Chapter 2 - THE PARTY THAT WASN’T FOR MY SON
I knew something was wrong before I reached the front door.
Cars lined both sides of our quiet street. Music shook the windows. Laughter rolled across the backyard, loud and careless, while smoke from two grills drifted above the fence.
For one confused second, I thought Evelyn had planned a surprise party.
Then I noticed there were no balloons with Jamie’s name.
No high chair decorated for his first birthday.
No children’s music.
No baby toys on the lawn.
Instead, twenty members of my mother’s family crowded around rented tables, eating barbecue from disposable plates and drinking beer from coolers that belonged to me.
My cousin Trent stood beside the grill wearing one of my aprons.
My aunt Marlene was carrying a tray from my kitchen.
And my mother, Judith, sat beneath the patio umbrella in the chair I had bought for Evelyn after Jamie was born.
She wore a new floral dress, gold earrings, and the expression of a woman presiding over property she believed she owned.
No one noticed me at first.
I entered through the side gate carrying the birthday cake, Evelyn’s gift, and Jamie’s silver keepsake.
Then I heard glass breaking inside the house.
I set everything on the patio table and went through the back door.
The kitchen looked like a restaurant after closing.
Greasy trays covered the counters. Pans filled the sink. Sauce had dried across the floor.
Evelyn stood beside the dishwasher in an old gray sweatshirt and stained sweatpants, scrubbing plates while tears ran silently down her face.
She had lost weight.
Not the normal exhaustion of a new mother.
Her cheekbones looked sharper. Purple shadows rested beneath her eyes. Her hands were red and cracked from soap.
She did not see me until I said her name.
“Evelyn?”
The plate slipped from her fingers and shattered.
Her entire body went rigid.
Then she turned.
For one second, relief crossed her face.
The next second, fear replaced it.
“Colin,” she whispered. “You weren’t supposed to be home until Sunday.”
I stared at her.
“Where’s Jamie?”
Her eyes moved toward the hallway.
“He’s upstairs.”
“Why?”
“He has a fever.”
I dropped the gift bag.
“How high?”
“One hundred and three when I checked an hour ago.”
“Why haven’t you taken him to urgent care?”
Evelyn looked toward the backyard.
“Your mother said I wasn’t allowed to leave until the dishes were finished.”
I thought I had misheard her.
“She said what?”
“Please don’t start shouting.”
That request stopped me.
Evelyn had always hated conflict, but she had never been afraid of my voice.
Now she looked frightened before I had even raised it.
I stepped closer.
“Why would my mother think she could stop you from taking our son to a doctor?”
Evelyn’s mouth opened, but Judith’s voice cut through the kitchen.
“Colin?”
My mother entered carrying an empty pitcher.
Surprise flashed across her face.
Then she smiled.
“My goodness. You ruined the surprise.”
I looked at her.
“What surprise?”
“The family celebration.”
“For whom?”
“For Jamie, of course.”
“There is no sign with his name. He’s upstairs sick while everyone outside is eating.”
Judith sighed.
“He became fussy, so I told Evelyn to put him down.”
“He has a one-hundred-and-three-degree fever.”
“Babies get fevers.”
“And Evelyn said you refused to let her take him to a doctor.”
My mother’s smile tightened.
“That is not what happened.”
I looked at my wife.
Evelyn lowered her eyes.
Judith moved between us.
“She has been overwhelmed lately. Emotional. You know how women can become after having babies.”
Jamie had been born almost a year earlier.
I pushed past my mother and ran upstairs.
His bedroom door was closed.
When I opened it, heat and sour air rushed toward me.
The curtains were drawn. The air-conditioning vent had been closed.
Jamie lay inside his crib wearing only a diaper. His face was red, and damp hair clung to his forehead.
He barely reacted when I lifted him.
His skin burned against my chest.
A plastic bottle lay empty beside the crib.
No medicine.
No water.
No thermometer.
“Jamie.”
His eyes opened halfway.
“Daddy’s here.”
He made a weak sound and pressed his face against my shirt.
I carried him downstairs.
The music had stopped.
Someone had finally noticed me.
Relatives crowded near the kitchen door while Judith followed me into the living room.
“Put him back down,” she said. “You’ll make him dependent.”
I turned slowly.
“He’s one.”
“You were sleeping through the night at three months.”
“And apparently that is the qualification you used to neglect my child?”
Several relatives looked away.
Trent entered through the back door.
“Everything okay?”
“No,” I said. “Everyone needs to leave.”
My aunt Marlene laughed.
“Colin, we just served dessert.”
“Then take it with you.”
Judith’s face hardened.
“This is my family.”
“This is my house.”
The room went silent.
My mother stepped closer.
“Do not humiliate me in front of everyone.”
“You left my sick son upstairs while my wife washed dishes for twenty adults.”
“She lives here without paying a cent.”
Evelyn’s head lifted.
I stared at my mother.
“She is my wife.”
“And I am the one keeping this house running while you disappear for work.”
“I sent you thirty-five hundred dollars every month to help her.”
Laughter came from the patio.
Not amused laughter.
Nervous laughter.
My aunt looked at Judith.
“Thirty-five hundred?”
Judith’s face changed.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It has everything to do with it. Evelyn, when did you last buy groceries?”
She looked at me carefully.
“Your mother gives me fifty dollars a week.”
I felt as though the floor shifted.
“What?”
“She said the rest had to cover household expenses.”
“Our mortgage comes directly from my account. So do utilities, insurance, and internet.”
Judith lifted her chin.
“There are other expenses.”
“What expenses?”
“Food. Cleaning. Family needs.”
“Whose family?”
No one answered.
I looked through the open patio door.
New folding tables.
Cases of beer.
Expensive meat.
Decorations.
A rented sound system.
“You used the money I sent for my wife and child to pay for this party.”
Judith slammed the pitcher onto the counter.
“After everything I’ve done for you, you’re counting dollars?”
“Yes.”
The honesty shocked her.
I handed Jamie to Evelyn.
“Pack a bag. We’re going to the hospital.”
Judith blocked the hallway.
“She cannot leave.”
I stared at her.
“Move.”
“You do not understand what she has been doing while you’re away.”
“What has she been doing?”
“She complains. She sleeps during the day. She refuses to help. She spends hours on her phone.”
Evelyn’s voice trembled.
“You took my phone.”
Judith turned.
“Because you were obsessed with calling Colin while he worked.”
I looked at my wife.
“Where is your phone?”
“My mother keeps it in her room.”
The word mother came out automatically, and Evelyn immediately corrected herself.
“Judith keeps it.”
I felt sick.
My mother had not moved in to help.
She had moved in to control the person I left behind.
I reached for my own phone and called 911.
Judith laughed.
“What are you doing?”
“My son needs medical care, and I want officers present while everyone leaves my property.”
People started gathering bags.
Trent moved toward the front hallway.
A dark folder bulged beneath his jacket.
I saw it only because he knocked into the coat rack and several papers slipped onto the floor.
One carried the county seal.
I crossed the room before he could pick them up.
The first document was a copy of our property deed.
My name had been circled in red ink.
The second was a partially completed quitclaim deed transferring the house to Ashford Family Holdings.
The signature at the bottom looked like mine.
It was not.
I looked at Trent.
“What is this?”
He went pale.
Judith moved toward us.
“Give me that.”
I held the papers away.
“Why is a forged transfer of my home under Trent’s jacket?”
“It isn’t forged.”
“I never signed it.”
My mother’s eyes flickered toward Evelyn.
Then she said, “Perhaps your wife did.”
Evelyn’s face drained of color.
“What?”
Judith pointed at her.
“She’s been planning to leave you. She asked about selling the house.”
“That is a lie,” Evelyn whispered.
“You told me you wanted to escape.”
“I said I wanted Jamie and me to be safe.”
Judith smiled coldly.
“Same thing.”
Police sirens sounded outside.
Trent backed toward the door.
I stepped in front of him.
“You’re staying.”
The first officer entered as Trent tried to push past me.
Two officers restrained him.
Another took the documents from my hand.
The older officer examined the false signature.
“Mr. Ashford, did you authorize this transfer?”
“No.”
“Do you know Ashford Family Holdings?”
“No.”
Judith spoke quickly.
“It’s a family estate arrangement. Colin asked us to help protect the property.”
“I did not.”
The officer looked at her.
“Who prepared these documents?”
My mother said nothing.
Trent looked toward her.
Then at me.
Finally, he whispered, “Aunt Judith said the house was already hers.”
Judith’s face twisted.
“You idiot.”
The officer turned to her.
“Ma’am, I need you to step away from the hallway.”
Jamie whimpered in Evelyn’s arms.
I took him back and headed for the door.
As I passed my mother, she leaned close enough that only I could hear.
“You have no idea what that woman has cost you.”
I stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Judith looked toward Evelyn with hatred.
“It means by tomorrow morning, you won’t know whether that baby is even yours.”
Then she smiled.
May you like
And for the first time, I understood the forged deed might not be the worst secret hidden inside my house.
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