A Night To Remember

Chapter 3

Mudita (n.)

– delight in the happiness of others.

.

Evelina was tired.

Fatigue had wormed its way into her body as she sat in silence opposite her stepmother and stepbrother. Bea was on the phone detailing to the clinic the events since they had landed in New York and how Evelina had decided to veto the idea of going home settling on the fact that the hotel would be better as a middle ground.

In the time it took for her to calm down she had found herself sitting in her old living room assessing the changes her stepmother had made to her childhood home.

The once dull beige drapes were blue now, and the whole room seemed to have transformed with the pastel yellow walls, it was brighter not the empty home she had once been convinced it served as. Yellow and Blue, the new themes reminded her of a house in her dreams, with bright light streaming in and shell wind chimes but as soon as she blinked the memory faded.

"Here you are." her sister-in-law said placing a glass cup of iced water on the coaster in front of her. She had glasses for all of them and she sat close to Tremaine who was not hiding his blatant reserved observation of his sister.

Evelina made eye contact with her stepmother before blinking away immediately, she had never been more embarrassed in her life.

Not once in her childhood had she cried in front of Yvette, they had spent the better part of their relationship being cordial but Yvette had never seen her vulnerable and now Evelina felt nothing but embarrassment.

"Amelie Lawrence."

Evelina turned to her sister-in-law, her eyebrows raised.

"My name is Amelie Lawrence, Tremaine and I aren't married- not technically," Amelie said, "We've been engaged for the past two years. "

"Congratulations, I never thought I'd see the day Tre settled down." Evelina smiled. Amelie shrunk back as if shocked and Evelina's smile faltered.

"What?"

"Nothing," Amelie said almost as soon as she noticed Evelina's look of worry "I was just shocked, that's exactly what you told me before. Word for word. I'm sorry."

Evelina nodded biting her lip she wondered exactly what her relationship with Amelie had been like, clearly, they didn't like each other. She watched as her stepmother flicked through her Bible, her weak hands shaking.

"I know that we never got along," she let out in a single breath, as she stared at her stepmother "but Jezebel? that's new."

"It doesn't matter now," Yvette said dismissing it as though it never happened, Evelina took it lightly as she understood that to be her stepmother's version of apologies.

"And are you alright?" Evelina mulled over her eyes reassessing the older woman's frail form "You look sick."

"I'm recovering, but no I'm not sick," Yvette said sharply and Evelina nodded, her eyes finally settling on her stepbrother offering him a small smile.

She had never shared any bad blood with her stepbrother, she had always regarded him as her real older brother as her father had adopted him. Once she had made her decision to leave her home she remembered struggling with how to tell him, she made the decision to tell him and he respected her wishes.

Whatever had happened after that to sour her relationship with him must have been big she thought.

"Alright, it's sorted," Bea said entering the room again and sitting by Evelina's side. "Are you sure about this? We can always just try again another time."