Sarah knew. Bridget’s divorce and her ex-husband’s new girlfriend had turned Bridget bitter and resentful of couples. But it didn’t make it easier to take her snide comments and rudeness.

Luke didn’t appear happy about being called stupid.

Bridget walked past them and up the steps to greet her mom.

Sarah and Luke followed, only to have Margaret greet them with her own brand of snark. “Nice of you to bring my grandsons back where they belong.”

Sarah didn’t want to fight. “Don’t start, Margaret. It was one night.”

“Oh, it’s more than that. It’s your campaign to reel Luke in and ruin him.”

Luke took a step closer to Margaret. “So you both take me for a fool?”

Margaret gave him a sad, condescending frown. “I love you like a son. I don’t want her to hurt you, too. I thought you’d see through her lies and manipulations, but apparently even you have fallen for her . . . charms.”

“She’s never lied to me. She hasn’t manipulated me. I simply took the time to get to know her. You should do the same, instead of believing what Sean told you and what you’ve assumed.”

Margaret waved that off. “My son died unhappy. Because of her insatiable need for money, he was working late again, and he was probably so tired he didn’t see the accident coming.”

“That is not what happened.” Sarah shook her head and sighed. “You really have no idea who Sean turned out to be.”

“How would I? You kept him away from us. You couldn’t be bothered to visit. You didn’t want to bring the boys, it was too much trouble to travel even a couple hours with them.”

“Not true.”

Bridget waved that off. “Of course you’d blame Sean. He’s not here to defend himself.”

Sarah had enough. “Apparently I’m not allowed to defend myself either.” She glanced up at Luke. “I’ll see you later. I’ve got work to do.”

Margaret stepped in front of her, blocking her from entering the house. “The lawn could use a mowing again. Perhaps you could at least take care of that today.”

She’d had Camille clean the house and had the gardeners come when she and the boys arrived. Since then, she’d kept up with the maintenance, but she’d be damned if she took orders from Margaret. “Why don’t you permanently hire a gardener to take care of the yard? Lord knows, you need one for this big property. You could use a housekeeper, too.” Sarah really couldn’t keep doing everything, or she’d end up passed out from exhaustion again. “Perhaps Bridget could do the work, since she doesn’t have a job right now. I’m sure she’d like to earn a little extra money instead of you just bailing her out all the time.”

Bridget glared at her.

Margaret sucked in a surprised gasp that Sarah had actually fought back for once. “Thanks to Sean, you have the means to have people wait on you and take care of you. You’ve even got Luke going out of his way to please you. Some of us have to take care of ourselves. And it’s not easy when you’re alone. I can’t afford this house, let alone hire someone to help with the yard and housekeeping. And as my condition worsens, the medical bills pile up.” Worry and resentment filled Margaret’s eyes.