Page 2 of Their Wicked Ways
It was a birth announcement. My chest squeezed when I saw the name.
“Jett?” Aunt Tabby asked softly.
“Naomi had a baby.” I handed her the announcement. “A girl.”
She looked at the glossy card and passed it to Marilyn so she could see it.
“Guess that answers the question of whether my ex-wife married the guy she cheated on me with.” I forced out a laugh.
“Jett—” Marilyn started.
“Whatever.” I cut her off. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m done with all of them.”
My aunts exchanged a look.
“Whatever,” I repeated. “Good for her.”
My feelings about my divorce and my ex-wife were complicated. After everything that had happened, leaving had been my only option. I knew that, but I hadn’t been prepared for how hard it would be to lose my entire family and support network because I dared put myself and my happiness first.
“Do you want to read that now?” Tabby nodded to the letter I was still clutching.
“Might as well.” Unfolding the page, I skimmed it, reading fast in my haste to get it over with.
When I was done, I stared at the page blankly. Anger, hurt, and a bone-deep sorrow warred inside me as disjointed thoughts raced through my mind.
“Jett?” Aunt Tabby asked gently. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Nothing to talk about.” I pushed aside the wall of emotions building inside me. “It’s basically a newsletter blast, the kind you’d send everyone on your email list. This is how I find out that my sister is pregnant again and one of my brothers is engaged. A generic letter she probably sent to dozens of people.”
My aunts exchanged another look.
“She didn’t even ask how I was doing. NoI miss you. NoI love you. No concern for me whatsoever. More than a year of radio silence, and she breaks it to send me a damn birth announcement to tell me my ex-wife has moved on?” Angrily, I crumpled the letter into a tiny ball. “Why would she do that if she wasn’t trying to hurt me? I don’t need to know this. I don’twantto know this. But she went out of her way to tell me anyway. What mother does that? Does she even care about me at all?”
I’d asked that question a million times in my life, and my answer always came back as a no. She loved me in the sense that it was her duty to love her children, but that love came with conditions, and I was done with all of it.
“Whatever.” I shoved the ruined letter at Marilyn. “Can you get rid of this? And that damn announcement?”
She took them with a silent nod.
Tabby’s expression was sad. “I’m sorry you have to deal with this. My sister can be…headstrong when she believes something.”
“That’s a nice way of saying she’s a bully who tries to bend people to her will.” Drawing in a deep breath, I let it out in a shaky exhale. I needed to get control. It wasn’t their fault my mother didn’t love me. “But whatever. It is what it is.”
“Are you okay?” Marilyn asked. “I’m sorry. I should have waited to give you the letter.”
“It’s not your fault. You didn’t know I was going out. And I’m fine. It’s just a letter. I’m over it.”
They exchanged another look.
“I need to finish getting ready.” I took a step back, moving up a stair. “It’s fine,” I repeated.
“Do you need anything before you go out?” Tabby asked.
“I’m good.” I moved up another stair. “Thanks.”
When they didn’t say anything, I turned on my heel and rushed to my room. Closing the door behind me, I stood in front of my mirror, barely seeing my reflection.
Loneliness and hurt took over from my earlier anger, and a strange sort of apathy settled over me.