Chapter 6 - Across the Street.
Sarah stepped onto the porch and pulled the door almost closed behind her so the cold air would not reach Emma.
Across the street, Lauren remained inside the black SUV with the engine running.
The sight was so calculated that Sarah almost laughed.
"You brought her here without asking me?" Sarah said.
Her mother tightened both hands around the wrapped present.
"She wanted to talk."
"Then she could have called."
"You would not answer."
"That is called a boundary."
Her mother looked hurt by the word.
James opened the door enough to stand beside Sarah.
He did not speak.
He did not need to.
Lauren finally opened the driver's door and crossed the street in tall black boots, her coat belted tightly around her waist.
She stopped at the bottom of the porch steps.
"Can we get this over with?" she asked.
Sarah's mother closed her eyes for a moment.
Sarah looked directly at Lauren.
"That depends on what you think this is."
Lauren exhaled through her nose.
"I think everybody had a bad night."
"Emma had a bad night."
"There you go again."
James shifted his weight, and Lauren noticed.
"Relax, James. I'm not talking to you."
Sarah stepped down one stair.
"Then talk to me."
Lauren looked at her.
The haughty confidence from Christmas dinner was gone, but it had been replaced by something colder.
"Fine. I'm sorry I grabbed her wrist too hard."
Sarah waited.
Lauren's mouth tightened.
"And I'm sorry you panicked."
"Stop."
Sarah's voice was quiet.
Lauren blinked.
"What?"
"That second sentence erased the first one."
Their mother moved between them slightly.
"Sarah, she is trying."
Sarah turned toward her.
"No, Mom. You are trying to make this end. That is different."
Lauren folded her arms.
"What do you want from me, exactly?"
"I want you to understand that when I say no about my child, the answer is no."
Lauren looked away.
"I want you to understand that grabbing a six-month-old because you are annoyed is not something I am going to laugh off."
"I said I was sorry."
"You said you were sorry I reacted."
Lauren's face hardened.
"You always need to be right."
James finally spoke.
"This is not about winning."
Lauren turned toward him.
"Of course you would say that. You have been trying to isolate her from us for years."
Sarah's mother whispered, "Lauren."
But Lauren kept going.
"He gets to decide who comes near the baby, who gets invited, who gets cut off."
Sarah stared at her sister.
"That is not true."
Lauren gave a humorless smile.
"Ask him what he told Dad last night."
Sarah looked at James.
His expression remained composed, but something changed in his eyes.
Lauren saw it and stepped back toward the sidewalk.
"Exactly."
Sarah's mother looked confused.
"What did you tell David?"
James answered Sarah, not them.
"I told your father we would not bring Emma to family events where Lauren is present unless we can trust that our boundaries will be respected."
Sarah absorbed the sentence.
Lauren lifted both hands.
"See? An ultimatum."
James turned to her.
"A limit. There is a difference."
Sarah looked at him.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you had just put Emma to bed, and I was going to tell you this morning."
Lauren smiled again, sensing the smallest crack.
"He made a family decision without you."
Sarah's stomach tightened.
For one second, the entire argument shifted.
Then the front door behind James opened wider.
David stepped into the entryway holding his car keys.
Nobody had heard his truck pull in.
He looked at Lauren first.
"Enough," he said.
Lauren's face changed.
May you like
David walked onto the porch.
"If you are going to tell the story," he continued, "tell all of it."
