The Marriage by K.L. Slater (any book recommendations TXT) 📕

‘What’s happened?’ My fingers fluttered to my throat. We’d had some behavioural problems with Ellis about a year ago. They’d had a ‘father and son day’ at school last autumn and he’d got quite down about the fact he’d never known his dad. He said some of the other boys made nasty comments and he’d reacted by bunking off lessons or asking to use the bathroom and then not returning to class. Mrs Cresswell, the head, was very understanding and got Ellis some help from the school counsellor. But it sounded like he’d started his old tricks again.

‘Is someone bothering him?’ I asked, feeling knotted up inside. I’d love to go down there and bang some heads together.

‘Ellis has been picking on a new boy.’

‘Bullying him, you mean?’

‘Not directly, he got another boy to do it. Very nasty, actually, and it has to stop.’ Coral looked resolved. ‘You might as well know, I’ve spoken to both Mrs Cresswell and the school counsellor. They agree that for now, it might be best if I protect Ellis from your new relationship with Tom. It’s too much for him to deal with, Bridget.’

‘Oh really?’ I felt heat rising inside me. Coral and the school talking about my business and how it might be affecting Ellis. ‘Protect him how, exactly? We’re married, and everybody has to deal with that, including Ellis.’

‘I think you’re rushing Ellis. It’s too much, too soon, and it’s started to affect him at school.’

‘You don’t know that! None of you do, it’s guesswork.’

Coral hesitated. ‘I don’t want to fall out about this, Bridget, but I think it’s best Ellis has a break from coming here. For a little while.’

‘No way.’ I slammed a hand down on the arm of the sofa. ‘Ellis can handle it if only you’d stop treating him like a five-year-old. I’ll have another chat with him; leave it with me.’

‘That’s the point, though, he can’t handle it. His behaviour proves that. It’s too much pressure for him. He acts tough, but he’s just a kid.’

‘In your opinion! I don’t need to remind you that I can and will make your life difficult if I have to.’

Coral remained infuriatingly calm, which wasn’t like her at all. One threat of removing the privileges I paid for and she was usually sucking up to me big-time. Not today.

‘You marrying Tom has made everything so complicated. Why can’t you admit that? Whether you like it or not, Ellis needs a little space.’

Everything I had been through, the effort it had taken to claw my way out of the black bog that had threatened to finish me when Jesse died … there was no way I was going to let Coral McKinty dictate to me. She and Jesse had only been dating a year when he died, and as far as I knew, it hadn’t been a serious relationship. If it hadn’t been for the fact she was pregnant with Ellis, I’d happily never have seen her again.

‘It’s not at all complicated, Coral; it’s actually very easy. Ellis is my grandson and there will never be a time when I tell him to stay away from his home.’ I waved a hand around the room. ‘That’s what this place is. Ellis’s home.’

‘No, this is your home, Bridget. Yours and Tom’s. Ellis’s home is with me. I’m his mother, remember?’

‘Do not continue with this, because if you do, you will lose. I guarantee you that.’

She was mocking in her response. ‘Oh, let me guess. You’re about to remind me how you pay my rent and allocate me an allowance each month.’

I burned with resentment at her bare-faced ingratitude. ‘All of that is true.’

‘Don’t you think I know that?’ she yelled. ‘I think about it every day because you never let me forget it. But enough is enough. You think slipping me the odd few quid gives you the right to speak to me like dirt. Well, soon I’m not going to need your money.’

She sucked air in as if she’d let out something she shouldn’t. The words hung in the air.

‘And why’s that then? Are you going to actually get yourself a full-time job like the rest of us instead of a few hours in that crappy restaurant?’

‘That’s a low blow!’ she hissed. ‘I’d lose my benefits if I did more hours.’

‘Maybe. But there’s no reason you can’t work and support yourself. You’re not ill and Ellis is fairly self-sufficient now.’

She hesitated. ‘Yes, I’m getting a full-time job.’ She was a terrible liar. Fidgeting, blinking too fast. All the signs were there. ‘I want you to stop treating Ellis like he’s your son, not mine.’

‘He’s one step away from it.’ I took great pains to keep calm when it would have been easy to throw her out of the house. ‘Ellis is all I have left of Jesse, and he isn’t yours to take away.’

Coral’s face lost its fury and her voice softened, almost to a plea. ‘Look, I want to live my own life, Bridget. One where you’re not looking over my shoulder, telling me how to raise my son. Dictating what I should do and how to do it when it comes to Ellis. You’ve put me off dating for years because you don’t want another man around him, and then you bring Tom into his life. How hypocritical is that? I want a life!’

‘Well, let me help you with that,’ I snapped back. ‘Have your life, and you can fund it yourself too.’

‘Fine!’ she said tartly. ‘It’s time I stood on my own two feet anyway. I’m sick to death of your charity.’ She seemed to stand up straighter as she drew on some hidden reserve of confidence. ‘Whether you like it or not, Ellis won’t be coming around here for a while. He doesn’t cope well with being in the same vicinity as Tom. He’s told me about you sending Tom to school