Her mother finally calmed down.
“Mom, what happened?” said Lisa.
“I might as well tell you,” said her mother. “You’ll find out soon enough anyway.” She recounted the conversation, confirming everything Lisa already knew and getting increasingly agitated as she went along until she arrived at Sabrina’s insistence that the house was the best place for her to stay during her treatment. Lisa was so horrified that she couldn’t remain silent.
“This is our house, not theirs,” she said. “Who do they think they are? They can’t just show up here without being invited and announce they’re moving in. There are too many of them. Why can’t they stay at a hotel instead?”
“I don’t know,” said her mother. “Sabrina is determined to get what she wants. She’s obviously not thinking clearly, but I can’t really blame her. She’s probably scared and doesn’t want to be alone. It’s also possible they can’t afford to make any other arrangements. Sabrina doesn’t have a job, and Arthur teaches at a community college. He’ll have to take a leave of absence, and I suspect he won’t get paid.”
“That’s not our fault,” said Lisa.
“I wouldn’t mind them staying here if I thought we could take care of them properly,” said her mother. Her total lack of resentment baffled Lisa. “I feel especially sorry for Richard. He’s been sleeping on the couch. He says he doesn’t mind, but he’s an old man. He should have his own bed. I’ll have to take my mother’s things out of her room and put them into storage. I can’t bear to throw them away.”
“You shouldn’t have to do that,” said Lisa. “It’s not fair. Maybe if we make it obvious we don’t want them around, they’ll take the hint and go somewhere else.”
“No, we can’t do that,” said her mother. “They’re our guests. We need to make them feel comfortable.” She wiped her eyes. “I can’t stop thinking about those poor children. Their lives will never be the same if they lose their mother. How will they even survive? They’re so young. They shouldn’t have to deal with that sort of pain. I’ll do whatever it takes to make this easier for them.”
“But what about you?” said Lisa.
“I’ll make the best of it,” she said. “It’s not what I would have chosen, but I don’t want to argue with your father.”
Lisa couldn’t bear to think about her father. Although her mother claimed to feel a sense of compassion for Sabrina and her family, the truth was clear: her mute acceptance of the situation reflected her desire to avoid a confrontation with him. Lisa knew she wasn’t going to say anything. She was just going to go along with it, and nothing was going to change unless Lisa took matters into her own hands.
“I shouldn’t have talked to you about all of this,” said her mother. “I don’t want you to worry about me. There’s nothing wrong with being sad. It’s just one of those things that happens sometimes. It’s not anyone’s fault.”
She touched Lisa’s cheek and went into the kitchen. Lisa retreated to Veronica’s room. To her relief, Veronica was gone because she was playing with Stephen in the back yard. Lisa stared out the window and brooded until it was almost time for dinner, and then she went downstairs to see if her mother needed any help. To her surprise, no preparations for the meal had been made.
“Lisa,” said her father. “I was about to come looking for you. Maybe you can help me. Your mother said she wasn’t feeling well, so she went to bed, but it’s been a while since I’ve cooked anything, and I don’t even know where to start. Your mother hasn’t been doing a very good job keeping up with the grocery shopping, and it looks like we’re running out of a few things.”
“What do you mean she said she wasn’t feeling well?” said Lisa.
The tentative smile on her father’s face vanished. Lisa crossed her arms and waited. She suspected he was thinking up a lie to guarantee her cooperation, and she despised him for trying to manipulate her.
“She didn’t say what was wrong,” he said.
“You’re a doctor,” said Lisa. “Figure it out.”
“Lisa, don’t be rude,” he said. “It’s the same thing it’s always been, and it’s not going to get better any time soon. That’s just the way it is. Ever since your grandmother died, your mother has been struggling to cope. I’m sorry. I wish I could turn back the clock to a happier time, but I don’t have that kind of power.”
“So you’re just going to pretend everything’s okay?” said Lisa.
“No,” he said, “but your grandmother would want us to be happy.”
“I’ve been wondering,” said Lisa. “What exactly happened to her the night she died?”
Her father frowned.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Your mother didn’t want to have an autopsy done on her. I suspect her heart finally gave out, but it could have been anything.”
“Including murder?”
The question hung in the air between them. His face was a mask of confusion. Lisa felt like she was trapped in a nightmare. He had become a monster. She had never been afraid of him before, but she was afraid of him now, even though nothing about him had changed. She backed away until she came to a stop against the cabinet. He didn’t move. Lisa saw her heart beating in the pulsating distortion of her vision.
“Lisa, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“Yes, you do,” she said. “I heard Josh’s mother threatening you.”
Why she was defining other people in terms of Josh, she was too agitated to wonder. She waited for her father to confess, but he didn’t. He just stood there and stared at her,
