When Family Became a Place I Couldn’t Return To novel Chapter 100

“Carrie can be stubborn sometimes, sure, but it was nothing serious. Why did you get so upset? Or is this actually about me?” Sheila’s leg was still healing. She limped over to Brody, eyes rimmed with red. Ever since that day Brody realized he might have misjudged Nelly, he’d been keeping his distance from Sheila, always using work as his excuse. Sheila thought a little space would help him cool off, but now even Carrie seemed to be feeling the heat of his anger.

“You should go home,” Brody said, his voice flat. He moved to step around her.

“Is this about Nelly?” Sheila wouldn’t let it go. “Alan told me you haven’t filed for divorce yet. Do you really not want to leave her?”

“It’s not that I don’t want a divorce. Marriage... it doesn’t mean anything to me,” Brody replied, his tone icy.

Sheila knew he meant it. He never loved Nelly, so of course he wouldn’t miss her. But he didn’t love Sheila either, so he wasn’t going to leave his wife for her.

“But what about Carrie? Maybe you don’t care, but you have to think about her. Do you really want her stuck in a family that’s falling apart?” Panic crept into Sheila’s voice. Her usual careful words disappeared, replaced by raw honesty.

“So you had Carrie try to push me into a divorce.” Brody turned and looked at her, his stare cutting right through her.

Sheila sucked in a shaky breath. “Brody, no, I didn’t. It was Carrie’s idea...”

“I don’t care if you did or didn’t. I don’t want to hear anything like that from Carrie again.” Brody cut her off. He turned his back, his eyes distant, lost somewhere in his thoughts.

“And another thing. Did you mess with Nelly’s medical report?”

Brody hadn’t planned on ever asking her that, but seeing Sheila now, he just couldn’t keep it in. He’d had Alan check the hospital cameras. A lot of people handled the report that day, including Selina. Selina was the first one who accused Nelly of faking her illness. But Brody knew Selina was only trying to help Sheila. The two of them had worked together, pushing his doubts about Nelly right when he saw that report.

He had thought about what she said. Back then, she was young and impulsive, marrying the wrong person just to get his attention. Her husband had trapped her, abused her for years. Only when he got bored and found someone else did Sheila finally manage to escape. The man’s family was powerful and didn’t want to let her go, but Sheila fought her way back home.

When Brody learned what she’d suffered for his sake, his guilt over Robin’s sacrifice only grew. He did everything he could to make it up to her. He gave her a home, his company, warmth—anything she wanted that he could give, he gave without hesitation. Sometimes he wondered if he should’ve just married Sheila from the start. After all, his marriage to Nelly was just an arrangement, a shotgun wedding. For someone as cold as him, it shouldn’t matter who stood by his side.

But now, seeing how his coldness had hurt Nelly, he was scared. He was afraid Sheila would end up just as broken.

Brody’s answer didn’t surprise Sheila. She let her tears flow a little longer, then slowly calmed down.

“Brody,” she asked quietly, “do you know why I love Carrie so much? Why, when I first came back, before we even finished catching up, I said I wanted to see her?”