The Last Hour (Thompson Sisters) by Sheehan-Miles, Charles (reading well .txt) 📕

her face. She looked back and forth between us as we approached. Like her husband and son, she was a tall woman, though nowhere near my height. Every time I saw her, she wore elegant, expensive clothes, but three seasons out of date.

“Is Ray okay? What’s going on?”

We came to a stop in front of her, and Dylan said, “Can we talk for a few minutes, Mrs. Sherman? Is Ray’s dad here?”

“Just tell me what’s happening.”

He took a breath as if girding himself for a fight, and said, “The Army picked up Ray this morning. He’s been called back to active duty.”

She blanched.

“Maybe we should go sit down,” Dylan said.

He took her arm, and the three of us entered the apartment. Mrs. Sherman staggered into one of the seats at the kitchen table, and I said, “Can I get you some water?”

She nodded. “Thank you, Carrie.”

I quickly got the water for her and sat down.

“How could the Army call him back to active duty? Tell me what’s happening. Why hasn’t he called?”

Dylan closed his eyes then asked, “Has Ray told you anything about why the Army and FBI have been questioning him?”

She shook her head. “Almost nothing. He said he reported a crime in Afghanistan, but wouldn’t go into any detail.”

Dylan frowned, met my eyes, and turned back to her. “Mrs. Sherman, Ray witnessed a war crime. It sounds like they’re pulling him on active duty to ensure he’s available to testify when and if they have a court-martial.”

She sagged in her seat and then whispered, “Michael is at the restaurant this morning. Should I call him?”

Dylan shook his head. “There’s nothing to be done right now. This may drag on for months.”

I said, “I’m pretty sure the battery in his phone is dead, or he would have called.”

She gave me a dismissive look, then turned to Dylan. I kept my mouth shut, and put my hands in my lap, where the table blocked her view of me clenching my fists. This wasn’t the first time she’d been rude to me, in at least a couple of instances inexcusably so. But right now, given the circumstances, I was going to let this go.

Until, a few minutes later, she said, “I suppose I should call Laura and let her know.”

Dylan blinked. “Ray’s ex? They broke up years ago.”

The tension that ran down my spine right then almost caused a back spasm. Maybe she was just being protective of her little boy. Maybe she was playing some catty game, trying to put me in my place. But I was left with no doubt that her intention was to hurt when her eyes darted to me, then back to Dylan, and she said, “Yes, but they’ve been close friends since middle school.”

Dylan looked confused and said, “I don’t think Ray would thank you for that.”

I stood up. “Excuse me, I need to get some air. Dylan, I’ll meet you in the car.”

Kate Sherman stood up, her eyes cold, and said, “Are you sure you can’t stay?”

“I’m quite sure.”

“Perhaps we should exchange numbers.”

As distasteful as it was, she was right about that. So we did, and I got out of there as quickly as I could. Less than five minutes later, Dylan joined me in the car, and I pulled out of there faster than was safe or legal.

“What was all that about?” Dylan asked.

I shook my head. “No idea. But I wasn’t sticking around to listen to any more.”

“I can’t imagine what she was thinking. Ray hasn’t spoken with Laura in two years or more.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t about her at all. Ray’s mom doesn’t like me, for whatever reason, and she was just on autopilot.”

“Don’t let it get to you.”

“I’ve got more important things to worry about,” I said.

An hour later I had dropped Dylan off, and immediately headed out of town for the drive to Washington, DC. That was the last time I had seen or spoken with Ray’s parents before the hearing. I was tense now. I was worried about Sarah, in the ICU, and I was terrified for Ray, still in surgery. I didn’t think I was ready to deal with a hostile mother-in-law on top of all that.

It didn’t look like I was going to have much choice. And of course I would never do anything to keep her away from Ray. I just wished she would leave me alone. Somewhere along the line she’d missed the message that Ray and I were married, and that was a choice Ray had taken out of her hands.

And maybe, in the end, that was her problem. Maybe it had nothing to do with me at all. Maybe it was simply that Ray, first by joining the Army, and second by marrying me, had clearly taken his life in his own hands and out of hers.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Alexandra said.

I shrugged. “It feels selfish. But I’m dreading them getting here.”

“Sometimes I think dealing with in-laws is the worst.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What’s Dylan’s mom like?” At the moment, Dylan was sitting a few seats down from us, leaning back against the wall, eyes closed, mouth open.

She gave me a rueful smile. “Aside from blaming me for his injury? She’s a real piece of work. I mean ... I admire her in some ways. She’s been through hell and back, and turned her life around. But at the same time ... she let Dylan go through hell for a lot of years before she finally straightened up. His childhood was a nightmare.”

I grimaced. “He’s come out of it pretty well.”

“Only through sheer force of will.”

Alexandra’s phone rang. She grabbed it out of her purse and answered it, then nodded and stood up. This was it. Ray’s parents were here. I stood too, and we walked to the door to the ICU, and she pressed the metal button on the wall to slide the doors open.

Michael and Kate Sherman walked through the door. Michael, Ray’s dad, stood a full six-foot eight