Part of me wanted to grab the children and run. Another part wanted to watch this play out. And the last part of me knew that I couldn’t do either because I had to get the glass off the floor. I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as I walked to the pantry to retrieve the broom.

It was close enough that I caught Julie saying, “Aunt Alice, I am so incredibly grateful for your immense, total, unimaginable generosity. I just felt that I had long overstayed my welcome.”

“Julie, what did I do to make you feel that way?” Alice asked, her eyes filling with tears.

I turned to see always-strong Julie shrinking. “Nothing, nothing,” she stuttered. “But when I moved in three years ago, I think we both thought it would be for a few months. I…” She trailed off, looking down at her hands and, it appeared, trying not to cry. “I wanted to give you your life back.”

Alice’s eyes were glued to Julie. “I cannot imagine my life without you,” she said. “All I have ever wanted is to care for your family like you were my own.”

“But that’s the problem,” Delia said in a tone that made me want to drop the broom I was wielding and smack her. “As I continue to remind you: she is not your daughter.”

I’d just turned to empty the dustpan into the trash when Alice said, “Oh, just shut up, Delia.”

Brenna gasped. “We don’t say shut up in this house!”

That was when Grace finally unfroze and sprang into action. She walked over to the three little girls and, taking Audrey’s and Jamie’s hands, whispered, “I’ve been dying to finish that puzzle in the bunk room.”

“Yes!” Jamie said.

“But what about my tacos?” Brenna whined.

“I’ll bring you a special plate in there,” I said.

“We aren’t allowed to eat in the bunk room,” Jamie said.

“I think it will be okay maybe just this once,” I whispered.

They looked up at Grace, who nodded in confirmation.

“Hooray! Tacos in the bunk room!” Brenna shouted.

“Hooray!” Audrey parroted, and they all trooped down the hall.

If I had to guess, neither Delia nor Alice nor Julie was even aware of what was going on around them. Delia said, “Oh, there she is. The kumbaya-singing, house-opening Alice has finally cracked.”

My first thought was, What an odious human. But then it washed over me what I had done. I had moved into a house with a bunch of people I didn’t know at all. I had put my daughter in harm’s way. Or potentially, anyway. Yes, we had heard rumblings about Alice, but didn’t people love to gossip? Especially in a small town? And couldn’t people change? Alice had had a very difficult life. She couldn’t always be a perfectly poised lady.