Chapter 3 - Mark Finally Looked Afraid
Sarah accused Mark first.
It was ugly.
"You took it."
"I didn't."
"You knew where it was."
"So did you."
"Nobody else goes into our bedroom."
Mark stared at her.
Then his eyes shifted toward the hallway.
Sarah saw it.
"What?"
He didn't answer.
"Mark."
"My dad has a key."
Sarah felt something inside her go completely still.
"A key to our house?"
"For emergencies."
"Since when?"
"Years."
"How many years?"
"Before we were married."
Sarah stared at her husband.
"You've been married to me for fourteen years, and your father has had a key to our home the entire time?"
"I forgot."
"No. You decided it didn't matter."
Mark stood.
"Don't turn this into something else."
Sarah laughed without humor.
"It's already something else."
They changed the locks.
Walter noticed within forty-eight hours.
That meant he had tried the key.
He called Mark.
Sarah heard one side of the conversation.
"Because Sarah wanted them changed."
Pause.
"No, Dad."
Pause.
"I don't know."
Pause.
"I said I don't know."
When Mark hung up, Sarah asked, "What did he say?"
"He said you're isolating me."
Sarah stared at him.
"And what did you say?"
"Nothing."
That hurt more than she expected.
Three days later, Jenna showed up unexpectedly.
She carried wine.
Sarah almost laughed when she saw it.
"You look like someone planning an intervention."
Jenna gave a weak smile.
"Maybe I am."
They sat at the kitchen island.
Mark was working late.
Lucy was upstairs.
Jenna twisted the stem of her glass.
"Dad has always done this."
Sarah waited.
"Done what?"
"Made people look unstable when they stopped obeying him."
Sarah's heart began to pound.
Jenna looked toward the stairs.
"When I was twenty-two, I moved in with a boyfriend Dad hated."
"What happened?"
"He called my employer and told them I had a drinking problem."
Sarah stared.
"Did you?"
"No."
Jenna laughed bitterly.
"He found one picture from college where I was holding a beer."
"What did your employer do?"
"Nothing. But then my landlord got a complaint about drugs."
"From Walter?"
"I couldn't prove it."
Jenna's eyes hardened.
"Then my boyfriend's mother received an anonymous envelope containing copies of my old therapy bills."
Sarah felt sick.
"How did Walter have those?"
"He'd paid for therapy when I was seventeen."
Sarah leaned back.
"Why didn't Mark tell me any of this?"
"Because Mark survived Dad differently."
"What does that mean?"
Jenna looked at her.
"He learned to agree until the danger passed."
Sarah thought about every family argument.
Every time Mark had said:
Just ignore him.
It isn't worth it.
He'll calm down.
Don't make it worse.
Those weren't excuses.
They were survival habits.
"Why is Walter doing this to me now?" Sarah asked.
Jenna didn't answer immediately.
Then she said, "Because you told him no."
Sarah frowned.
"When?"
"Last summer."
The lake house.
Sarah remembered.
Walter had suggested Lucy spend an entire month with him while Sarah and Mark worked.
Sarah refused.
Walter smiled and said she was overprotective.
Then he asked Lucy directly.
Sarah had pulled him aside and told him never to undermine her parenting again.
Walter had answered with six words.
We'll see how long that lasts.
May you like
Sarah had forgotten them.
Now she couldn't.
