“I could sleep on the couch at your place,” Kenneth volunteered. “For the next couple of weeks. You two can share the bed. And I can start looking for a two bedroom for all of us. It shouldn’t take too long to find something.”
I thought of offering them the empty bedrooms in our house, but knew immediately that Kenneth would reject the offer. There was no privacy for them there, and of course, the relationship between Kurt and Kenneth would not benefit from that kind of close living. Still, I ached not being able to help mother Talitha in the way I wanted. And Naomi and Kenneth, too, for that matter.
“But what about your honeymoon?” Talitha said. Her lower lip was wobbling. “You don’t want me around for all that.”
The fact that Talitha was thinking about the needs of the adults, and about their sex life no less, was disturbing to me, almost as disturbing as the physical abuse had been.
“Of course we do,” Naomi said, and she and Kenneth joined together to give Talitha a big hug.
Sarah came past us from the kitchen toward the dining area with plates for the table. I could see her tense at the sight of the new threesome, snuggled together. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Naomi pulled away from Talitha, making sure with a glance that Kenneth was still with her, then helped Sarah with the plates. “Let’s just talk about the next few weeks, Sarah. I’m sure you need some time to get settled in your new life.”
Sarah grunted at this. Would she really let her daughter go? I couldn’t see any evidence that Sarah was concerned about Talitha’s well-being, only her sense of ownership.
“Talitha can stay with Kenneth and me for a while, not here with Rebecca and the others, and we’ll discuss a permanent solution later. All right?” said Naomi gently.
I got up and took the remaining plates from Sarah, who seemed to have stopped in her tracks before she reached the table. She was looking out the window by the front door, her throat moving as if she was swallowing many different answers to Naomi’s words.
Finally, she got out, “You may think I’m selfish, but it’s the first time in more than eleven years I’ve done anything for myself.”
The words seemed to hang in the air, until they fell, unanswered.
In that moment, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Sarah, too, despite her treatment of Talitha. Her parents had pushed her away when she was pregnant, and her biological mother had allowed her into this terrible situation that had only made things worse for her. I couldn’t excuse her, but I could pity her.
“I love you, Talitha,” Sarah said, looking like she had shrunk several inches. She stepped closer to her daughter and held out her hands for a hug, but Talitha only turned her face into Kenneth’s shoulder.
At that, Sarah’s face became its own study in cold emotion. Lunch seemed to be forgotten. She didn’t glance back once at the table or the kitchen. She simply went to the door, her jaw set, and swept out without another word.
I moved to the window to see what I believed was the family’s only car rattle by.
“Godspeed,” Rebecca said, before I realized she was standing there beside me, watching her daughter drive away, her shoulders shaking with sobs.
It was only then that I thought of Joanna’s warning again. I should leave for many reasons. Whoever had killed Stephen, I hadn’t been able to figure it out. Rebecca would have to figure it out on her own, if she really wanted to know the truth.
At least Talitha, who was the original reason I’d come, was safe now, and Naomi and Kenneth had made a big step in their future.
Chapter 31
It was time to call Kurt and tell him I was ready for him to come get me. I dialed the number, waiting with a thumping heart for Kurt to answer.
“Hello? Linda? Are you all right?” Kurt said. “Do you want me to come pick you up now?”
I started crying at the sound of his familiar voice. All I could manage verbally was a vaguely affirmative, mucusy “Mmm-hmmm.”
“What happened?” Kurt asked in that solid voice I loved so much, and had missed almost unbearably. This was the man who had been with me through Georgia’s stillbirth, through every moment of our five sons’ lives. Even if I wasn’t home, I felt home in his love.
“Stephen’s dead,” I got out.
“What? How? When?”
I couldn’t find it in myself to repeat the lie that Rebecca had offered, that Stephen had had a heart attack. “He was murdered,” I said.
I heard something loud in the background. Maybe Kurt smashing his desk with his fist? “How does this always happen to you?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. I really didn’t. It was either really bad luck or God wanted me in particular locations at particular times and seemed to be arranging for it to happen.