Housewarming

by Jennifer Bowen

  Lilah nodded and inched closer to him. He was now lying flat on his back, his legs extended in front of him, one perfectly straight and the other twisted. He rolled part-way onto his left side, yelping in agony.

  “Mom, hurry,” he pleaded. Tears trickled down his cheeks.

  Kara didn’t dally. Her head clearing, she set off, taking the shortcut through the woods. She didn’t care what might lurk there. She didn’t look back, running into low-hanging branches and thornbushes. On one especially strong bush, she got trapped, her tee-shirt tangled up in a mess of burr hell. She swore loudly, tugging away. She returned home, ran through the unlocked backdoor, grabbed her car keys and cellphone, and hurried into the garage.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Holding Lilah’s hand, Kara came through swinging doors, leaving Jack behind in the hospital emergency area. The waiting room was nearly empty with one woman sitting at the check-in counter, penciling in an adult coloring book. Kara’s eyes drifted over the chairs and couches facing the TV that dipped from a stand secured to the far wall. To her dismay, her mother sat beside John.

  “Hi,” Kara said, approaching them. Lilah let go of her hand, the statue in the crook of her other arm, and scrambled onto John’s lap.

  “Is he okay?” John asked.

  “His leg’s broken,” Kara replied, sitting down beside John, who was now sandwiched between the two women. “He fractured his tibia. He’ll be in a cast for a few weeks and then a walking boot. Jack’s handling it really well. The doctor will be done plastering soon.”

  Lilah said with reassurance, “Jack’s not gonna be like Marvin.” She rubbed the clay frog’s head and looked more like she was talking to it than to any of the adults in the room. “He’s gonna be OK.”

  John and Kara exchanged glances before John said, “That’s right, Lilahbean. Jack’s going to be alright.”

  Kara watched her daughter for a moment, the girl’s focus seemingly only on the frog. She looked unaffected by the weight of the words she had just spoken. Kara didn’t add any additional words of encouragement. It hadn’t occurred to her until then that the hospital they were presently in was where Marvin had passed away. She wondered vaguely if his ghost hovered near.

  She finally adjusted in her seat and folded her arms, brought back to the reality that her mother, quite in the flesh, sat only a handful of feet away from her. Kara folded her arms, her eyes on the TV screen. The news program went into a commercial, which started with a series of flashing bright images. The light made her head hurt, so she turned her eyes down to the strap of her purse. “I’m surprised you’re here, Mom. You really didn’t need to come.”

  Margaret leaned forward, looking at her. She said, matter-of-factly, “When you called me frantic, what do you expect?”

  Kara scowled. “I called you? John, did you—”

  Margaret’s eyebrows shot up. “You don’t remember?”

  John replied, “She was here when I got here.”

  Kara glanced at her mother’s incredulous face and turned away again.

  She had called? When?

  “I guess it’s just been too upsetting to remember. It happened so fast.” Kara racked her mind trying to remember dialing Margaret. She had no recollection of it; frankly, she hardly remembered calling John. She looked in her purse, knowing the pill Shannon had given her hours ago was no longer there. Kara had bought into the promise of peaceful sleep. How strong had it been?

  She searched inwardly, trying to remember what had transpired. She had lain on the couch, had woken up…She had found the kids in the barn. And what had Jack said about the hayloft…?

  He wanted to check something out, he’d said as they had waited for the doctor to exam him. He couldn’t explain it any better. He just thought—had felt—there was something there. He just had to look.

  Come and see.

  When Kara had asked what was in the loft, her interest piqued, he had said simply, “Nothing. It was empty.”

  Now Margaret was claiming she had called her, implored her to come. But when had she contacted her?

  John was shifting in his seat, stirring her from her thoughts. “It’s the first traumatic experience we’ve had,” he mumbled.

  Kara flinched, whipping her head to look at him. His eyes were on the TV. A classic game show was on now, the volume too low to make sense of the host’s jokes. The first traumatic experience they had had? What about Sophie? she wanted to ask. Had he completely blocked out that traumatic experience?

  “I can think of another one,” Margaret said quietly, speaking Kara’s thoughts.

  Lilah fidgeted and hopped off John’s lap. Pressing the statue against her chest, she curled up on Kara’s lap, propping her legs up on the empty chair beside her.

  “So, how’s my granddaughter? I’ll bet you’re ready for bed,” Margaret chuckled, acting the part of doting grandmother, a farce. “Or maybe breakfast. The sun’ll be up soon.”

  Lilah shifted, closing her eyes and turning away.

  John stood, saying he was getting coffee. “Want anything?”

  Kara said, “No,” and Margaret didn’t reply. Kara watched him leave, not noticing her mother had slid into his seat until she turned back.

  A nurse walked up to them, smiling kindly. “Jack’s being very brave. They’re just about done. You can come back now.”

  “Thank you. We’re waiting on my husband,” Kara said.

  They watched her leave and were silent for a few minutes, staring at the flickering screen until Margaret asked, “What happened? Were you sleeping?” Her eyes searched Kara’s face.

  Interpreting it as an accusation, Kara said nothing. She twisted her hand gently in Lilah’s dark tresses. If anything had happened to Jack and Lilah, she never would’ve been able to forgive herself. She rubbed her aching temples.

  “Kara, what happened tonight?” Margaret’s tone had softened.

  The hairs on the back of Kara’s neck stood; she’s trying to manipulate me, trying to act the part of mother. She steeled herself, but replied honestly, “The kids snuck out of bed.” Leave it at that, she told herself. She doesn’t need to know anything else.

  Margaret’s eyes narrowed. “Is that normal?” She softened again, though, explaining that, in her stupor, Kara had called her frantically, asking her to come to the hospital.

  Impossible. Why would Kara do that?

  Kara closed her eyes, resting her head back against the wall, and waited for John to return.

  They invited Margaret to sleep at their house when they went home an hour later. It was too late for her to make the long drive to Cosgrove. It was a normal offer a daughter would make to her mother. They exchanged little more than goodnights as Margaret settled in Jack’s bedroom. He took the couch, his casted leg propped up on pillows. Kara, John, and Lilah went to bed too. This time, as dawn neared, Kara had no difficulty falling asleep.

  Late morning found John in the home office and Kara and Margaret at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. It wasn’t difficult to keep quiet so as not to wake Jack, as the awkwardness alone would’ve kept them in that state under normal circumstances. Kara, the first to finish eating, thought a tour of the house would’ve made the moment less awkward, but she didn’t bother offering and her mother didn’t ask for one.

  Margaret dabbed her mouth with a paper towel. Kara watched her until she caught her staring. Kara looked away, her eyes resting on a white, gauzy cloth poking out of Margaret’s open purse. A snapshot of the scarves hanging in the woods flashed in her mind.

  Not hiding her rising suspicion, Kara demanded, “What’s this?” She pinched the material.

  “Nothing.” Margaret brushed her hand away and tucked in the gauzy material.

  “What is it?” Kara reached into the purse.

  “Kara!” Margaret tried to push her away, but the invading hand shot in, snatching the material.

  “What’s this?” Kara turned the rectangular patch in her hand.

  “That’s a handk
erchief.”

  The ends of the cloth were embroidered with lilacs. Kara remembered it from her childhood. She felt a mix of embarrassment and disappointment.

  With alarm, Margaret asked, “Are you alright?”

  Kara didn’t meet her gaze as she shoved it back into the purse. She didn’t reply.

  Margaret looked at her daughter and then finally stood up. “I’d better be going.”

  Kara followed her to the front door. Without emotion, she said, “Thanks for coming out.” She opened the door and met Margaret’s eyes. Seeing they were bloodshot, Kara reluctantly softened her tone, “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

  “I’m glad you called me,” Margaret replied, crisply.

  “Are you able to find your way out of town?”

  “Yes. It doesn’t seem complicated.”

  “Goodbye, Margaret.” John had appeared at the office doorway. He gave her a slight smile that she didn’t return.

  “Bye, John.”

  Kara walked her outside.

  “Goodbye, Kara,” Margaret said when they got to the edge of the driveway. “Take care.”

  As Margaret started to turn away, Kara blurted, “Have you heard anything more from David?”

  “David?” Margaret turned around.

  “Has he reached out to you again? You know, you could’ve returned my calls instead of playing games with me.”

  “I don’t know what you mean, Kara. David? Jack’s father?”

  Kara cringed at the mention of the biological connection to Jack. “Yes! David! Has he reached out to you again?”

  “…I don’t know what you mean. He—”

  “Has he contacted you again?” Why was her mother playing this game? Didn’t she realize how cruel it was?

  Margaret’s voice now had a defensive edge to it as she said, “I haven’t heard from David since you were in college. I don’t know what you mean, ‘he contacted me.’ I never told you that.”

  “What do you mean?” Kara asked in exasperation. “You texted me about it.” Kara pulled the cellphone out of her jeans pocket and switched to the texts she had received.

  “I never texted about him. I haven’t even spoken his name since…I don’t know how long. Maybe you heard this from Tracy.”

  Kara scrolled through the text messages. The immediate ones were old, with no mention of David. There weren’t many between Margaret and her, but she ran her thumb up and down the window, sliding the same texts back and forth, as if she had overlooked them. But no matter how many times she scanned through the messages, she found none about David.

  Where had they gone? Had Kara deleted them by mistake? She turned to the texts from Tracy, even though she knew all the messages had come from Margaret.

  As she checked her email, even though she knew their exchange had been through texts, Margaret asked with concern, “Has he contacted you?”

  Kara gave up the search, wracking her brain why she couldn’t find them.

  “Kara? Have you heard from David?”

  “I…No.”

  “But someone else has?”

  “…I-I thought…” Had anyone heard from him? If Margaret hadn’t told her that, then who had? How could this be? The texts were…gone? She finally said, “I thought you told me he reached out to you…I guess I misunderstood..?”

  “That’s an odd thing to misunderstand. Where would you ever get that idea?”

  “I don’t know.” Kara turned her gaze to the lawn, then rolled her eyes downhill to the road.

  “That doesn’t make any sense. Are you not telling me something? Are you keeping David a secret from me?”

  Her mother was now accusing her of withholding information. Kara pressed her free hand to her forehead. “Like I said, I heard wrong. I haven’t heard from David. Everything’s fine.” What in the world was going on?

  Margaret stared at her until finally saying, brusquely, “Alright. Tell me if you hear anything.”

  Kara clipped back, “I will. Have a safe drive.”

  “Tell the kids I said goodbye.”

  Kara sat on the porch swing, her eyes on her mother’s car as it drove down the driveway and turned onto the road, but she didn’t really see her. Her thoughts were scrambled. What had happened to the messages? She looked down at her phone and scrolled through the texts again. They were short and trivial, no mention of an ex-boyfriend showing up after ten years. But she couldn’t have made it up, because she had read Shannon the messages. That was proof she hadn’t imagined it. It hadn’t been a dream…

  She tapped Shannon’s name on the screen. When Shannon answered, Kara jumped right in, asking, “Remember how I told you about my ex and the texts my mom sent me?”

  “Yes.”

  “I read you the texts, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, I didn’t sit there and hallucinate it.”

  “Huh? What do you mean?”

  “I just confronted my mom about David and she said she hadn’t seen him and hadn’t texted me. I don’t get where they could’ve gone…Do you think there’s a glitch with the phone carrier?”

  Shannon said, slowly, “Okay, so let me understand this. Your mom’s texts are gone?”

  “Only the ones about David. Those are gone.”

  “How can that be? The other texts she sent you are still in your phone history?”

  “Yeah.”

  There was a pause as Shannon thought it through. Finally, she said, “I don’t know why those would be the only ones missing if there was some kind of issue with the phone carrier. That doesn’t make sense.”

  “That would be weird.” Kara sighed. “Well, they were the latest messages. Maybe it was just the most recent ones that glitched…You know they were there.” She laughed lightly, trying to comfort herself. “It’s not like I imagined it all.”

  But Shannon’s reply wasn’t encouraging when she said, “You read them to me, but I didn’t see them.”

  Kara narrowed her eyes, looking at the yard. “What do you mean?”

  “I think,” Shannon began, choosing her words carefully, “you’ve been dealing with a lot lately. Lack of sleep, grief, stress…I think it’s really easy for us to trick ourselves.”

  “I couldn’t have imagined reading you texts!”

  “I don’t have any other explanation, Kara. If that’s not what happened, then what do you think it could be?”

  Kara didn’t say anything, her memory of reading the texts to Shannon while they sat at the kitchen table flashing in her mind. She had read them to her…She couldn’t have imagined that.

  “Do you want me to come over? I know it’s been rough…”

  “No, I’m fine,” Kara said quickly. “It’s a glitch or something…”

  “Did you check Tracy’s texts? Could they have been from her?”

  “No. Tracy didn’t send them.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe David contacted her instead and you got her and your mom mixed up.”

  “She didn’t know David.”

  “Oh…Well, you have said she and your mom are close. Maybe she’s the one playing games with you.”

  Could Tracy have sent them? Tracy and her mother had seemed to have grown closer over the last few months, and Kara hadn’t talked much to her since the move. Could Tracy be callous enough to make up a story about David returning? Why would she do that? Was she bitter about Kara moving away? Their friendship had dwindled, that was clear, and she had suggested she move back to Cosgrove…

  “Then I don’t know,” Shannon said.

  Realization came over Kara then. “Wait a second.”

  “What?”

  Kara slapped the seat of the swing. “My mom must’ve deleted them!”

  “What?”

  “Wow. That’s crazy.” Kara shook her head. She explained Jack’s accident and how Margaret had spent the night. She must’ve gotten a hold of Kara’s cellphone sometime in the early morning and deleted the messages. Her mother had reached a new low. She had worried
Kara just because she and the kids had moved away.

  “Wait. Your mom texted you these things about your ex and then deleted them? And then she denied she knew anything about it?”

  Kara gave a short laugh, swinging. “Apparently.”

  “That makes no sense.”

  “A little revenge I guess?”

  “Why would that make you want to move back to Cosgrove?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “If anything, it’d make you want to stay away.”

  “I don’t know. None of it makes any real sense.” Kara groaned. “Maybe she deleted them because she realized how juvenile it was. And then when I asked about it, she didn’t know what to say.”

  “So, what are you going to do now?”

  “Eventually, I’ll have to confront her again, I guess. But I’m not talking to her for a while.”

  “I’d still keep your guard up, though.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Seriously. You’re still not sure about what’s going on. Don’t think you’re out of the woods yet.”

  “Hey!” Kara chuckled. “Are you trying to scare me?”

  Shannon’s voice lightened, not sounding as foreboding, “Sorry, too many true crime shows. But just be careful. You know what I mean?”

  “Yeah, I do.” They said goodbye and Kara clicked off her phone. She looked out over the road, contemplating her mother’s actions. There was no logical explanation other than Margaret having deleting the messages. Had her mother looked guilty when she had denied sending them? Kara must have zoned out her reaction due to her own confusion.

  Well, Kara surmised, her eyes trailing to the lamppost on the driveway, it was good news David wasn’t seeking her out. She just had to deal with her mother, and she wasn’t afraid of her.

  Kara got up and walked to the oak, looking over at the lemon house. A shadow hung over her as she recalled pieces of the night. Had Diane been in woods? The memory was fuzzy and she wasn’t sure she could trust it.

  Kara crossed the yard and approached the Foremans’ house. The dirty men’s sneakers lay lopsidedly on the stoop, as if just tossed there. She peered through the screen door and, seeing no one, knocked.