No Longer Anyone’s Accessory Chapter 24
The day before I flew back to London.
I drove out to my parents’ place in San Jose.
Mom answered the door. She went still for a beat at the sight of me, then hauled me inside in a single motion.
“You come all the way back and don’t say a word! I’d have driven out to the airport to get you, no question!”
“No need for that.”
I stepped into the living room. Dad was on the sofa with the newspaper. A thin scar still marked the spot on his forehead where the cut had been. He set the paper aside when I came in.
“Daughter.”
“Dad.”
I settled onto the cushion beside him.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine, fine. Don’t pay any mind to your mother’s fussing. It was just a scratch.”
Mom emerged from the kitchen with a plate of sliced fruit and took the seat on my other side.
“Corinne. You and Trevor…”
“It’s done. Final judgment. Signed.”
Mom’s fingers stalled for a moment. Dad, though, stayed perfectly calm. He gave a single nod.
“Should’ve been done long ago.”
“The house is mine. He still owes me close to three million on top of it.”
Mom’s mouth opened, then shut again.
“Close to three million? Where’s he going to find that kind of money?”
“That’s his problem, not mine.”
“And what about you? What are you going to do now, going forward? A woman on her own —”
“Mom.”
I looked at her.
“That research project I’m running in London — it produced a major patent licensing deal.”
“What patent?”
“A targeted oncology compound. It’s worth a great deal.”
“How much?”
“Enough that I’ll never have to think about money again for the rest of my life.”
Mom didn’t push for a figure. That wasn’t what she cared about. She only cared about me.
“You’re all by yourself over there. A mother worries.”
“I can look after myself, Mom. I carried this whole household’s bills alone for three years, didn’t I?”
Mom’s eyes went red.
Dad reached over and laid a hand on my shoulder. Heavy.
“Daughter. Dad’s sorry. That money for the surgery, back then —”
“Dad. None of that was ever your fault.”
“Dad was useless. You were flat on your back in a hospital bed, and all Dad could do was stand there and watch. Made you run yourself ragged all over the place just to scrape the money together.”
“Dad.”
I turned to face him full on.
“You and Mom raised me. Put me through school. Sent me to Stanford. You made me into someone who can stand firm on her own two feet. That’s the most valuable thing anyone has ever given me.”
Dad turned his face away. Something caught the light at the corner of his eye. He wouldn’t let it fall.
Mom tugged at my sleeve from the side.
“That old witch Ursula. She’s not going to come crawling back, is she?”
“No. She’s staring down federal fraud charges and loan-shark collectors. She’s completely finished.”
“What happened?”
“Forged signatures on illegal loans.”
Mom was quiet a moment, then let out a soft sigh.
“Karma.”
“None of it has anything to do with us anymore.”
After dinner, I washed the dishes alongside my mom. Standing at the kitchen sink, hot water running through my fingers. I’d made this exact motion countless times. In this house. And in that other, suffocating house with Trevor. But this time there was no man out in the living room grinding through a video game, waiting to be waited on. There was only Mom, right beside me, holding out the dish towel.
“Mom. I fly to London tomorrow.”
“So soon?”
“The project isn’t finished yet.”
“So… when will you be back after that?”
“Once the patent business is wrapped up. Two or three months, most likely. I’ll take you and Dad to Europe.”
“Where to?”
“Wherever the two of you want to go.”
Mom thought it over.
“Your dad and I have never once been to Paris.”
“Then Paris it is. And after that, you both come to London. I’ll show you where I work.”
My mom smiled. The wrinkles all bunched together. But that smile was truly beautiful.
