Page 118 of Brew
“Shut up.”
“It’s me you want. You don’t want to be responsible for hurting a child. You’re many things, but you’re not that,” I say calmly. I just want Olive safe.
Jude takes a breath, it’s the first sign that she’s perhaps got a small amount of rational thinking left in her brain. She loosens her grip on Olive. “Anyone who pulls any funny business, Olive will be the first to suffer.”
“Nobody’s doing anything,” I stress, waving my hands in the air. “We’re at your mercy now.”
She shoves Olive away, pointing the gun toward me as I fold Olive into my arms, kissing her hair and face as she holds me tightly.
“Are you okay”? I whisper.
“Momm, I’m fine, what is Jude doing here?” Olive whispers.
“I don’t know. Go upstairs, don’t come down again until I come get you, understand?”
“Mom?” Olive starts to cry.
“Go!” I tell her. “It’s going to be fine, I promise.”
Olive clings to me as I try to break free. “Mom, no.”
“Please,” I beg. “Go to Amber, I’m going to be fine. I won’t let you down.”
“Move!” Jude shouts, making both of us jump. “Stay where I can see all of you.”
I shove Olive behind me as she runs up the stairs toward Amber’s waiting arms. Amber cradles her as I turn back to Jude. “Let’s talk this through,” I say. “You and me, just like we used to do.”
Jude waves the gun at me. “Don’t patronize me. I’m warning you. Steven was supposed to be out. We’re supposed to start our new life together, but all he wanted to talk about was seeing you and Olive.I’mthe one who’s been here the entire time, not you. You ran away. You left the family?—”
“Because deep down I knew it was all wrong,” I say. “I didn’t want that life for Olive. When I saw what was going on with Vincent, I couldn’t let Olive go through that. When I told Steven my concerns, he brushed them off like they were nothing. I didn’t want my daughter to be a child bride to some old man. You wouldn’t want that for your children.”
“You don’t know anything about what I want,” she sniffles. “I loved our church. I loved everything Steven stood for, he’d never hurt anyone, not like Vincent. He was roped up in all of this.”
“That isn’t true,” I say softly. “And you know it. Steven went along with everything Vincent said and did.Everything. He knew what he was doing, and you need to accept that.”
She holds the gun at me, but even I can see it’s unsteady. “No.”
“Yes, Jude, hurting me or anyone else here won’t bring him back. He’s going away for good this time. You need to accept that.”
“Shut up!”
“You have to face the truth.” I step toward her.
“Don’t move!”
I spread my fingers wide. “I just want to help you.”
“No, you don’t. You want to ruin me, just like you did Steven.”
“That isn’t true. I just wanted out of that life. I couldn’t live like that anymore.”
“You broke him, do you know that?” she whispers. “He wasn’t the same when you took Olive.”
“I told you my reasons. I stand by them.”
“You have no conscience. You just abandoned your family. What kind of person does that make you?”
“It makes me smart. I’m a mother. I have to do what’s best for my child, and I will always do that. We were all sucked in by Steven, but he wasn’t a good person, Jude. Coming here tonight to hurt us won’t change that fact.”
