Lori set the kettle on to boil and found three mugs. A canister in the cupboard held the tea bags.
“Open your gift,” her mother said, handing her the package.
“You didn’t need to do this,” she said as she took the bag. The pink tissue paper inside was folded into peaks. Her mother had always been a stylish woman whose sense of elegance and beauty transformed everything around her. Since those early days of her marriage, Kate had learned how to cook, and every meal was as lovely to look at as it was to eat. Beauty had become her watchword in all things. Even now, dressed in slacks and a sweater with a rain jacket, Kate resembled a model. She was tall and slim and Lori had rarely seen her without perfect hair and makeup.
Lori wished she could be more like her mother, although she believed she’d inherited her interest in fashion from Kate.
“It’s just something small,” Kate murmured.
Lori pulled out the paper and discovered a handheld blender. She didn’t have one. “Oh, Mom, this is great. Thank you so much.”
“I love mine, and I hoped you hadn’t bought one yet.”
“No, I haven’t. You’re always so thoughtful.” She knew her father wouldn’t have approved of this. “Does Dad know you bought a gift for us?”
Her mother’s silence told her what she’d already figured out.
After an awkward moment, Kate raised her chin and announced, “Your father and I are no longer speaking.”
Lori sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. “You and Dad aren’t talking?” The kettle whistled and Linc removed it from the burner.
He went to stand behind Lori and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Does this have anything to do with Lori and me?” he asked.
Her mother looked at them, then nodded. “We all know your father is a stubborn man.”
Lori snickered. “That’s putting it mildly.”
“Once he gets an idea in his head, no one can convince him he’s wrong. No one.”
Lori studied her mother closely. Kate wasn’t an emotional woman but tears filled her eyes. She blinked them away.
“What happened, Mom?”
“When you phoned last month and told your father you were finished with the family…well, as you might assume, I got upset. I wasn’t about to lose my daughter.”
“Oh, Mom, I was just angry. I probably shouldn’t have said anything until I’d calmed down.” She did regret distressing her mother, who was invariably loving and supportive. Not only that, Kate had accepted Linc, despite Leonard’s decrees.
“Your father refuses to be reasonable. It makes no sense. He wasn’t a rich man when we met—he had to prove himself to my father and he did. Yet he won’t give Linc the same chance my family gave him.”
“It doesn’t surprise me that Dad’s being so unreasonable. He thinks he knows what’s best for me, but he doesn’t. I made a wise choice in my husband, and nothing Dad says or does is going to change my mind.” Lori reached up and pressed her hand on Linc’s.
Kate lowered her gaze. “After your call, your father said good riddance and he was cutting you out of the will.”
Lori laughed. This was a threat he’d made more than once through the years. She was tired of him holding that over her head, trying to manipulate her. “If that’s what he wants, Mom, I don’t care. I have everything I’ll ever need or want right here with Linc.”
Her husband bent forward and kissed the top of her head.
“I told your father he was being ridiculous and that if he cut you out of the will, I was leaving.” She paused and inhaled deeply. “Unfortunately, he didn’t believe me.”
“Mom?” Lori wasn’t sure what her mother was saying. “Are you telling me—”
Her mother cut her off. “Your father called our attorney and, while he was talking to Matt, I packed my bag. He thought I was just making a point and that I’d be back the next morning.”
“You’re not with Dad?” If she hadn’t already been sitting, Lori would have collapsed into a chair from shock.
“Like I said, your father and I are no longer talking. Or…living together.”
“Where are you living?” Linc asked.
“With my sister.”
“Aunt Hilary?” Lori asked.
Kate nodded. “My sister’s a widow,” she explained to Linc, “and the two of us have been enjoying ourselves.”
“What about Dad?” Lori asked. Her father relied on Kate for everything. Lori couldn’t imagine him surviving one day on his own, let alone weeks.
“I wouldn’t know,” Kate said, her back straight and her chin raised. “That’s his concern.”
“You haven’t had any contact with him?”
“None.”
Undoubtedly her father blamed Linc for this, too, along with everything else. “Is there anything I can do for you, Mom?” Lori asked. She felt dreadful that things had deteriorated this far.
“For me?” Kate repeated. “Good grief, no. As I said, your father is being completely unreasonable. I’ve stood by him all these years, backed him even when I disagreed, but this time he went too far.”
“Oh, Mom, I feel awful.”
“Why should you? Anyone who spends half an hour with Linc knows he’s everything you said. Even more apparent is how much he loves you. While your father might not like Linc because he isn’t some high-priced attorney or bank president, he should be grateful our daughter’s found a man who loves her and makes her happy.”
Lori couldn’t have put it any better herself. “I am happy married to Linc. Happier than I ever imagined.”