Mind Games - Page 216

“Impossible. She’s perfect.” He sat back. “After, she contacted me, telling me they’d twisted her words, took things out of context, but the fact was, she told them things, private things, things that hurt my family. For money, for a little reflected shine. That was the first, not the last. The last, Bray’s mother. It’s not just me now, Thea. I have to look out for him.”

“All right.”

“All right?”

“I know what it’s like to feel betrayed and sliced open. I know the shields you put up so it won’t happen again. I guess we have to figure out what we want to do about it. Lowering those shields, trusting someone not to do that to you again, it’s a lot.”

“This is a start. Sitting here, having tea. Maybe you could come down and see Bray. I really screwed up his happy when I locked you out.”

“I will. I’ve missed him.” Looking at him, she lowered a shield. “I’ve missed you.”

“Thea.” He reached across the table; she reached back.

Outside, Bunk barked.

“That’s the someone’s-coming signal.” Sliding her hand from his, she rose. “I need to go see.”

Since the signal came from the front of the house, she walked through. And took the time to remind herself she’d be wise to take this slow. Lowering shields, yes, but opening herself again, really opening to him, to her own feelings?

Best to take it slow.

When she opened the door, she saw Bunk greeting Nadine, who walked with her youngest on her hip, another in her growing baby belly, and a diaper bag on her shoulder.

And with fear all over her. A fear so deep, so wide, no shield would have blocked it.

“Nadine.” Alarmed, Thea rushed down the steps, ran to meet her. “What is it? What happened?”

“I can’t find Adalaide. I can’t find her.” Tears rolled down cheeks already splotched by them. “I went to Miss Lucy, but she’s not there. Help me. Please help me, Thea.”

“Come in. Here, let me take him. Come in, sit down. You’ve walked a long way.”

“I looked everywhere. I called and called for her. It’s been more’n an hour now, and I don’t know how much before … I don’t know. Help me, please.”

“Of course I’ll help you.” She juggled the baby on her hip as she reached the open front door where Ty stood.

“I’ll call the sheriff.”

“No, no, please!” Fresh fear leaped into Nadine’s swimming eyes. “They could take her away from me. What if they take her away? Thea, please.”

“We won’t call Will just yet. Don’t worry. Sit now, by the fire. Your hands are freezing. Ty, get Nadine some tea, would you? Sit, Nadine. Think of the baby inside you and sit. Sit, and tell me what happened.”

“She’s mad at me. She’s awful mad at me.” Sobbing now, Nadine covered her face with her hands. “She wants to go to school, with the other kids, and her daddy says no. She’s too young to go off like that, and how I can teach her at home just as well. She won’t be five till next week.

“She’s just a baby, and I can’t find her. She was so mad at me, and I snapped at her. I was tired because Curtis Lee was fussing half the night, and I still feel poorly some mornings, like I did when I was carrying her and Curtis Lee.”

“Take that tea from Tyler, and drink some.”

“Please, I can’t. I just—”

“Nadine, I need you to calm a little before I can help you, so you drink some tea, and trust I will help you. Ty, can you…”

“Sure.” He took Curtis Lee. “Hey, big guy.” He fished his keys out of his pocket, handed them over before sitting on the floor with the little boy and Bunk.

“She was upset,” Thea said.

“So mad at me. She wants to go to school, but her daddy—I didn’t stand up for her. And her cousin Marlie showed her this paper flower she made in class, and it set her off. This morning she said how she’d walk to school, and how she was gonna go live at her granny’s, and I was too stupid to teach her, and I snapped at her how she wasn’t walking anywhere, and how she lived here and should be grateful, and should be ashamed saying her mama was stupid. So I wasn’t teaching her anything today, and she could go mope and whine in her room.”

“Drink some more tea, Nadine.”