“So far.”
She turned on him.
“You know what your mother is like.”
He lowered his hands.
I expected him to defend me.
Instead, he looked exhausted.
“What is she like, Fallon?”
“She judges everything.
She gives money and expects gratitude forever.
She sits there silently, making everyone feel guilty.”
“I gave you money because you asked for help.”
“And you never let us forget it.”
“I had not mentioned the wedding money in seven years.”
“You didn’t have to.
It was always there.”
That was the nearest Fallon came to telling the truth.
My generosity had made her feel indebted, and rather than refuse it, repay it, or speak honestly about it, she had changed the story until she became the injured party.
I looked at Ellis.
“Did the podcast pay for the ring?”
His head snapped up.
Fallon went still.
I had not known.
I had guessed from the timing, her comments about new sponsors, and the urgency in her voice.
Ellis answered without looking at her.
“There was an advance from two advertisers.”
“And the trip?”
He nodded.
Fallon’s face flushed.
“My mother supported me before anyone else did.
I wanted to honor her.”
“On my birthday.”
“It was content.
The journalist was there.
The photographs helped the show.”
The plastic bracelet lay beside the laptop.
I picked it up by the cupcake charm.
“This was content too?”
Fallon said nothing.
Ellis looked at the bracelet as if seeing it for the first time.
I had spent three days believing the gift proved I had been forgotten.
The truth was colder.
I had not been forgotten at all.
My humiliation had been planned because contrast made a better photograph.
Celeste’s diamond, my plastic, Fallon between us—the grateful daughter and the difficult mother-in-law placed in one bright frame.
It was not carelessness.
It was production.
I placed the bracelet back on the desk.
Then I told Ellis to download every original file and send me a copy.
Fallon stepped toward the laptop.
“No.”
I closed it before she could reach it.
“You came into my house using a key meant for emergencies.
You impersonated my assistant.
You prepared a false release.
You recorded me without my knowledge and used those recordings for profit.”
“You’re threatening me now?”
