Beachcombing in the Bahamas (Once Again #11)

Chapter 14 – Adeline

14

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ADELINE

“ Y our brother is ignoring me,” I drawl.

Trevor shoots me a sideways glance as he drives. I’m almost positive that is a smirk on his face. He drives competently enough. When I got in the car, it wasn’t even a question that I should take the front seat and Lorna the back. After all, I’m his mother. She’s just the wife.

“You’re being ridiculous,” he says. “Brock isn’t ignoring you.” I hear a sigh puff from his lips, as if he’s humoring me.

“He hasn’t spent a moment with me on this island other than mealtimes. He didn’t go shopping the other day. And he didn’t want to go for a drive today.” And I need to know why, though it wouldn’t do to say that aloud.

“He’s here to enjoy time with the boys, Mother.”

Trevor has a certain way of saying Mother . As if he doesn’t mean it as a term of respect, but one of sarcasm. Mostly he calls me by my name, which I prefer. Especially when he uses Mother in that tone. A mother has favorites. It doesn’t make her a bad person or a terrible mother. And Trevor is my least favorite. Perhaps because he was the last of my children. By that time, Harris and I were completely at odds. I’m not sure how we even spawned Trevor. Perhaps I’d had too much to drink one night.

“He’s spent enough time with them,” I snap. “And they’re doing young-people activities. Honestly.” I would roll my eyes like one of my granddaughters, but that is beneath me. “I mean, really, horseback riding, zip lining, sliding down waterfalls?”

Trevor says, without even having the nerve to look at me, “If Lorna wasn’t pregnant, we’d both be out there doing those fun young-people things too. And you’d be all by yourself.”

If he were still a child, I’d smack his bottom for such impudence. As it had been when I was a child, I instructed all the nannies not to hold back. Unfortunately, Trevor had been an exceptionally good boy and never received a spanking. Unlike Pierce, who always tempted a spanking. The thought makes me smile. He’d been such an incorrigible child. I admired that about him. It reminded me of myself when I was a girl.

But all I say is, “They could at least choose group activities that are designed for older adults as well. I’ve read on my tablet that there is a brilliant bird sanctuary on the coast a few miles from here. We should all go there. I would love to see the birds. I’m sure the children would love it too.”

Is that a snicker from the back seat? It can’t be Lorna. I’m coming along so well with her training. She’d never do such a thing.

Trevor says, “I’ll take you to the bird sanctuary.” He glances in the rearview mirror, adjusting it so he can see his wife. “Lorna would love that too.”

It’s almost as if they’re designing a schedule to exclude me from family activities.

I want to know why.