The mood instantly changed.
“Karl, you’re here!” Caroline’s mother beamed, rushing over to greet him. “You must be tired from the flight. I’ll have your brother-in-law cook something special for you. Go rest upstairs, okay?”
“And why do you always bring so many things?” her father added with a chuckle. “We’re getting old—we can’t use all this. You two should just save your money for yourselves.”
I stood there in silence, invisible in my own marriage.
“Karl really knows how to behave—unlike someone who walks in like a debt collector,” Carol’s mother sneered. My parents have been dead for five years, and they still bring it up every time. It’s bad luck just hearing it!
Despite claiming she didn’t need the gifts, she didn’t hesitate to accept them, her hands busily tucking each item away.
Karl smiled proudly and slipped his arm around her in a familiar gesture.
“Mom, don’t say that. It’s been five years and they still haven’t caught the culprit behind the Crow Family case. It’s only natural that my brother-in-law is still grieving. He’s already carrying enough pain—let’s not rub salt in the wound. We’re all family, after all. You can’t write two Baker characters with one stroke.”