Chapter 238: A Strong Woman
By the time Maximilian and Catherine arrived, almost the entire family had already gathered. Judging by the volume of the conversations and the number of empty beer bottles scattered around the backyard, most of them were already drunk too.
The moment Bobby declared that the brisket was ready, a crowd immediately formed around the smoker. With the dramatic flair of a man unveiling a masterpiece, he opened the lid, releasing a wave of smoky aroma that rolled through the yard.
The reaction was immediate. Several relatives surged forward, already reaching for the meat, only for Bobby to physically block them.
"It needs to rest!" he shouted.
"Resting is a conspiracy!" Richard protested.
"It’s already dead, Bobby!" Jonathan argued.
"You people have no culture!" Bobby snapped, slamming the smoker shut before anyone could steal a piece.
The argument only grew louder from there.
Samantha sat in a patio chair with a bottle of water in her hands, watching the entire spectacle through the combined misery of a hangover and a cross-country flight. Traveling from Kingston to Laurel Creek while already intoxicated had seemed like a reasonable decision at the time. Now she was paying for it.
As the family argued over smoked meat, her gaze drifted across the gathering until it found Catherine.
The memories from yesterday returned in uncomfortable fragments.
The phone call.
The things she had said.
The accusations.
The bitterness.
She vaguely remembered Catherine’s voice on the phone. Calm. Patient. Hurt, perhaps, but never angry.
Did she go too far?
Probably.
The answer came annoyingly quickly.
Samantha watched her aunt closely, waiting for some indication that she was upset. A cold shoulder. A sharp remark. Even a disappointed look would have been something.
Instead, Catherine was exactly as she always was.
She greeted relatives with a smile. She helped unload boxes from the car. She laughed at whatever ridiculous story one of her cousins was telling. When her eyes briefly met Samantha’s, she even smiled at her.
A normal smile... As though nothing had happened.... As though Samantha hadn’t unloaded years of resentment onto her over the phone.
Samantha scoffed internally.
What a goody-two-shoes!
Would it kill her to make a scene for once? Would it hurt her to yell?
At least then Samantha could be angry back.
Instead, Catherine was being reasonable. It was infuriating.
"Mom."
She got up and dropped into the chair beside Miranda before leaning against her shoulder.
Miranda immediately wrapped an arm around her and began rubbing her back.
The simple gesture made Samantha relax despite herself.
"You’re not mad at me?" she asked.
By now, somebody should have been angry. Surely Catherine had told them what happened. Surely everyone knew Samantha had been unnecessarily cruel to Aunt Cathy.
Miranda looked down at her daughter.
"For what?"
Samantha frowned.
Then realization slowly dawned on her.
Of course... Catherine hadn’t told anyone.
The realization somehow made Samantha even more irritated.
How could she be this annoying?
"I heard that Rathbourne sleazy guy tried to hire you," Miranda said, continuing to rub her back. "Good thing Max told us it was his proxy company."
Samantha immediately paid attention.
"What?"
Miranda shook her head.
"After all the trouble he’s caused our company, he has the nerve to recruit you."
The concern in her mother’s voice was genuine now.
"Max practically saved your life."
Samantha blinked.
"My life?"
Miranda reached for her hand. Samantha immediately noticed how cold her own fingers felt.
"Sweetheart, Catherine doesn’t tell the whole family everything because she doesn’t want us worrying more than we already do. But that man is dangerous."
Samantha’s eyes instinctively drifted toward Maximilian.
He stood near Catherine with one hand resting casually against her back while talking with a few of the men. From a distance, he looked relaxed, almost amused by Bobby’s ongoing battle against brisket thieves.
Miranda followed her gaze.
"Max has been helping her deal with a lot of this behind the scenes," she said quietly. "More than most people realize."
Samantha didn’t answer immediately.
Around them, the family continued descending into chaos. Someone had successfully stolen a slice of brisket and was now being chased across the yard by Bobby. Her cousins were arguing over whether resting meat was a scientific fact or a government conspiracy. William and Jonathan watched it all. Her grandfather’s laughter erupted near the beer coolers.
Normally, Samantha would have joined the chaos.
She would have been right there with the rest of them, stealing brisket before it finished resting, arguing with Bobby, and making enough noise to compete with her cousins. Instead, she sat quietly beside her mother, her gaze drifting across the yard until it settled on Catherine.
"How is she this... calm?" Samantha asked.
Miranda followed her daughter’s gaze.
Across the yard, Catherine was helping Bobby defend the brisket from impatient relatives. Somehow, despite the crowd surrounding them moments ago, the area around her had cleared.
Catherine sat on a folding chair with a pair of tongs in her hand, occasionally swatting away a particularly bold family member who got too close to the meat. Beside her sat Maximilian, relaxed but attentive, his presence oddly reminiscent of a sentinel standing guard.
A small smile appeared on Miranda’s face.
It was a smile filled with equal parts admiration and concern.
"She makes it all look easy, doesn’t she?" Miranda said softly. "Every problem, every crisis, every disaster... she’s always there, calm and thinking three steps ahead as if none of it bothers her."
Her smile faded slightly.
"When really..." She shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder if that girl saw something terrible somewhere along the way. Sometimes it feels like she’s already lived through the worst thing imaginable, so nothing surprises her anymore."
Samantha looked back toward Catherine.
She had never thought about it that way.
To her, Aunt Cathy had always simply been competent. Successful. Reliable.
Strong.
"She’s one strong woman, isn’t she?" Samantha murmured.
A familiar voice joined the conversation.
"Strong? Maybe."
Sophia settled into the chair beside them with a drink in hand.
"A little too self-reliant, if you ask me. Too smart for her own good and..." Her lips curved into an affectionate smile. "Infuriatingly selfless. At least, I share my worries. She... she just keeps it all in."
Miranda laughed quietly.
"But she looks more mellow now with Max by her side, doesn’t she?"
"Happier too," Sophia admitted. "I used to worry about her all the time. Every single day. Now..." She glanced toward Maximilian. "Now I can finally rest a little."
Victoria, who had been listening from nearby, stepped closer.
"He resembles her more than people realize," she said. "Not in personality, necessarily. But in the way he carries responsibility. In the way he thinks. The way he acts first when it comes to family," She paused before adding, "It’s a good thing she found someone who understands her."
Sophia nodded immediately.
"Exactly."
"It worries you too?" Victoria asked.
Sophia’s expression softened.
"Of course, it does."
Victoria nodded in agreement.
For a moment, all three women watched Catherine from afar.
Miranda finally broke the silence.
"It’s fine," she said gently. "She can handle anything. Don’t worry."
Yet Samantha noticed that none of them looked particularly convinced by their own reassurance.
They trusted Catherine.
That wasn’t the problem.
The problem was that Catherine carried so much by herself that everyone who loved her eventually learned to worry anyway.
Samantha sat quietly, listening to them.
For perhaps the first time in her life, she found herself looking at Catherine through their eyes instead of her own.
She had spent years seeing only the capable woman everyone admired, the aunt who seemed to have the answer to every problem, the family member whose achievements and responsibilities always appeared larger than life.
Yet listening to her mother, Sophia, and Victoria speak about her, Samantha began to realize that the strength she had always envied might not have come without a cost.
For the first time since returning home, she found herself wondering how many burdens Catherine had been carrying all these years without ever asking anyone to help her bear them.
Samantha stared at her aunt across the yard.
Then she stood.