Даниэла Стил - Neighbors

“Why did you run away yesterday, Will?”

He hung his head when he answered, and wouldn’t look at her. “Because I heard her say she was going to meet him, and I thought he’d beat her up. I should have gone to stop him, and I didn’t. I was scared. I was too scared to stop him the night he really hurt her too. I hid in my room.”

“You can’t stop a man his size,” Jane pointed out to him. “No one expects you to protect your mom physically. Adults have to do that.”

He shook his head. “I should have tried. I was scared yesterday too, so I ran.”

“He won’t hurt you now, Will. He’s in custody.”

“But he’ll come out again someday, and then he’ll try to hurt her again. I hate him.” She wanted him to see a therapist, but none of what he said surprised her. It was normal for the situation he’d been in for most of his life.

“I’m going to give you my card with my phone number on it. The next time you want to run away, I want you to call me. I’ll come and get you, if you want. But if you run away you could get really badly hurt, or abducted. You were lucky yesterday. But let’s not try that again. Okay?” He nodded, and she took out a card and handed it to him, and he slid it into his jeans.

They talked for a while longer, and then he left and Daphne came in, holding tightly to Martha.

“Who’s that?” Jane asked her, looking relaxed as she watched her.

“Martha. She has a headache today,” she said.

“How did she get a headache?” Jane asked.

“She fell down and she hit her head.” It sounded like a scenario she’d seen or an excuse she’d been given for her mother’s injuries.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Does she fall down a lot?”

“Sometimes. She broke her nose once.”

“That must have hurt a lot.” She had seen in the report that one of her mother’s recent injuries from the assault was a broken nose.

“My mom got a broken nose too. She likes her new nose better,” she said, and Jane had to make an effort not to laugh. She must have heard her mother say it.

“That’s lucky for her, but it’s not nice getting hurt and it’s scary.” Daphne nodded agreement.

“My brother ran away yesterday,” she informed the social worker. “He ate a Big Mac out of the garbage can at McDonald’s, and he got ketchup on his uniform jacket.” She was a bottomless source of information, and a very funny kid. She was looking down at Jane’s pink Converse. “I like your shoes. I have sneakers that light up when I run. I like to dance in them. And I go to ballet.” She was very chatty, and seemed very much at ease despite what they’d been through. Will was more deeply affected by it, and felt more responsible for his mother.

“How do you like living here in this house right now?”

“I like it. Martha likes it too. Meredith is a good witch, but she doesn’t have a magic wand. When my mommy got hurt, I came to get her, and she called the police, and a ambubus with lights and a siren came to take her away.” She got that Daphne meant an ambulance.

“You came to get Meredith all by yourself?” Jane was impressed. That was a brave thing for a child her age to do.

“She’s kind of like a grandmother, even though she’s a witch. I rang the bell at the gate, and they went to get her.” It was also possibly why her brother felt so guilty, because he had hidden in his room, and his little sister had run away to get help.

“Why do you think Meredith is a witch?” She was curious about that.

“My daddy said she’s a witch, and when I told her, I said she’s a good witch, but she doesn’t have a wand. And I know she’s a witch, because she fixes everything, and she always helps us, like she found Will last night.”

“She sounds like a good friend to have. How does Martha feel about her?” Daphne smiled her big toothless smile in response. “She loves her. She’s like Martha’s grandmother too.”

Jane walked Daphne back to her mother then, and met with Charles and Meredith briefly.

“You have a serious fan club here.” She smiled at Meredith. “All three Johnsons, and Martha! And I understand you’re a good witch.”

Meredith laughed. “I’m not sure if Daphne’s father called me a witch or a bitch, but either way I did my best to clean up my image!” All three of them laughed.

“It sounds like you’ve been wonderful to them.”

“I love them dearly, and they’ve been through a very hard time.”

Meredith answered Jane’s questions about the children as best she could, and said they were weathering the situation well. She said Tyla was a wonderful mother, and Charles agreed. He expressed his concerns about the dangers Andrew presented for them, and the hope that he wouldn’t have the opportunity to hurt Tyla again, or the children.

“It sounds like he might remain in custody now until the trial,” Jane commented. She liked both of them, and she refrained from telling Meredith that her own mother was her most ardent fan. She didn’t think it would be professional to say so, but she couldn’t wait to tell her mother that she’d met her, and how beautiful she still was. And apparently, a very kind woman.

Jane told them she’d be dropping in from time to time, and she’d try to make it as convenient as possible.

“You’re welcome anytime,” Meredith said. They had nothing to hide.

The social worker left the house a few minutes later, more than satisfied with everything she’d seen. Tyla was a responsible mother, the children were well cared for and doing well, and they had devoted adopted grandparents on the scene, living in a house that was everyone’s dream. She just hoped that Andrew Johnson didn’t manage to slither out of the charges against him, and that he would go to prison for his crimes.

“How do you think it went?” Meredith asked Tyla after Jane left.

“I don’t know, but she was very nice. She wasn’t scary, and I thought she would be. I was terrified she’d want to take the children away and put them in foster care.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

Charles kissed Meredith after Jane left, and rushed back to his office. He had a busy day ahead.

—

Peter called Meredith that afternoon. “We saw the police outside the Johnsons’ house yesterday, and Ava said she saw that the living room windows were broken. Did they have a break-in?”

“No,” Meredith said with a sigh. “It was Andrew again. Tyla agreed to meet him there, which was a mistake, and he lost control again. He was arraigned this morning, and is in custody without bail this time.”

“Did she get hurt again?” He sounded horrified.

“Barely. The police came before he got too out of hand, but he was heading there. The police broke the windows to get in.” They were being repaired that morning. “I think she learned a lesson. She can’t get anywhere near him. He tricked her into agreeing to a meeting, and started going nuts when she showed up.”

“I hope they keep him in custody this time,” Peter said, and he knew that Arthur and Ava would be upset to hear about it too.

“How are all of you?”

“Wonderful,” he said with a lilt in his voice. “Ava has turned my room into a closet. We got a storage unit for some of her stuff. Arthur loves having an assistant, Ava loves her job, and I’m the happiest man on earth. What about you?”

“We’re fine.” They hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks, since Tyla was in the hospital. “Why don’t the three of you come to dinner tomorrow night? We have a new cook, a couple actually, she’s a very good cook and they’re very nice. She makes fabulous Mexican food,” which after living with him for nearly a month after the earthquake, she knew was a favorite of his.