Free FAMILY FALLACIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series #3) by Kassandra Lamb Page B

“At my parents. I did what you said not to do
yet. I confronted them.”
    “What happened?” Kate’s
voice was gentle.
    “I know you said to
wait, you know, until we had more information and then I could make a rational
decision about how I wanted to deal with them. But my mother...” Audrey shook
her head in disgust. “She insisted I bring Alicia over in her Halloween costume
before I took her trick or treating. When we got there, she had this big dinner
ready. I told her we’d already eaten and we needed to get going, in order to
trick or treat before Alicia’s bedtime. She started in with the guilt-tripping
and then my father started telling me what an ingrate I was, and I just lost
it.
    “I started yelling,
‘You wanna know what I have to be grateful for, Dad? Well I’m back in therapy,
thanks to you. I’m spending hundreds of dollars of my husband’s hard-earned pay
every month, thanks to you, either you or that creepy brother of yours!’
    “Somewhere during my
tirade, my mother took Alicia into the kitchen, so when my father kept
insisting that I tell him what the hell I was talking about, I did. I told him
about the memories, which of course he denied. Said I had a lively imagination,
or maybe I’d been watching too many soap operas when I should be cleaning the
house.”
    Audrey paused for
breath. Tears were trickling down her cheeks. She gave them an irritated swipe
with the heel of her hand.
    After a moment, Kate
gently prompted, “Then what happened?”
    “I yelled, ‘Of course,
Dad, because I’m stupid and lazy as well as an ingrate,’ and I went in
the kitchen and got Alicia. I told her to say goodbye to her grandmom. Mother
must have realized I meant forever, because she chased us all the way to the
car, yelling at me to come back and be reasonable.”
    Kate allowed a bit of a
pause to make sure Audrey had finished her story. Then she said softly, “How
are you feeling about them at this point?” She was concerned about the effect
the whole scene may have had on Alicia but decided to come back to that.
    Audrey thought for a
moment. Finally she said, “I think something shifted inside after all that.
It’s like the last few threads that were tying me to them had broken. I
actually forgot about it for awhile, when we were trick or treating, and when I
was telling Ted what happened later, I was crying a little but then I realized
I felt lighter inside, like some burden had been lifted.”
    “A sense of freedom?”
    “Yeah, exactly! But I
feel bad for not following your advice, Kate.”
    Kate ignored the
apology for the moment. “Do you really want to never see them again? That’s not
just something you felt in the heat of the moment?”
    “Nope, I’m done. I have
absolutely no desire, no need to ever be around them again.”
    “What about your sister
and brother? What if they take sides?” These were the questions Kate would have
preferred to have asked before Audrey had confronted her parents.
    Her client thought
again for a moment. “You know, if they side with the old man and Mother, then
the hell with them too.”
    “That makes you an
orphan, with no family.”
    “Sorry, all I can drum
up at that thought is relief.” Audrey was actually starting to smile. “Some
families you’re better off without. Besides, I do have a family. Ted and Alicia
are my family, and I get along good with his folks and sibs.”
    “Then no harm, no
foul,” Kate said. “You jumped the gun a bit, but it sounds like it’s ended up
being a therapeutic experience overall. I’m a bit concerned about how Alicia
might be taking this, however.”
    They spent the next few
minutes discussing the best way to handle the little girl’s reaction and the
inevitable questions she would ask about why she wasn’t seeing her grandparents
anymore.
    Then Audrey raised
another issue. “I suspect you’re not going to like this idea, Kate, but I’m
thinking about suing them.”
    “In court?” Kate