A Small Fortune by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella [Ferrarella, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Gloria McCafferty silently appraised her only daughter the next morning when Marnie, still somewhat bleary-eyed, made her way into the kitchen.

Frowning to herself, the older woman shook her head. “Well, you look like hell,” she said, not without some concern.

Marnie went straight to the coffee machine and poured herself a full cup of steaming coffee. “Thank you, Mother,” she replied only after taking her first long, life-affirming sip of the brew. “And good morning to you, too.”

Gloria sighed to herself as she placed a serving of scrambled eggs and toast—Marnie’s favorite—in front of her daughter.

Anyone looking at the mother felt as if they were getting a preview of what the daughter would look like in another two decades. They had the same light brown hair—Gloria wore hers shorter—and the same chocolate-brown, expressive eyes.

And right now Gloria’s eyes were not pleased.

The landlord of the apartment building Marnie had been living in until two months ago had suddenly announced that the building was going co-op. Unable to find new living quarters immediately—or come up with the down payment necessary to buy in to the apartment she’d been happily living in for the last four years—Marnie had reluctantly opted to temporarily move back in with her mother.

She’d done it more or less in self-defense. After her mother had initially extended the invitation, she’d prefaced each conversation they’d had with a strongly voiced invitation until Marnie had agreed to the arrangement out of exhaustion.

Temporarily, she’d emphasized.

It wasn’t that she didn’t love her mother; she did. Dearly. But there was nothing that made her feel as if she was twelve years old again faster than living in her mother’s house and sleeping in her old bedroom with her old teddy bear looking down on her from his perch atop the bookcase.

“I thought I heard you arguing with someone last night,” Gloria said, deciding the direct approach was the best one to use rather than looking for a subtle way to broach the subject.

She took a seat across from her daughter at the kitchen table, her coffee mug serving as a place holder. “Who were you talking to?” she wanted to know.

“Nobody,” Marnie answered. Her mother continued eyeing her skeptically. The woman had missed her calling, Marnie thought. She should be been an interrogator for some law-enforcement agency. She would undoubtedly have made a good one. “I guess I must have been talking in my sleep,” she finally added, hoping that was enough to table the matter.

She should have known better.

“Sounded extremely coherent for talking in your sleep,” Gloria commented. “Sure you weren’t on the phone with that man?”

It was Marnie’s turn to frown. She had no idea what her mother was talking about. “What man?”

“That man,” Gloria repeated, stressing the second word, as if that would unlock the puzzle. “You know, the father of that little boy you were telling me about. The one you’re always going over to babysit for until all hours.”

“I came home late only once, Mother,” Marnie pointed out.

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