Page 68 of A Smooth Operator

"No, she doesn't."

She scoffed. "Do you know the things she has said to me?"

I didn't, but I could imagine. Maybe Dad was right; I had to confront Mama first and understand why she had such a problem with Echo. Why she let her sleep in a sleeping bag? Why didn't she insist that Fern get Echo a bed? Small things that would cost Mama nothing. And, yet, she'd seen fit to make a little girl who'd lost her mother feel more desolate.

I loved my Mama. I did. But I also knew she was, in many ways, selfish and stuck up. She'd taught both Lani and me that we were Drakes, and that meant everything. We should have friends who are at the same social level as us—and we should date only the right people.

The Spaldings were wealthy and had been for generations. That was why Mama approved of Lani dating Tommy, though, to be fair, any mother would've asked her daughter to dump the cheating asshole. This living for society was making Mama a bad mother for Lani.

"Tell me," I urged.

She shook her head. "You love your mother, Remi, and I don't want to cause trouble."

"No matter what you say, Echo, I won't stop loving Mama."

"Maybe you'll stop loving me then," she whispered.

Fuck! Of course, she thought that.

"Not that either."

I sat up and pulled her onto my lap. "What did she say to you?"

Echo sniffled. "She told me I was worthless. You're the daughter of a crack whore. Just a waste of space."

"How old were you?" My heart bled for the little girl she was.

"That was when I first came to stay with Aunt Fern. So, I was about eleven."

Okay, so it made it a little harder to love my mother right now. Why would she say something so ugly to a child?

"Whenever she'd see me with Lani, she'd tell me how she didn't want Lani to be influenced by my filth. She'd tell me that my crack whore mother's blood was running through my veins and I'd end up just like her."

It sounded like Mama had a problem with Echo's mother.

"Did Mama know your mother?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. Why would they know each other?"

"It just sounds so," I tried to think of the right word and finally did, "personal."

"You think so?" Echo ruminated and then nodded. "Could be. I don't know, Remi. But it went on and on. You saw how she talked to me last night. That was polite since your father and you were there. Trust me. You can ask Lani; she was there some of the times. Once your mother slapped me when she accused me of stealing Lani's earrings. Lani found them under her pillow. She apologized. Your mama didn't."

I clutched at Echo. A part of me wanted to beg her to stop because, fuck, my mother sounded like a goddamn monster. But the part that loved her knew I needed to know.

"She hit you?"

"Several times."

"What?" I turned her face so I could look at her. "What?" I repeated inanely.

"She did. A smack here. A slap there. But your mom did that to a lot of the young help."

How did I not know this? Did my father? He wouldn't tolerate this shit. Would he? I fucking wouldn't.

"Remi, you know this shit happens in a lot of y'all rich people's houses, yeah?"

I was horrified. "No, I didn't know that."

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