“We’ve been getting along just fine. I heard him crying and I went to get him and he’s finally calming down.”
I leaned into the tub but Carletta slapped my hand away and stood. She stumbled as she stepped out but caught her balance and straightened herself against the wall. Jenna reached for me. I reached back but Mama moved into the hall and when Jenna screamed and tried to wriggle free Mama clamped down with her arms and Jenna went still. Jenna’s black hair stood on end and I could see the imprint of Mama’s sweatshirt on her cheek where the skin was red and puffing.
“Mama, please,” I said.
“I’ve been waiting to see this child long enough,” she said. “The boy wants to be with his grandmother for a minute.”
I finally grabbed for Mama’s shoulder and yelled for her to stop and she wheeled around as Jenna cried out.
“I said we’re fine!”
“Just for a minute,” I said. “I just want to hold her is all.”
Carletta kept her clutch on Jenna and went for the front door, but it only opened an inch before the snow tumbled in and piled on the carpet. I felt the cold push through and Carletta slammed her shoulder into the door but it would not open any further against the weight of the drift.
“Maybe just let me hold her for a minute,” I said. “She’s probably hungry is all.”
Carletta angled toward the kitchen and I knew she was making for the back.
“You and your sister both,” she said. “Neither of you trust me with this baby.”
“This isn’t Tanner,” I said.
“You forgot who wiped your asses and burped you in the first place.”
“It’s okay, Mama. I just want to take her for a second.”
“I’m not going to hurt him!”
Jenna jumped when Mama screamed, but then lost her breath in the fright and flushed before she belted out a cry. Mama looked up and her eyes were big as moons and darted.
“I’m not going to hurt this baby,” she said.
“I know you’re not trying to hurt her,” I said. “But can I hold her? Just for a minute? She isn’t feeling well.”
“He’s fine,” she said. “The baby is fine.”
She opened the back door and stepped out onto the porch. She extended one of her boots and tried to kick the screen door closed but I pushed through it and was careful not to knock her backward.
I held out the papoose.
“Maybe just set her in here for a minute,” I said. “Then we can both hold her.”
She held Jenna away from her chest now, away from me, and backed toward the steps. Jenna was being dangled over the railing and she kicked her legs and screamed. I could see Mama had no idea at all where she was, that she had no idea that Jenna was in any danger of falling off the deck. Jenna balled her hands into fists and had cried herself silent. Her mouth opened in terrible, silent cries and I reached for her again.
“Mama,” I said.
“Out,” Carletta said. “Get out of my house this instant, Starr.”
“It’s Percy, Mama. I’m right here.”
“Out! Get the fuck out of my house, Starr!”
Jenna could not catch her breath to scream and I started to worry she might suffocate on her own panic. I wanted to step across Mama to grab her, but I was afraid Mama would jerk away and lose Jenna over the edge. But the longer she stood with her arms stretched the weaker her grip would get, and I worried too that her next step might send them both tumbling.
Mama stood beside the stairs and swayed. Her arms started to shake and finally I came around her side and grabbed a fistful of Jenna’s pajamas and pulled. Carletta pulled back and both of us stepped away from the other as Jenna finally wailed and was stretched out between us.
I screamed at Mama. I don’t know what I said, but I spit it out like fire. She tightened her hold on the terry cloth and I worked my fingers beneath her fist while Carletta bawled some terrible, animal yelp. Then I set my foot in her thigh and when I kicked her fingers were finally pried loose and she fell.
She did not go down the stairs but only slumped into the snow on the porch where she lay whimpering. I looked down at her and had never felt so disgusted in my life.
Jenna finally gulped air and screamed. She screamed as loudly as I had heard her and I gathered her in close. She shrieked as we stepped back inside and I locked the door behind us and she shrieked as I put her back into the papoose and straightened the blanket over her body. She shrieked while Carletta crawled across the porch, shouting her idle threats into the door.
“You fucking bitch,” she yelled. “Open this door this instant! Do you hear me, girl?”