Page 49 of The Truth

‘Spare the rod, spoil the child.’That was what he’d always said,justifyinghow he would hurt them. Over and over again. Because he was the man, and God told him he could hurt those smaller and weaker.

Her anger threatened to boil over. Kailey, at the diner, Kailey had asked Dinah about the bruises once. And had told her it was wrong, that no one had the right to hurt her. And Kailey would help her, if she needed it. She’d given Dinah a book, about abusive men and why they did what they did.

Dinah had bawled while she’d read it, and now… she understood. What her father did to them all waswrong.

Becauseeveryonedeserved to be safe at home.

Well, Judah did, too.

Her baby brother wasn’t even five-foot-five. If he weighed even as much as Dinah’s one hundred and forty pounds, it would shock her.

He never could fight back against their father, or Hezekiah, who was just as mean and cruel… andevil…as their father.

She rinsed the rag again. Judah still hadn’t spoken.

She lowered herself to sit on the floor beside him, right there in the bathroom between their bedrooms. The bathroom was small, the tile cracked, the cabinet door hanging on one hinge. It had always been that way, but tonight it felt worse. Like… was this thelifeshe wanted for herself?

Judah finally turned his head. He looked at her for a long moment. His eyes were glassy but alert.

“I didn’t do what he said,” he whispered.

“I know.”

“He was already mad when I got home.”

“I know that too.”

“I wasn’t even there when it happened. Three years ago.”

Dinah waited. Judahnevertalked about what happened back then. He just didn’t. She’d always thought he was just too afraid.

“I was covering. For Hezekiah. And Jeremiah. And… him.”

Her hands stilled on the cloth. She looked at Judah closely now, really looked at him. So young, and… he couldn’t fight back. He was just too small, too young, too helpless. He would never be able to fight back. He would live in fear of their father for the rest of his life.

Nothing was ever going to change.

“They told me it would be fine,” he said, quieter now. “They said it was already over. That nobody would find out.”

“Find out what?”

“I need… to tell you, so you know. I’m not leavingyou.I’m leaving him.” His voice cracked. He sounded so young.

He hadn’t ever really had a chance, had he?

Judah didn’t answer right away. His breath came shallow, as if saying the words might pull something loose.

“Adonijah. I… Daddy was there. And Hezekiah. Adonijah was leaving, taking his kids, and going away. Mad about his wife. About… Father Rei wanting Adonijah’s sister. So he was leaving. And Hezekiah… he thought Hezekiah was hisfriend,Dinah. But Hezekiah hit him first. I was there… I had dropped Hezekiah off, and then Daddy was there, but my truck wouldn’t start so I started walking home. And then I heard… they said it was Joshua and Caleb and Enoch, but… Hezekiah and Daddy and were there, too.”

Adonijah had been beaten nearly to death. He was still in a facility in Nebraska, last she had ever heard. No one hadever said who had done it for real. Her Daddy had said it was probably the feds themselves to set them all up.

Well, Dinah… a part of her had never really believed that.

He looked at her again, and there was no part of him that still resembled the boy he’d been a week ago.

“I heard the yelling and I went to the window to see. I saw it from the window upstairs. Father had Adonijah on the floor. He was hitting him over and over. Not fast. Just… methodical. Adonijah wasn’t fighting. He couldn’t. Hezekiah and Jeremiah were holding him. And he couldn’t fight back. What if Daddy does that to me next time?” Judah’s voice had gone flat again. Not dead—just detached, like he’d had to pull his soul back behind a wall just to keep talking.

“I didn’t watch the whole thing. I ran home. I think… I think Daddy killed people before. And the Bible saysthou shall not kill.But I think Daddy has before.”

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