**Part 3**
For a few seconds, nobody moved. Seth looked toward the hall, where the fresh towels were folded on the bed for his children. Then he looked at the envelope.
“I was wrong,” he said. He sounded tired, not polished. “I should’ve asked. I shouldn’t have charged you and then acted like this room was mine.”
“That’s right,” I said. I was still mad. I wasn’t ready to smooth it over for him.
Shawna picked up the lamp again. “We can stay somewhere else,” she said. “If you don’t want us here.”
I looked at her. “I want the kids here. I want all of you here if you can live with the terms.”
Gaylene set her pie on the counter. Seth looked at me and gave a small nod.
“All right,” he said. “Four-fifty.”
He didn’t ask me to tear up the receipt. I didn’t ask him to make a speech. He carried the suitcases in, and Shawna brought the basket and the lamp. I showed them the couch, then showed the kids the room I’d made up for them. They thanked me for the quilt. I had worried about them all night, and seeing them settle in took some of the tightness out of my chest.
We shared a slice of Gaylene’s pie at the kitchen table. Seth stayed quiet for most of it. When he did speak, he asked me how the house was going and listened to the answer. I noticed he didn’t call it “the spare room” again.
He paid me $450 for the first month. I put it in the bank and wrote the date down in my little calendar. The next month, he paid again without me asking. For six weeks, the kids slept in the room with my best quilt, and Seth and Shawna slept on the couch. The dog stayed on his bed near the back door.
When their new house closed, Seth carried the suitcases out himself. At the door, he turned back.
“I should’ve treated you better,” he said.
“Yes,” I told him.
He nodded. Shawna hugged me, and the kids thanked me again for letting them stay. I hugged them back. I wasn’t going to pretend the rent hadn’t hurt, but I wasn’t going to make the kids carry it either.
After they left, I went to the sewing box and put the old receipt back beside the four he had given me. The little vase of mums was still on the dresser. I carried it to the kitchen and set it by the window.
