82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnmNw2Mf7W
Liam wasn't sure what to expect when he stepped into the cafe the next afternoon, but he didn't expect to be hugged into the middle of next week by an older woman who seemed intent on squashing him half to death. By the time he managed to wrestle his way clear of her smothering embrace, he felt as if half his ribs had been cracked. "The hell?" he demanded, smoothing his mussed hair. That's when he saw the younger woman - Kate, his birth mother - zeroing in on him. Rather than risk a repeat performance, Liam held up his hand to forestall her. She sniffed, but stayed where she was.
"I'm not surprised you won't hug your own mother," she said, her eyes glittering in malice as she directed a baleful stare at Iseult, standing protectively behind her son. "I suppose she has filled your mind with all sorts of poison against me."82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrdl0ay5dId
"She is my mam," Liam said firmly. "You can at least have the manners to call her by her name."82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhIi1Bbsdu
The older woman gasped, and Liam's head rang like a struck bell. By the time he'd recovered his spinning senses, Iseult had planted herself between them. "The hell is wrong with you?" she demanded. "You should know better than to strike your grandson!"
The older woman - Liam's grandmother - sniffed. "He should show respect to his elders," she said. "I suppose that's another thing you didn't see fit to teach him!"
"That's it," Iseult said angrily. "This meeting is off. I should've known better than to trust you and your daughter to act like civilsed human beings."
"And deny me the chance to see my son?" Kate said, looking as if she were ready to do murder. "How typical. You smother my son and then deny him the chance to see his own mother."
Liam finally found the courage to speak. "I've seen enough," he said angrily, glaring at his birth mother and grandmother. "Mam was right to keep you away from me."
His grandmother looked ready to belt him again, but Kate intervened. "Fine," she said coldly, glaring at Iseult with enough malice to send a shiver down Liam's spine. "But don't think this is over, you whore. I will see my son without you hovering over him like a helicopter. And by God, I will make you pay for all the lies you filled his head with! He's my son, and your bitch of a mother had no right to take him away from me!"
"You'll see Liam on his own over my dead body," Iseult snapped. But before Kate or her mother could react, the cafe owner finally showed up, having been alerted to the ruckus by several worried patrons. Much to Liam's relief, the owner sided with him and his mother, and it was Kate and her mother - Nora, her name was - who were kindly but firmly asked to leave. They did so begrudgingly, and once they were gone, Iseult turned to her stunned son with the aura of a battle-weary soldier being called into conflict once more. "And that," she said, "is why I didn't want you seeing your birth mother in the first place."
82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzhM9VBFLQ
82Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisrzbaphAw
