The Breaking Point. Mariella Starr

you.”

      Faith nodded and sat wearily on the plastic chair and closed her eyes.

      Jill bugged her eyes out at her brother, and she jerked her head, indicating he was to follow her into the corridor.

      “She can’t...” Ales started, but he was interrupted.

      “She going to Hancock and you can’t stop her,” Jill whispered in the hallway. She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “With Mom’s help, you really screwed up this time, big brother! You know how much Faith’s work means to her, and you overrode her objections. You told our mother she could stay at your house. Have you gone totally stupid?

      “You may not have helped destroy Faith’s art, but you allowed our mother in the house, and she did destroy it. That puts you on the top of Faith’s shit list, and I don’t blame her! Mom didn’t need to go anywhere to recuperate! All she wanted was someone to wait on her hand and foot, and someone she could constantly bitch at and about!”

      “I can’t let her go to Hancock by herself! She can’t drive, and the doctor said she should have someone with her. She can’t be left alone!”

      “Well, she’s made it clear, she doesn’t want you there!” Jill exclaimed angrily. “I’ll go with her. You and Ricco can bunk over at my house and help Mack with my boys. My neighbor Louise, or Carrie, can keep an eye on them during the day.

      “Maybe, Faith will calm down and see things clearer in a few days. What she needs right now is space and time to clear her thoughts. I’ll go with her, and I’ll do what I can, but Ales, you are in it deep this time. There’s a reason Mack won’t allow our mother in our home, and why I supported him when he made that decision. My husband, marriage and children were more important to me than dealing with our neurotic mother who doesn’t give a damn about anyone but herself! We’ve all tried to help Mom, but she’d wreck all our lives if we let her!”

      “I’m going to walk to Winchester’s and see what kind of pie they have today,” Jill said, from the sunroom doorway. Faith was sitting in a wicker settee. “If nothing else, all this heavy-duty hiking might take off a few pounds. Everything in this town is straight up or straight down. It’s a wonder we don’t get nosebleeds just from the constant change in altitudes!”

      “You don’t need to lose a few pounds,” Faith said, setting her sketchpad aside. “You also don’t have to leave the house to check-in with Ales. I know you’ve been calling him.”

      Jill sat beside her sister-in-law. “He’s worried, honey. No, I take that back. He’s scared shitless. It’s been a week, Faith. He needs to see you.”

      “Most of the headaches have stopped, and I’m feeling better. It’s nothing that the extra strength Tylenol they prescribed can’t fix. I’ve been talking to Ricco every day. He knows I’m okay, and I think I can take care of myself now. You should go home,” Faith said stubbornly.

      “What about the rest?” Jill asked gently. “What about Alessandro and your marriage?”

      Faith shook her head and got to her feet slowly. “It’s too broken to fix,” she said, barely audible.

      “She’s not improving,” Jill said to everyone at the table. This meeting at Winchester’s Café had been planned. The Benedetti sisters and their spouses were sitting around the two small tables that had been shoved together. All the adults were there except the person they were discussing. “It’s been two weeks, and she’s despondent.”

      “She won’t talk to me,” Ales said. “I call every day, what am I supposed to do?”

      “Maybe she needs counseling,” John said.

      “I suggested that,” Jill said. “I also got my head chewed off. She said very clearly that she’s not the one who needs a psychiatrist. Faith said she needs time to heal. She’s not talking about her cuts and bruises.”

      “I don’t mean to be unsupportive, but this situation isn’t affecting only your family, Ales. We have boys at home who need their mother,” Mack said. “We need some normalcy back in our lives and in our homes. Jill was practically living at the hospital, and now she’s been here with Faith for weeks.”

      Ales nodded his head. “I agree, and this shouldn’t be your problem. It’s mine, and I have to deal with it.”

      “Any brilliant ideas?” Carrie asked.

      “Not yet,” Ales said, sounding depressed himself.

      Ales parked his truck on the driveway. He hadn’t parked inside the garage since the incident, which was what they all referred to what had happened to Faith’s artwork. Ricco had asked why his mother’s artwork was gone from her studio, and he’d tried to explain as best he could. More than anything, his son wanted to be with his mother.

      “Dad!” Ricco exclaimed, jumping up from the coffee table where he’d been drawing a picture. Like his mother, their son was already proving to be a talent.

      “Thanks, Mrs. Broschart,” Ales said to his retired neighbor who was babysitting for the evening.

      “How is Faith?” his neighbor inquired.

      Ales looked to his son. “Desperately wanting to see her son,” he said with a smile.

      “I talk to Mom every day,” Ricco informed Mrs. Broschart. “She said she misses me!”

      “I’ll bet she does,” Mrs. Broschart said. “If you need me, Ales, I’m a phone call away.”

      “Thank you,” Ales said, walking the woman to the door, and keeping an eye on her until she’d entered her yard.

      When their neighbor was gone, Ales sat beside his son. “What are you drawing?”

      “Grandma’s house,” Ricco said. He studied his drawing. “Did I miss anything?”

      Ales took the drawing and inspected it. “I don’t think so, but you can compare it to the painting your mother did, it’s still hanging in her studio.”

      “I don’t want to go in there. Mom’s not there and most of her stuff is gone,” Ricco said sadly, looking at his drawing. “It’s not good yet. Not like Mom’s paintings, or even your drawings of the houses you build. Mom says I’ll get better as I get older.”

      “You will, but this drawing is terrific,” Ales said. “I’m very proud of your talent. I don’t think I drew this well when I was your age. Why did you draw the house in Hancock?”

      “Because it’s her favorite,” Ricco said. “We don’t visit there very much since Grandma and Grandpa died, but it’s still her favorite place. Mom said it’s because that’s where she was raised with so much love. When that lady who sells houses came around and asked Mom if she wanted to sell it, she said no. She told the lady that even if she didn’t live there, it neutered her spirit and her creativity to know it had been in her family for a hundred and fifty years. That’s a really long time. That’s fifteen decades because a decade is ten years.”

      Ales smiled as he looked over the surprisingly detailed drawing of the l869 Victorian house with all the ornamental designs of its day. “I agree it’s a very long time. I think what Mom said was it nurtures her spirit and creativity. She needs that right now more than ever. Neutered means taking an animal to a veterinarian and having it operated on so it can’t have babies.”

      “Is Mom happy living there by herself? Doesn’t she miss us?”

      “I think she does,” Ales said. “I know we miss her. She does love that big old house. You know what’s missing from your drawing?”

      “What?” Ricco asked, frowning, and searching his