The Forgotten Child (13 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

An absolute nightmare, the rest of the afternoon had been predestined. But it was worse than Emily imagined. Thick tension filled every room in the house. Trevor whined, screamed and repeated over and over the same movie line
shoot the Wendy bird
. He spun on his bum in the middle of the kitchen floor, and then flapped his hands when Emily stopped him from shoving toys in and out of the bottom of the stove.

Katy woke from her nap crying, and even now whimpered as she clung to Emily’s food splattered blue jeans, shoving her thumb in her mouth. And to make it worse, Crystal wouldn’t stay upstairs. She violated all Emily’s spaces, rummaging in Emily’s closet, and then Katy’s and wandering through every room in the house. She settled finally in Brad’s office seated in his deep padded swivel chair, and put her high fashion heeled boots on Brads desk. Her smile reminded Emily of the cat the stole all the milk. An hour later, Crystal retreated back to Brad’s bedroom.

At three-thirty, while Emily huddled in a corner of the living room with Trevor and Katy creating a Lego townhouse, Brad stormed in. Hurray, the cavalry’s here. She wanted to jump up and throw her arms around her guy; the one she knew would throw this awful woman out. But the dangerous glow that lit his face and could set a barn on fire had Emily hunkering down with the kids. Emily had no desire to be on the receiving end of his wrath.

“
She in here!”

Katy practically leapt on Emily’s lap. Trevor never looked up.

Emily wanted him to be her knight in shining armor, to ask how she was. But he had tunnel vision. “She’s in your bedroom.”

“
Take the kids out of the house, now.”

Well this wasn’t good. Brad stormed up the stairs taking them two at a time, slamming his door so hard the living room windows rattled, shredding all hope of a peaceful and calm resolution. Emily leapt to her feet and bundled Trevor and Katy in their coats and hats. She felt an awful chill climb her back; the same kind when you know there’s an intruder. She jumped; Cliff lingered outside the door watching her in an odd way. Emily yanked on her coat collar and shivered. He said nothing as he stuffed his hands in his grimy jeans pockets, rocked on his heels, and then strode away.

Brad was shouting so loud she’d swear the walls shook. Emily lifted Katy and grabbed Trevor’s hand, leading them outside to the barn to let them romp in a hay pile. More than an hour had passed and Emily crept in the quiet front door. She expected, no hoped, Crystal would be gone and this nightmare ended. When she opened the hall closet, the door squeaked and so did the floor board upstairs. Stress and fury lingered in the air, vibrated in the walls, the floor and the furniture; the kind that did after a battle swept through.

Her heart pounded as she tiptoed around the corner, except it was darn impossible to keep two tired and hungry kids quiet. “Come sit down, how about
Winnie the Pooh
?” The opening credits flashed across the screen when Crystal sauntered down the stairs, her high-heeled boots clicking on the hard wood. She froze at the base of the stairs. Her mouth gaped at the kids perched on the edge of the leather sofa.

The woman was a menace. She crossed her arms over her chest in such an obtrusive, rude gesture and appeared to challenge Emily. Well, Emily didn’t and wasn’t going to take the bait. What did the woman expect, for her and the kids to disappear? Newsflash, not going to happen. She strode into the kitchen to start dinner and doing her darnedest to ignore Crystal. It was unmistakable; the clickity, clack that followed. Emily opened the fridge and looked over her shoulder. She couldn’t help notice Crystal appeared like a duck out of water in this kitchen. She crossed her arms and surveyed the entire room with something resembling disdain. “Is that your kid?”

Emily squeezed her fists and closed the fridge.
Focus on dinner. Forget she’s here.
But that was damned impossible when you had hell’s fire burning a hole in your back. Emily yanked open the fridge again, her hands trembled as she lifted out the pot of chicken stew and set it on the stove to warm. She then pulled out salad fixings.

The woman didn’t move. And now she tapped her toe as if to remind Emily she expected an answer.

Emily let out a soft sigh. “Katy’s in with Trevor.” She didn’t look up, but stirred the stew, struggling against the urge to cry. While Emily made a salad and set the table, Crystal hovered in such a way Emily was forced to step around her. Crystal circled the table as if counting places. Hah, maybe she wanted to see if there was a place for her. Well there wasn’t, and until Brad told her otherwise, she wouldn’t. What the hell was this woman still doing here anyway? Why hadn’t Brad thrown her out?

Emily had a hundred questions for Brad. She glanced at the clock. Her stomach ached with unease. Where was he? “Excuse me.” Emily uttered through a clenched jaw as she attempted to put the hot pot of stew on the table. Just then she heard the men stomp in.

Emily didn’t realize she was wringing her hands, nor the doomsday clock nipping at the back of her neck. No one said a word to Crystal. Brad paused, glanced at Crystal, and then moved to his spot at the table. Emily’s heart sank to her knees. Robotically, she shuffled to the living room, switched off the television.

“
Katy, Trevor, dinner’s ready.” Emily nearly tripped over her feet; Crystal sat in Emily’s seat, next to Brad. Mac and Cliff sat stiffly and averted their eyes. Brad wouldn’t look at Emily. His face tinged pink and his cheek twitched.
What the hell is going on?
Emily swallowed the rock stuck in her throat and forced back the tears threatening to burn a hold in her head. She seated Trevor beside Crystal and Katy in her spot.

Emily with her face burning grabbed another plate and cutlery from the cupboard, and stumbled to the backdoor for the extra chair. No one offered to help, and she blinked back those hateful tears. It wasn’t until she lifted the damn chair that she heard a chair scrape and footsteps. She knew who it was, but now she was too angry and hurt to be relieved.

“
I’ll take the chair, Em. Let go.” She struggled to hold it together, but a cursed tear slipped out, then another.

“
Why?”

He closed his eyes. Maybe that was easier than seeing how much he hurt her. “Let’s eat, Em. I just want to eat dinner in peace.”

What kind of response was that? Left speechless, she let go of the straight back chair. She swiped away the tears and followed Brad. She scooted in her chair beside Katy and dished up. But instead of eating dinner, Emily knew she’d be eating her heart.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Trevor and Katy whined through dinner, they didn’t like the stew. They banged their spoons, Katy played with hers, Trevor screeched “no, no, no, stuff, ick,” flinging bits of celery and carrots onto the table.

Katy held out her arms to Emily. “Mama, up.” Emily scooped her onto her lap and attempted to feed her off her own plate, but she tightened her lips, nothing was getting in. She couldn’t blame her, Emily couldn’t swallow a single bite either. For some reason, tonight it tasted like sawdust, sticking in her throat and rumbling her queasy stomach.

Trevor started to make the “whop, whop” noise again, swaying in his chair. He held his gravy-filled spoon up and flung it back and forth, the splatters landing on Crystal’s perfectly tailored white blouse. Stress thickened the air. Awkward glances, angry glares. No wonder the kids were off, they were intuitive by nature. They may not know all the gritty details, but they knew their secure stable environment had been threatened.

Crystal dropped her fork with a clatter, “Get him out of here.” The abrupt dismissal was cruel. She had no compassion for her child. She wouldn’t even look at him; in fact, she leaned away, as if whatever he had, she might somehow catch.

The nasty woman pursed her full lips, which Emily was sure were botoxed, reached for a paper napkin and wiped at the splatter of gravy on her lacy shirtfront. How screwed were this woman’s priorities? Emily stared at Brad, positive he’d throw Crystal out now. Brad dropped his fork and wiped his gritty hands over his face. He pushed his plate away and leaned his forearms on the table. He ground his teeth. All feeling appeared to seep out of his hard blue eyes when he nodded toward Emily and flicked his hand for her to leave. Her heart sank down through her toes, burning as if the rug had been ripped from under her. And those dreaded tears burned out the corner of her eyes. Blinking ferociously, Emily picked up Katy and held Trevor’s hand. She took them both upstairs, into the bathroom and ran them a warm bath. After she cuddled with Katy and Trevor in his bed, she read to them, several stories to help them all unwind. She’d just started on
Scaredy Squirrel
, when she heard the quick light footsteps bounce up the stairs, and then the rustle of Brad’s door as it latched closed. Katy grabbed Emily’s shirt and popped her thumb in her mouth. Emily closed the book and let out a heavy sigh. “I think that’s enough for tonight.” She scooted Trevor under his covers took Katy to her room and tucked her in her bed.

Emily paused for a moment at the top of the stairs before swallowing her pride and slipped downstairs, tension building in the pit of her stomach with each step. What was she walking into? This unknown freaked her out and what she saw had her stumbling a few steps in the archway. The table had been cleared and Brad was putting the last remnants of dinner in the fridge.

He glanced over his shoulder, and gestured awkwardly to her full plate on the counter. “You didn’t get to eat. So I left your plate out.”

Emily gazed at the plate and wanted to scream at Brad. But nothing would come out of her mouth. So she dropped her eyes to the floor.

“
Sorry, Em, today… I know this has to be hard for you.” He took a couple awkward steps toward her, before shoving both hands in his front pockets.
Aww, here we go, the cowardly retreat.
Her nose was running again and tears blurred her eyes, but she forced a smile to her shaky lips and used the back of her hand to wipe her nose.

Brad frowned.

“
Thanks, I’m not really hungry.” Her voice caught and if she didn’t do something to busy her hands, her mind, she was going to lose it. So she pulled out the plastic wrap from the middle drawer and neatly covered her plate. She walked around Brad, keeping her eyes down and set the plate in the fridge. Then, in an afterthought, she reminded herself no matter what, she wasn’t rude or vindictive. She let out a soft sigh and forced herself to lookup. “Thanks for cleaning up; I know it’s my job.”

Brad ran his hand down her arm. “Goodnight, Em, I’ll be bunking in the spare room in the back of the barn. So you know where I am, if you need anything.”

She leaned against the counter and just stared. She wanted to say something intelligent. Just what the hell was going on? But he looked away, the stone wall she’d seen the first day slammed down around him. She wasn’t going to get anything out of him. This wasn’t fair to her or the kids. He had to know this. And maybe he did; he looked away and left without another word.

The floor creaked. Emily jumped. Crystal was just outside the kitchen, her icy blue eyes filled with a meanness Emily couldn’t rightly remember experiencing before. The woman was quite beautiful, except coldness tarnished this beauty queen to something of a cold bitch. What did Brad ever see in her? Had she been lurking in the shadows, spying?

Crystal crossed her arms over her full perky breasts. “We need to establish some ground rules. You, your kid and Trevor can start taking your meals earlier. And make sure the kids stay out of my way. I don’t know why Brad would have hired someone with a kid. And just so we’re clear, Trevor’s my child. I’ll decide what’s best for him. You’ll clear everything you do with Trevor through me first. Are we clear?” She made no attempt to soften her voice, dictating with a heavy hand.

“
Now wait, I don’t work for you. I was hired by Brad. So until Brad tells me otherwise, I work for him, not you.”

Crystal took a cocky step forward, as she flicked her sleek blonde hair over her shoulder. She was taller than Emily by a few inches. She used her height to look down on her with a wicked smile that spiked a chill up Emily’s spine.

“
Let me make myself clear. Brad’s my husband and you’ll stay away from him. As for this therapy you started; it stops right now. You can look after Trevor and keep him comfortable. But you’ll no longer expose him to that kind of cruelty. I’ve heard about people like you who’re so obsessive, you don’t see the long-term damage you’re doing emotionally. And you’re not doing that to my kid.”

Emily’s jaw dropped. Why hadn’t Brad talked to her? Instead he’d run out the door like a coward. “Crystal, I don’t know where you heard that. But that’s not true. Trevor has so much potential, how can you give up on him? I’ve researched this therapy, and he’s done so well since he started.” Crystal leaned in and bared her teeth. “I don’t give a shit what you’ve researched or brainwashed Brad with. Trevor’s my kid, not yours!”

The woman was a hyena and Emily wasn’t going to win. Crystal started to leave, but then swung back and stepped toward Emily. “Oh and one more thing. Just so we’re clear. This is my home and I’m here to stay. So you are very wrong in your assumption that you answer only to Brad. You work for me and you answer to me. If I have any issues with you, I’ll make sure you’re bounced out of here so fast you won’t have time to pack your things.” The floor softened beneath her feet, and her heart squeezed so tight she thought it’d explode right out of her chest. The woman climbed the stairs and slammed Brad’s door. What followed was Katy’s pitiful wail, and Trevor’s shriek.