Nightchild

Chapter 25

Well, well...I was under the impression this was a family conference. What are you doing here, Ruby?" Rene Sanders scoffed as she sauntered to the loveseat, taking Blythe's place beside her old adversary.

The feisty older woman was undaunted and met Rene's contemptuous amber gaze with her own lucid and wily blue one. "Unlike some, I go where I'm asked and don't where I'm not," Ruby countered.

"Oh, really?" Rene smirked. "And just when did you suddenly acquire this admirable trait?"

Claire Steven's high excited voice burst in on the sparring women. "Rene! Rene, did you hear what he said? Sweetie, he couldn't possibly have meant it. It must be a cruel joke he's—"

"Mother, stop it! I meant exactly what I said. Blythe and I were married a few days ago. I love her very much—"

"Blythe? Rene, is this the woman...the groupie you told me about? It is, isn't it? She's the hussy, the one that shamelessly followed him to Hot Springs, the one that chased him down in his hotel room!"

Squatting, Blythe had been searching the invalid's face, but now she stood to her full height and stared coolly down at the old woman whose eyes darted peevishly past hers to the smirking face of Rene Sanders.

"That's enough, Mother! You have no right. You don't know what you're talking about. Blythe was there at my persistent urging, at my insistence! I'd given up seeing her again when Rene showed up...uninvited. I made a mistake that neither of them should be blamed for. I should have told Rene then that our relationship was over, but I didn't. I acted like a fool and in the process hurt two people. Rene, I'm sorry."

The sleek angular woman left her seat and glided toward them to form a semicircle around the wheelchair as a flustered Claire gazed up at the three young people, too taken aback to speak.

"I'm sure you are sorry, Nathan honey, for a whole mess of things. But then the damage has already been done now, hasn't it?" Rene drawled in a way that grated Blythe's memory and caused her to inwardly cringe.

"You've been a good friend and I should have handled things differently...a long time ago. Don't take it out on Blythe. She had no idea you even existed."

"Why, this cute little thing? Well, honey, how positively adorable. Nathan, I can't imagine where you found her, but I hope she'll be everything you want. I don't resent her for a second. How could I?"

The words flowed surgery sweet, too sweet, belying the malicious look in Rene's eyes as they glinted triumphantly at Blythe who felt more like a belittled child at that moment than an adult woman.

Claire Stevens was unable to contain herself a second longer. "What have you done, Nathan? Look at how brave Rene's trying to be, when you know all the while her heart's breaking. I never thought I'd live to see the day you reminded me of your father. But after what you've done to us, it's ...well, it's...it's just like him! Leaving a loyal gracious lady, so you could tumble with the likes of this—"

"Mother! I don't want to hear anoth—"

"No, Nate, let her have her say. Let's get it all out in the open," Blythe chimed in, her spine growing rigid, her chin lifting proudly. Resolve and determination masked her face before she bent and grasped the arms of the wheelchair, her nose inches from the older woman's, her eyes staring boldly into the cloudy faded blue ones of her husband's domineering mother. "And exactly what am I, Mrs. Stevens?" she inquired boldly.

Claire stuttered awkwardly for a moment, "Well...you...you're no lady...that's obvious! Setting your traps for my son. Marrying a man you hardly knew...probably a gold digger too, if the truth be known!"