Page 20 of Requiem for Love

Never had a single sentence left such a gaping hole inside him. If they verified that someone hurt Theo, and possibly someone connected to them, Central, or both, they’d also have to face the possibility that the hurt might go deeper than any of them were prepared to deal with.

Ayesha took Theo’s hand, and they disappeared behind the bathroom door.

He replaced the sheets and found Theo a fresh pair of pajamas. Then he took the old ones and the soiled sheets to the laundry room, sprayed them with the fancy organic stain remover he and Ayesha spent entirely too much on, and tossed them in the washer.

Theo hadn’t had an accident in at least two years. Still, they’d kept him in Pull-Ups until he was three and nighttime underwear until earlier that year, convinced each time he woke up dry, it was a fluke. As a precaution, they never removed the waterproof covering on the mattress underneath the sheets, and until tonight, they never had to.

After turning on the washing machine, he went in search of them and stopped outside Theo’s door when he picked up on the topic of their conversation.

“It’s really easy,” Theo argued. “When we were still in Maui, I called Joel ‘Daddy,’ and he didn’t even get mad.”

“Theo—”

“It’s not fair! Jojo got to have a daddy!”

“Theo,” Ayesha sighed, “baby, you do have a father. He…died, but you do have a father. You did.”

“Mama, my heaven papa can’t tuck me in or read me bedtime stories. He can’t tickle me and make me laugh and give me hugs. Only Joel can. I love him a lot, Mama. A whole lot. This much.”

Joel’s heart swelled as he imagined Theo stretching his little arms as wide as he could.

“I know you love him, baby,” Ayesha said. “And he loves you.”

“And when we liveded wiff Joel, I didn’t see the scary man. I never did, Mama.”

“Baby, we never actuallylivedwith...wait, what man?”

Joel stepped into the room. Theo hopped out of bed and raced into his arms. In one motion, he scooped him up and hugged him close. Ayesha watched them, and he knew the minute they settled Theo back to sleep, she would ask him about “the man.” What he didn’t know was what lie he would tell her.

“Joel, can you stay wiff me?” Theo asked. “Like in Fiji?”

“You’re scared here too?”

Theo nodded. “I feel safe wiff you.”

“What if you sleep with Mama in her bed?” Ayesha asked. “Do you think that would help a teeny tiny bit?”

“Can Joel stay? Is it okay even if he’s not my birfday daddy?”

Ayesha asked him the same question with her eyes, and he nodded—as if it would have been anything else. If this “man” turned out to be a literal threat, then she and Josiah were also at risk.

They went to her room, and Theo didn’t release him, even as he sat on the mattress and propped his back against the headboard.

Theo plopped his ring and middle finger into his mouth and sucked on them like a pacifier. Whenever he tried to place Theo on the bed, Theo’s grip tightened. They didn’t utter a word until Theo’s breathing slowed and his fingers slipped from his mouth.

“He said ‘man,’” Ayesha said, pacing in front of the bedroom dresser. “Not monster. Man. What if…Joel, what if someone was in the house when the three of us were asleep, and I didn’t know? I mean, it’s one of the things Theo drew. It’s entirely possible.”

“Ayesha—”

“And what if this…this man,” she shook her hands, “hurt Theo? Like…hurt,hurt? All the…all the signs are there—a behavior change, increased fearfulness, nightmares.” She motioned to Theo. “Regression. That? Him sucking on his fingers? That’s regression.”

She took a seat on the mattress, her hands in her hair. He tried one more time to set Theo down, replaced his body with a pillow, and then walked over to kneel in front of her.

“I’ve never worked with child victims of se…” She gagged. “Child victims of…of that kind of abuse.”

“Let me ask you this,” he began. “You said before that it could have been Adjustment Disorder. Could those still be signs of Adjustment Disorder?”

“Technically, but the man thing doesn’t sit well with me.”

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