My mother stared at me.
One word.
That was all it took to make the room colder.
“No?” she repeated.
“I can pay for breakfast somewhere and bus fare to the county family office,” I said. “I can help Elowen call places. I can watch the kids for a few hours today after my exam. I am not paying for the motel.”
Maura rose from the table.
“Your nieces and nephews slept on a floor last night.”
“They slept safely,” I said. “Because a stranger gave them more kindness than their own adults planned for.”
Her face went red.
“You selfish little girl.”
Mr. Gideon looked up from his newspaper.
“Careful,” he said.
Maura ignored him.
“You sit here in this nice warm house, eating roast chicken every Sunday, playing pretend family with a man who is not even blood, and you refuse to help your own sister’s babies?”
