Page 52 of Perfect Bragg

“Me. Obviously.”

I don’t tell him how I will always have an answering machine. Missing an important phone call is a fear I battle on a daily basis.

“Why are you staring at it?”

I point to the blinking red light. “There’s a message.”

“What do you know? There is a message. Maybe you should listen to it.”

He can’t know the terror his words cause. Listen to it? What if it’s a policeman phoning to notify me of another death? Another family member who’s left me.

“Did you hear the joke about—”

I can’t listen to a joke about an answering machine. I just can’t. I press play before he can finish.

“This is a message for Harmony Kingsley from Ms. Cross. I will be stopping by tomorrow for a home visit to check on how things are going with Robin. This is a routine visit, but any findings I make will be made available to the court as your custody of Robin Kingsley is contested.”

“Oh no.” My knees tremble and I stumble. Elder catches me before I can fall.

“Easy, Harmony.”

He picks me up and carries me to the living room where he sits down on the couch and arranges me on his lap.

“This is a disaster,” I wail.

At the sound of my distress, the dogs come running from the nursery. Black Ops sits on top of my feet while Little Bow Wow and Pup Tart jump on the sofa. They attempt to wiggle their way between me and Elder but he’s not having it. He nudges them away.

“This is not a disaster,” he claims.

I glare at him. “How can you say this isn’t a disaster? This situation has disaster written all over it! She’s going to come here and say I’m a bad mother and then she’s going to take Robin from me.”

“Whoa! Slow down.”

“Slow down? I’ll slow down when I’m good and ready to slow down.”

“You’re going to give yourself a heart attack.”

I snap my teeth at him. “What do you care if I have a heart attack?”

He rears back. “Naturally, I care. Have I given you the impression I don’t care?”

“Make this all about you, why don’t you? Now I have to deal with your precious ego? I don’t have time for this.”

“Maybe you should try taking a deep breath.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you telling me to calm down?”

“I wouldn’t dare. But a nice, deep breath wouldn’t hurt.”

“You are telling me to calm down! What kind of man thinks it’s okay to tell a woman to calm down?”

He squeezes my hips. “Let’s discuss this matter like adults.”

“Let’s? Let’s! Why are you part of this discussion? This is my problem to deal with. That baby girl lying asleep in the nursery is mine and no one is taking her from me. Do you hear me? No one!”

“You give me no choice,” he says before he slams his mouth on mine.

“I—” I open my mouth to protest and Elder shoves his tongue inside.

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