THAT NIGHT, AS KATE parked up the driveway, she turned to look in the backseat. Adam was fast asleep. He was her pride, her joy, her love. Kate rubbed her weary eyes before she slowly opened the door and unbuckled the car seat to carry him in.
“Is he asleep?”
Kate nearly jumped. She hadn’t expected Helen to be in the living room. The last time they’d argued, Helen had barricaded herself in her bedroom—pushing the bed against the door, the dresser, and everything else that wasn’t bound to the floor. But that night, Helen sat on the sofa, calm...perhaps even timid and meek. Kate nodded. “I’ll take him up to his room and put him to bed.”
When she went back down, Helen was waiting for her.
“Kate, can we talk?” Helen asked.
Kate studied her mother. “I’m really not in the mood to talk about
