Her Mother’s Grave

Chapter Twenty

JOSIE – SIX YEARS OLD

Josie pulled the covers over her head, curling into the tightest ball she could manage. Smaller, she needed to be smaller. The shouts from just outside her door punched through the air, penetrating the flimsy wood and slapping against her small bed. Again, Josie wished she had Wolfie.

“She is my daughter too, Belinda,” her daddy said.

“So what? You’re just going to take her and leave me? Leave me here alone?”

“I told you last week this wasn’t working.”

Her mother’s voice became a screech. “Go then. Leave!”

Something thudded against Josie’s door. She squeezed her body tighter, pressing her forehead to her knees.

“I’m taking my daughter,” her daddy said.

“She’s not yours! She’s mine!”

“The hell she is.”

There was a series of thuds and then a crash, and Josie heard what sounded like glass breaking. Then her mother’s voice, mean this time, like the way it sounded in the hospital when she grabbed Josie’s face. “I told you, you’re not taking her. She stays here with me.”

“You forfeited your right to be her parent when you put a blade against her face. You think I don’t know you did that? Twenty-seven stitches, you sadistic bitch.”

“You can’t prove a goddamn thing. Now get out. You’re not taking her.”

“Get out of my way, Belinda.”

“You think you can take the only thing I have and leave?”

“That’s what I’m doing, isn’t it? You’ve got some real serious problems, Belinda. Josie’s not safe here. I’m taking her to my mother’s.”

“Oh sure, run to your mommy.”

Josie heard a rustling, then a thump. Then her daddy said, “I don’t want to hurt you, Belinda, but I will if it means protecting Josie. I’m taking her. Now get out of my way.”

Her mother laughed, and Josie’s body stiffened. Her heart felt like it was taking too long between beats.

More crashing. Then her daddy’s voice came again, and this time he sounded different. “Belinda,” he said. “Where did you get that?”

“You’re not taking her, Eli.”

“Let’s talk about this.”

More of her mother’s laughter. Josie felt a strange feeling like she might pee herself. She tried to hold it in. Her mother would be really mad if she wet the bed.

“Oh, sure, now you want to talk,” came her mother’s voice from the other side of the door.

“But not here,” her daddy said. “Let’s take a walk, okay? Get some fresh air? We can talk this through.”

“We can talk all you want, Eli, but you’re not taking her.”