I turned to look at Julia.
"Is what he said true?"
She wouldn't meet my eyes.
"It's all in the past. Why bring it up now?"
Watching her, my throat went tight.
When Julia was chasing me, I knew she'd been divorced. And I'd told her plainly that I didn't want to step into a relationship that wasn't over.
She'd held my hand and said the divorce was because she and her ex had no feelings left, that there was simply no way to keep it going.
She said from then on she'd only ever be good to me, wholeheartedly.
So it turned out her so-called "wholehearted" meant making me give up my place to her ex-husband.
All at once I felt ridiculous.
"So you lied to me."
Julia shot me an impatient look.
"That was ages ago. Why keep dragging it up?"
"I'm married to you now, we have a child, and you insist on clinging to the past. What's the point?"
"The reason Dudley and I divorced is complicated. It can't be explained in one sentence. But my feelings for you—"
Janice suddenly clutched her chest and slumped onto the couch.
"Dudley, I don't feel right."
Dudley let out a cry and lunged over to hold her up.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
Janice gasped, struggling for breath.
"Julia, don't blame your husband."
"He's just become a father. The pressure's a lot. It's normal for his temper to be short."
"I'll go. I'll go right now. I can't have the two of you divorcing over me."
Julia panicked and rounded on me.
"Happy now?"
"If you push her into a real health problem, can you carry that?"
I picked up my phone.
"Since it's this serious, I'll call an ambulance."
"She should go to the hospital for an ECG and blood work. No sense delaying."
A flicker of alarm crossed Janice's eyes.
"No need."
"My condition is always like this. A little rest and it passes."
I opened the dial pad.
"That won't do."
"If something really is wrong, who takes the blame?"
"This is the perfect chance for a full workup, and the doctor can decide whether she truly needs absolute quiet."
Dudley snatched the phone out of my hand.
"Julius Swanson, what are you getting at?"
"Are you saying my mother's faking?"
"I didn't say it. You did."
Janice clutched her chest at once and let her body slide toward the floor.
"I don't want to live anymore."
"Living under someone else's roof, and getting humiliated like this on top of it."
"Julia, take me home. At least if I die in my own house it'll be clean."
Dudley raised his hand and swung it at my face.
"If anything happens to my mother, I'm not done with you!"
Before the slap landed, my mother caught his wrist.
"Don't you dare bully my son!"
Julia rushed over and shoved my mother.
"Mom, Dudley's just worried about his own mother. Can you stop making trouble!"
My mother lost her footing, and the back of her head slammed into the wall.
She didn't make a sound. She just dropped to the floor.
"Mom!"
I threw myself down and gathered her up.
Her eyes were shut, and no matter how I called her, she didn't respond.
Julia froze, then took a step forward.
"Is she—"
But behind her Dudley was sobbing:
"Julia, my mom's passed out!"
Julia turned back at once and propped Janice up.
"It's okay, I'll get you to the hospital."
I gripped the hem of her clothes and wouldn't let go.
"My mother's hurt too. Take her with you!"
Julia shook my hand off.
"Your mother does that much work every day, she's perfectly healthy. Don't take a page from other people and fake it for sympathy."
"Move, now!"
"If anything happens to her, neither you nor your mother can answer for it!"
With that, she and Dudley took Janice up on either side and hurried out of the house.
