. “Somebody call 9-1-1.”
Chapter 27
Several hours later, Katherine Hinsdale was admitted to the psych ward of Mercy Hospital. As a family, they all gathered together in the waiting room. Mr. Hinsdale wasn’t with them. He was still talking to the hospital administrators.
Braylee had seen enough of Mercy. It had only been a few weeks ago that she occupied one of their hospital beds. All she wanted was to go home and start this day over. If she would have followed her instincts and dropped both Stephanie and her father off at the curb, maybe it wouldn’t have triggered her mother’s episode.
She sighed as she lay in the crook of Alex’s arms. He held her a little tighter. “I sound like a broken record but are you okay?”
She smiled weakly. “I'm fine. Just sorry that you guys had to witness some of the things that go on in the Hinsdale household.”
He chuckled. “As opposed to the Manchetti madness.”
“I hadn’t thought about it like that. You’ve had some craziness in your life too, huh?” Braylee attempted a laugh, but she just couldn’t muster it. She wasn’t Stephanie. Humor didn’t work for her. “Are you sure it’s wise to join our two families?”
“The way I figure it, stuff like this can only happen once in a few hundred generations. If you throw in a bit of karma, we should have smooth sailing for awhile. Therefore, there’s not much risk in us getting married and joining forces. And, if you look over across the room, if it’s not us, it just might be them.”
Braylee still couldn’t believe it. Fabi and Stephanie? “I don’t know how that happened? They are so different? Stephanie is Stephanie and Fabi is such a playboy. You tell him if he breaks my sister’s heart, I’m going to come after him with a vengeance.”
Alex picked up her hand with the dazzling diamond on it and kissed her fingertips. “I’m pretty sure he knows that. Even if he hadn’t, I made sure to remind him that you’re a shrewd lawyer quite a few times. That reminds me, I need to thank Lisa for introducing us.”
“Thank you for coming today. You didn’t have to.”
“Where else would I be?”
“I just want you to know how much I appreciate it.” Braylee closed her eyes briefly. As much as she wanted to take the easy way out and pretend that this day never happened, she couldn’t do that. If her father could face his past so that he could move forward, so could
