17 - The Confrontation

“Don’t rip his head off, Tatum. I’m right here,” Mother Tina announced as she traipsed through the long corridor decorated with images of their family.

Relief flooded through him as he rushed to meet her.

“Where have you been?”

Mother Tina eyed him. “Am I a child that I should tell you where I’m going?”

Tatum stared at her, looking for any signs of dis-ease. She seemed to be doing okay. At least on the surface. “I was concerned.”

“How touching.”

She was still bitter over their last meeting. Her long blonde hair had been pulled into a ponytail and the long floral dress she wore almost covered her toes which were covered in dirt.

“Did you go for a walk?” Tatum asked as they both entered her room, she leading and him following closely after her. Alec remained at the doorpost.

Mother Tina’s room was spacious and smelt of heavy incense. The smell had always affected him negatively, so he rarely ever came into her room. Even now, he felt the beckoning of a body-shaking sneeze on the horizo