Page 27 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
“My mama?” Jamison’s small voice shook as she spoke. “My mama red. Okay? Hurt with owie.”
This…
This was a nightmare.
No.
This wasn’t a nightmare.
This was hell.
This was hell, and they were paying for their sins. The lies. The secrets. The hiding.
Yes, this was hell.
And they were going to have to claw their way out of it.
Taking a deep breath, she turned to Selah. “Your mom is okay. I’m going to call the hospital in a minute.”
“Will they answer?” Selah adjusted Jamison on his hip like it was second nature. “Cuz it’s late and all?”
It had to be two or three in the morning. Josie tried to read the analog clock on the nightstand, but everything blurred whenshe attempted to focus.
“Selah, I want you to go sit with CeCe for a minute,” Miranda said, entering the bedroom. “Everyone is in the gaming room.”
Selah was such a good kid. He left without arguing, the only sound as he departed being Jamison’s quiet pleas for her mama.
With a steady hand, Miranda closed the door. “We need to get them clean.”
Everyone had blood on them. A splatter here, a drop there. Evie was the worst, with caked shades of red covering her body. When Josie managed to trap Samuel alone and ensure he was holding on, she learned a few details and how Evie had crawled to her mother.
As Laura Jean died on the cold ballroom floor, her daughter had crawled to her screaming.
“It was so bad, Jos.” Samuel had broken then. Without an audience, he had broken down completely as they hid in the bathroom. He was a strong kid with thick skin and a smart mouth, but her brave boy fell apart when he told her everything that happened. The tears came first, and then he couldn’t breathe, his skinny body shuddering as he tried to keep himself under control. “Livy. Her head, Jos. Her head… it wasn’t where it was supposed to be.”
He vomited as he went over it, and while embarrassed because he never liked to be seen as weak, he at least allowed her to help him clean up so he could get back to Evie. Pulling him away from the girl had been difficult, and Josie was smart enough not to keep him from her.
“Miranda, look at me.”
“I’m fine, Josie.” She wasn’t. Miranda was pale and ready to collapse, but she squared her shoulders and, just like her hard-headed son, refused to be seen as weak. “I think if we get them clean, then we might be able to see if we can wrangle them into resting.”
“We need to take Evie to the hospital.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Why tomorrow?”
Miranda lowered herself to sit on the edge of their bed, gripping its edge as if it could keep her steady. “If we take Evie to the hospital, we’ll have to take them all. Toby will panic if we leave him behind, and part of me thinks Samuel will, too.”
Josie didn’t understand why that was an issue. “So, we take them all. We show up and drop the Fairweather name, and I guarantee you they’ll—”
“Take one look at us and then go immediately out and spread gossip.” Miranda shook her head. “I can’t let that happen yet.”
Dropping to kneel on the floor beside her, Josie forced Miranda to meet her gaze. “He can’t hide this. No matter how powerful you think Ben is, he can’t—he won’t—hide this. The whole town will know what’s happened before sunrise and the whole state by sunset.”
“I called Trevor.” Miranda pressed her lips together and inhaled deeply through her nose before continuing. “He already knew. I don’t know how, but he was on his way. The plane should land in two hours. He’s bringing Heather.”
It made sense. Someone would have to deal with everything. They were busy with the kids, and Ben…Ben was lost to them. It had to be Trevor, and things would get done with Heather coming. The woman was a vicious snake, but that might be what they needed.
