“He’s probably too scared to come in here. I’ll take it to him.” Tricia waited for her mother to pour the tea and add the whiskey. “Leave the rest of the potatoes. I’ll be right back.”
She took the tea and headed down the stairs, careful not to spill any of the hot liquid on herself, not surprised to find her daughter waiting for her at the bottom.
“Why are you and Oma arguing?”
“We’re not.” Tricia sighed. “We just . . . see things differently, that’s all.”
Katy crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s not what Opa said.”
“Oh really?” Tricia’s eyebrow rose at her daughter’s stubbornness. “And what exactly did your dear Opa say?”
“That war was brewing, and he knew better than to find himself enlisted.” Katy shrugged.
“Unfortunately, your Opa is already involved, whether he likes it or not.” She smiled at her daughter, hoping to alleviate the tension she saw in Katy, and walked past her into the room.
“I’ve never known you to run from a fight.” She smiled down at her father while handing him his tea.
“Not running. I just know when to retreat and when to advance. Today there’s no victory in advancing.”
“Angsthase.” She just called her father a scaredy-cat.
He only shrugged before taking a sip of his tea.
She turned but hesitated halfway up the stairs, eavesdropping on the conversation her mother was having with Alyson, who must have just arrived.
“Oops.” Scott hesitated at the top of the stairs. “Didn’t see you coming up. Sorry,” Scott said.
“No worries. Everyone is downstairs, as I’m sure you know.” Tricia tried to smile back, but hearing her sister’s voice brought back all the rage she’d felt earlier. “I didn’t expect you guys to show up so soon.”
“Aly wanted to come.”
“Hey, Aunt Tricia.” Lyla appeared behind her father.
“Hey, honey,” she said as she climbed the remaining stairs to give her niece a hug. “Did you have swim practice this morning?” She fingered Lyla’s damp braid, which hung over her shoulder. “Why don’t you go down and see the others. Opa has a football game on, but I think the boys are wanting to play a game.”
She watched as both her niece and brother-in-law walked away before she stepped forward and into the kitchen.
“Hey, Tricia. I brought some wine.” Alyson stood there, holding a wine bottle out toward her.
“Is that a peace offering?” Tricia asked.
“Mom just asked me the same thing.” Alyson set the bottle down on the counter.
“Why did you do it, Aly? Why did you have to tell Rachel?”
“Tricia . . .” Alyson swallowed and struggled with her words. She reached out, but Tricia shook her head.
“No. I don’t want excuses, just the truth. Did you think it would be a good idea, that once you told Rachel, all your fears would go away? Did you even once stop to think about Myah?”
“I didn’t mean to . . . well, I did, but I wanted to . . . I wasn’t expecting . . .”
“What do you mean, you didn’t mean to? Did you or did you not meet with her this morning with the sole purpose of telling her about the sleepover? And did you not tell her about Keera and your fear that she’d been abused sexually?”
“Yes, I did. But it’s not what you think. She’s my friend. I needed to bounce something off of her. I needed to talk through my fears and find out if it really was just me.” She sighed. “You all think that I’m just projecting this, that I’m living in the past and letting it overshadow everything else, and I needed to know.”
“So you had to ask your best friend who is also the principal of the school our girls go to? What were you thinking Alyson?”
It was time to stop protecting Alyson, to stop soothing her or walking on tiptoe around her. She’d screwed up big time, and it was all Tricia could do not to freak out on her.
“Tricia.” Her mother warned her.
“No.” Alyson stepped up. “She’s right. I wasn’t thinking. Rachel basically said the same thing too. It doesn’t change anything though,” Alyson said.
“Excuse me? This changes everything. Everything, Alyson. Don’t you get that?”
“I do.”
Tricia shook her head. “No, I don’t think you do. Not really. Did you think about Myah at all? Did you think about how she’s about to get broadsided with this, thanks to you? And what about our kids? Did you think about what this is going to do to them?”
“I get it, Tricia. I do. But Keera is one of our own, right? If she’s not at your house, she’s at my house. Our girls are growing up together. What if I’m right? What if?” Alyson blinked away tears that gathered in her eyes.
“We need more information before we make accusations. That’s the point, Aly.”
“That’s enough,” Ida interjected before she picked up Tricia’s discarded knife and began to chop the potatoes. “You girls can be nice to one another or take this conversation elsewhere. But I warn you, if you leave, you’ll regret it.” She gave them both the mother stare, and Tricia backed down. For now.
“Now, these potatoes need to get on the stove, and the last thing I need is your father grumpy because dinner isn’t ready in time. So why don’t you pitch in and help?”
Tricia grabbed the ingredients for a salad out of her fridge.
There was an edge to the silence in the kitchen while the women worked.
“Aly? Everything okay? Your father sent me to check things out and make sure you’re all still in one piece.” Scott stood in the kitchen doorway.
Alyson shook her head, Ida held her knife up, and Tricia . . . well, she was tired of keeping quiet, of keeping the peace or putting others ahead of herself.
“I got a call from Rachel,” Tricia told him.
“I figured as much,” he said, looking at Alyson.
“You know, Keera rarely sees Eddie unless she’s at the theater,” said Tricia. “And last night? She was at home with her mom. How do I know? Because I texted Myah and asked. Yes, I thought of it, Alyson. But instead of jumping the gun and overreacting, I wanted to get the facts first. And I was going to meet with Myah tomorrow and talk to her about this. But now I can’t.” Tricia’s shoulders sank. “Why couldn’t you have just waited, Alyson? You should have given me time.”
“I did. If you had answered my text messages and e-mails, then I wouldn’t have—”
“Seriously? You’re going to place the blame back on me?”
“Whoa!” Scott interrupted. “I think we all need to sit down and discuss this. Does Mark know?” Scott asked.
“Yes, get out of the kitchen,” Ida muttered.
“Mother . . .”
“What?” Ida turned to Tricia, tears in her eyes. “Let me work in peace while you figure this out. As a family. The way it should have been handled from the beginning.” Ida clenched her lips tight.
Scott called down the stairs for Mark. He came up the stairs and stood talking with Scott, and while Tricia couldn’t hear what they were saying, she got the drift when she heard Mark swearing.
When Mark stomped into the kitchen, a murderous look on his face, Tricia sat down at the table, folded her hands together, and waited for the explosion. She knew it was coming, had known all morning that he would do this—he needed to do this. Mark rarely got upset. He was a carefree guy who let everything slide off his back, unless it involved her or the kids.
“What were you thinking?” Mark clipped his words tight, his fists clenched at his side as he looked from Alyson to Scott and then to her.
Tricia swallowed. “Mark . . .”
“Getting upset isn’t going to do any good.” Tricia rubbed the ache that flared in her wrist while trying to calm her husband down.
“No.” Mark shook his head.
“It’s bad enough when your sister reacts without thinking through the consequences, but this went too far.” He turned to Alyson. “Would it have killed you to wait? To trust your sister a little?”
Alyson didn’t say anything.
“All she wanted to do was protect Keera.” Scott held out his hand when he saw Mark was about to argue. “Think about it for a moment, please. If it were one of our girls, would we not want to be told, to know that someone wanted to protect our daughters? Sure, she should have waited, and yes, she didn’t really think about the ramifications of meeting with Rachel, but calm down, man.” Scott’s words were all jumbled as he quickly tried to talk Mark down.
“Calm down?” Mark shook his head and then sat down at the table, across from Tricia.
“It was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Mark rubbed his forehead. “Do you have any idea what that mistake is going to cost? Not only us but others? We all know Eddie. We might not like him, but you’re”—he looked at Alyson—“accusing him of being a child molester. Can you live with the guilt of what you’ve done if you’re wrong? You’re going to destroy his life. You’re going to destroy Myah and Keera’s life while you’re at it.”
“What did Rachel say?” Alyson asked quietly.
Tricia waited until everyone, other than her mother, sat down at the table.
“Child Protective Services has to get involved.”
Alyson’s whole body deflated as she nodded, and Tricia hated to see her sister like that—as if she were carrying the weight of her actions on her shoulders.
“Did you realize that would happen?” Mark asked her. “Did you know, when asking her for coffee, that you were about to open a can of worms no one could ignore?”
“She’s not just the principal. She’s also a friend.” Alyson’s chin rose. “That’s how I expected her to handle it. I just needed to know if I was overreacting or not and figured she would be the one to know.”
Mark laughed.
“Hey, lay off.” Scott placed his arm around Alyson. “Alyson’s actions weren’t wrong.”
“How do you know?” Tricia asked. “How do you know that she’s right? There’s no proof other than what a child said. There is no proof that she has been sexually abused.”
“What about what she said though?” Alyson asked.
“What did she say?” Myah asked.
There was a silence in the room as Myah stood in the kitchen, next to Ida, her face stricken from what she’d obviously overheard.
“Myah,” Alyson whispered.
“What did Keera say? That’s who you’re talking about, right? My daughter?”
Tricia rose from the chair and came to stand in front of her friend. “We didn’t hear you come in,” she said.
“No, but I heard you. From the moment I walked in the door, I heard you.” She took a step backward. “I heard you think my daughter is being abused. Is that why Rachel keeps calling me? Is that what she wants to talk about?” Her eyes widened as understanding dawned on her face. “Oh my god, that’s why you wanted to talk to me, and asked me about Keera, isn’t it?”
“Myah—” Tricia didn’t know what to say or even how to say it, but she hated what she saw on her friend’s face.
“Let’s sit down,” Ida said, her voice soft but commanding. She led Myah to the table and stood behind her, her hands on Myah’s shoulders. “Everyone needs to calm down and explain to Myah what is going on. Alyson, I suggest you be the one to start.”
Alyson took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She fiddled with the napkin on the table, folding and unfolding it, until she raised her gaze, first to Tricia, who came and sat back down, and then to Myah.
“First, let me say that everything I did, it was to protect Keera.” She hesitated, as if waiting for Myah to nod, to show she understood, but Myah didn’t.
“It’s not your responsibility to protect my daughter, Alyson. It’s mine,” Myah said with quiet determination.
“I know.” Alyson nodded. “But I—”
“It’s my job,” Myah interrupted. “And it’s your responsibility as my friend to come and talk to me about any fears you might have.”
“You’re right, and I’m sorry.” There was honesty in Alyson’s voice. “Lyla came home yesterday and told me about things that happened at the sleepover, and I got worried. I talked with Tricia who said she would talk with you, but . . .” Alyson’s gaze went from Myah to Tricia to her husband, Scott. “But I was worried that everyone thought I was just overreacting once again and wouldn’t listen.”
“What did Lyla tell you?”
Alyson stared at the table. “When the girls sneaked out to hang with the boys, it was because Keera wanted to see if a boy could kiss like a man, and that—” Her voice broke, and she wiped her face with her palm. “Eddie taught her dances and played games with her as rewards for learning the moves.”
Myah gasped.
“I’m sorry, Myah. I should have come to you first. I should have.” Alyson reached her hands out toward Myah who only shook her head at her.
“So you think Eddie is . . . that Keera is . . .” Her mouth gaped open as she visibly struggled to find the words.
“I think Keera is being sexually abused by Eddie.” Alyson laid it out there, without any hesitation or doubt.
“How? How could you possibly know my daughter is being . . .” She choked. “That Eddie would do . . .” She shook her head in disbelief. “How can you be so sure? Because Lyla told you? Don’t you think I would know?” She looked to Tricia then.
Tricia wanted to say something, but Ida shook her head before placing her hands back on Myah’s shoulders.
“Sometimes we’re the last ones to know,” Ida said quietly.
Myah turned in her seat to face Ida. “But I would know. I know the signs . . . I know Eddie.”
Tricia couldn’t handle it anymore. She pushed her chair back and went to Myah, kneeling on the ground beside her.
“It’s not your fault if it’s true,” she said to her friend, taking her hands and holding them.
“Of course it’s my fault. I’m the one who brought him into her life, the one who trusted him . . . but I can’t . . . I don’t believe . . . he’s with her right now at the studio.” She leaned forward and pulled her arms in so she wasn’t being touched by anyone. “Where is Lyla? I need to hear this myself.”
“Myah.” Alyson sat up in her seat. “Now isn’t the time.”
Tricia knew what Alyson was doing, knew that her sister wanted to prepare her daughter, but it was a little too late.
“Aly, she needs to know.”
“I’ve already said what Lyla told me. You don’t need to bring her into this. What about Katy? She was there too. Did you talk to her? What did she say?”
Tricia rubbed her wrist and stood. “I talked to Katy. Their stories don’t match.”
Myah laughed, a loud and vicious laughter that grated the nerves. “You’re kidding me.” She stood and leaned down, her palms flat on the table. “You’ve got some nerve, Aly. Before checking facts, you drew your own conclusions and decided to destroy my life.” She spread her hands wide. “Welcome to the club. Anyone else want to join in? It’s bad enough I have to deal with Eddie’s threats about my career, but now you’re ruining my name and my family all because of what?” Her arms dropped to her side. “All because you can’t deal with your own past? That’s not fair, Aly. You can’t keep projecting your fears onto others and think it’s okay.”
“Myah, I think we should check in on Keera and Eddie, like right now.”
“No. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. Do me a favor and call Rachel and tell her it’s all a mistake?” Her eyes blazed with fury before they changed to fear. “Please? Before it’s too late?”
“I . . . I . . .” Alyson tripped over her words.
&n
bsp; “It’s not all Aly’s fault, Myah.” Tricia was more than willing to take the blame.
“That’s enough.” Ida moved back toward the kitchen. “Anger, accusations, and anything else that is happening will not help. Tricia and Alyson will talk with their daughters and get this settled. Myah, we are here to protect you and love you, and I’m sorry we’ve also hurt you in the process.”
“Don’t give me the whole ‘good intentions’ lecture, Ida.” Myah gathered her purse in her hands and walked out of the kitchen.
“Myah,” Tricia called after her, quickly following and stopping her at the front door. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”
“Tricia, I need to get my daughter. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Why don’t I come with you?”
Myah shook her head vehemently. “I’ve got this. I know my daughter. I know when she’s hiding something from me and when something is wrong. I’ll find out.”
The screen door banged shut behind Myah, and Tricia just stood there, in shock. What just happened?
She turned to find her mother behind her. “I don’t know what to do or say or even feel right now,” she admitted.
“You’re in a difficult position,” Ida said. “You want to protect and defend all at the same time. Sometimes life isn’t fair. It’s how we handle things that matters. And right now, we need to deal with this as a family, figure out what the next steps are and have it dealt with—tonight.”
“What did Katy tell you?” Alyson didn’t even wait for Tricia to sit back down at the table.
“Alyson, I’m not going to fight or argue with you, okay?”
“Who’s fighting?” Alyson said, laying her hand palm up on the table. “I just want to know what Katy said.”
“Katy said it was a regular sleepover,” Mark answered. “Nothing like you said happened, according to her.”
“Do you believe her?” Alyson asked.
“She’s our daughter. Of course we’re going to believe her. Why would you even ask that?”
The Word Game Page 12
