Page 81 of A Summoned Husband

Catalina sat at the table peeling potatoes.

Eden turned, squaring up with her as she pointed an accusing finger. “Are you sick?”

Lulu froze, her stirring paused and her back tensed. She stayed where she was, leaning over the pot as Eden leaned closer to Catalina.

The knife in her hand paused for a split second before she resumed her peeling. The slow drag of the knife under the skin, lifting paper-thin pieces from the potato was masterful.

“What are you going on about, Eden?” A scoff escaped her as she continued her task.

“Look at me, Abuela.”

She didn’t. Her eyes remained laser-focused on the potato in her hand.

None of the women in the room paid me much attention. Whatever fears they still harboured because I was a demon were forgotten. Nothing but tension filled the room as Lulu waited on baited breath and Eden and Catalina squared off. I stood in the doorway, watching the scene.

The taste of bile filled my mouth as a wave of something intense rippled through my chest. It made me feel hollowed out. Chilled from the inside. I looked over at Eden and watched her face transform as bitter sadness filled me.

“Abuela!”

The knife clattered to the table as she stood. The legs of her chair scraped against the wood as she tossed the potato into the pile of peelings. Her eyes were hard and though I didn’t fully understand the scope of mortal emotions, I could see they were filled with anger.

“Don’t push, Eden. I don’t have to answer to you.”

“Don’t you?” Her eyes glassed over. “You were just not going to tell me? If I hadn’t gotten into this mess with Asmodeus you two would have just kept me in the dark about all this, wouldn’t you? I should have known something was up. You two are best friends but you’re always together lately. Were you taking care of her, Gran?”

Lulu finally moved as she set down the wooden spoon in hand and turned on her stool. “You fixate on everything, Eden. No matter what we told you, it would never be enough. You’d want more of everything. More information. More tests. More… time. Catalina didn’t want to spend what time she had left appeasing your every whim. We’ve lived long lives. Raised our children and then our grandchild. She has every right to live for herself now.”

Eden’s eyes widened and an indescribable pain moved through my chest. It was a cracking. A breaking that stole my breath. It moved through the whole of me. A surge of weakness I couldn’t fight against.

Her legs gave out and she sunk into a chair. “What is it?”

Catalina stared. She stood with a strength neither Eden nor myself currently possessed. Her emotions rendered me almost useless as I leaned against the door frame, unable to do anything but watch. Her eyes moved to Lulu before she sat too, her hands toying with the pile of peels.

“Pancreatic cancer. Stage four,” Catalina finally admitted.

Eden’s lips quivered before tears rolled down her face. “When?”

Lulu abandoned her pot. She stepped from the stool and took the chair next to Catalina, wrapping her hand around hers to still them. “We found out three months ago.”

“Three months…” Eden’s voice was this breathless sound of agony.

“She’d been having bad stomach pains…” Lulu tightened her hold on her hand.

“Is that why you two went on that cruise?” Eden asked.

Catalina grinned. “I always wanted to go on one. We saved and saved after your father died because we weren’t sure your mother—”

“But you always did so well,” Lulu interrupted. “You worked and pinched pennies. You barely let us use anything we saved for your future so we figured we might as well use that money to make Catalina happy.”

“So you were just going to what? Tell me at the funeral?” Eden shook her head. Her face was a mask of indifference but I could feel the ache in her chest.

I hated it.

What I would endure to steal this feeling from her if I could instead of merely sharing it.

“Eden… baby, try to understand.” Catalina’s eyes glassed over. “It wasn’t that we were keeping a secret from you maliciously, it was just that I couldn’t spend what little time I had left placating you instead of being happy.”

Her nod was jerky as her tears collected on her chin. “Right.”