‘Joe?’ she called as she walked into the kitchen, putting the bags on the bench with a deep sigh. He didn’t answer her, so she looked through the kitchen window and saw him playing under the sprinkler with the two younger kids. They were all dripping wet, laughing under the burning sun. Danni absently wondered if Joe had remembered to put sunscreen on their faces. She guessed it was too late now. Danni wondered where Mia was, but when she stood at the foot of the stairs, she could hear music blasting from her room. Probably studying, as usual. She was a great student, always bringing home good marks in all of her classes, although Danni had noticed that her grades had been slipping a little bit lately and she was picking arguments with Danni over nothing. Was she just being a teenager, or was it down to being harassed at school? It would certainly explain the change in her behaviour and mood.
Danni put the dips in the fridge and the chips away in the cupboard before walking out onto the back veranda and waiting for Joe to notice her. He didn’t, he was too busy chasing Noah around and lifting both kids up under each arm, spinning them around so fast that even Danni felt sick just watching them.
‘Joe!’ she yelled as she walked onto the half dead grass to the edge of the sprinkler’s reach. He turned at the sound of her voice and put both the kids down when he saw the look on her face.
‘Uh oh, looks like Daddy’s in trouble!’ he sang to the kids as they squealed with laughter and pointed at him. ‘Be back soon, kiddos.’ He grabbed a towel from the deck chair and walked over to Danni.
‘What did I do now?’ he asked. Danni’s hands were on her hips and her lips in a thin line.
Danni could read Joe like a book. She knew right now that he was running through his behaviour the past few days, seeing if he could identify where he’d fucked up. Maybe not coming home right after work? Maybe the distance he’d put not only between him and her but the kids as well? This was the first time he’d played with them in well over a week. It was nice to see and she wanted to comment but she knew it would come out accusatory.
‘You didn’t do anything wrong, Joe.’
He heaved a sigh of relief. ‘Thought I was in trouble,’ he mumbled. ‘What’s wrong? You look worried. Is it the kids?’ Now he looked worried. He turned around and looked at Alexandra and Noah.
‘Yes,’ Danni said quietly. She grasped Joe around the arm and pulled him to the other side of the house away from Mia’s room so she didn’t accidentally overhear them if she came downstairs. ‘It’s Mia.’
Joe looked confused. ‘What about her?’
‘I was just stopped by Addy Jensen, you know Addy, she’s Jessica’s mum, you met her at the last school fundraiser.’
‘Vaguely. Why, what’s happened?’ he demanded, all business.
‘Addy mentioned that Mia was being harassed, stalked, by some boy in her class. A kid named Oliver Marks.’
‘I’ll kill him,’ Joe immediately said, anger burning deep in his eyes at the mention of someone hurting his baby girl.
‘Calm down, Joe, I think we need to take a moment, then go and discuss this with Mia. This is her life, but we do need to know what’s going on in it.’ Danni was so upset with the thought that Mia had been having a hard time and had been keeping it to herself, trying to deal with it on her own. It just wasn’t right, yet she softened her face and suggested to Joe that he do the same and not go in there guns blazing, demanding answers. Sensitivity was better in this instance.
Danni could hear the younger two still squealing under the sprinkler. They’d be there until Danni turned off the water and another half hour or so wouldn’t hurt them.
Danni and Joe went up the stairs, Joe stepping on the third top stair which put Danni’s teeth on edge when it squeaked. Danni knocked on Mia’s door then pushed it open. Mia was lying on her bed doing homework and didn’t hear the knock over her music.
‘Mia!’ bellowed Joe too loudly, it almost sounded like an accusation.
Mia looked over her shoulder, the look of fright lighting on her face for a brief moment, and Danni wondered why she’d be frightened of her father. Mia threw Joe a look that Danni couldn’t decipher as he walked into the room to turn the music down.
‘I was listening to that,’ she said, calm and matter of fact, at odds with her look of fear moments ago.
‘Honey,’ Danni began, sitting on the end of her bed, ‘we need to talk to you about something.’
Mia sat up properly and crossed her legs. ‘I’m listening.’ She sounded so grown up. Danni looked at her beautiful daughter who was fast becoming a woman. She could pass for a younger version of Danni. She even had a similar cadence to her voice and they shared the same sense of humour. Danni guessed that was why she was hurt that Mia hadn’t confided in her about this boy, about her problems. Danni had found it hard to talk about the stuff with Beth too.
Softly and as delicately as she could, she said, ‘Tell us about this boy, Oliver Marks.’
Danni watched as Mia’s tanned face was leached of colour, leaving her wan. Her fingers began to twist around and around each other, her leg started to jig up and down, then she managed to pull apart her fingers, only for her to reach for a chunk of hair and put it in her mouth, chewing on the ends. She hadn’t done that since she was a little girl, at least not that Danni had noticed.
Mia looked up at her father, arms crossed, towering over her. ‘I’m sorry, Daddy,’ she whispered. Danni didn’t know what she was apologising for and why she called him Daddy, something she also hadn’t done for years. She seemed on the verge of bolting from the room. There was tension in the air, but Danni had no idea why. It was as if father and daughter were at war, a silent war waged that didn’t include her.
‘Sweetheart, who is Oliver?’ Danni asked.
She watched as Mia shrank in on herself even more. ‘Nobody,’ she said in such a quiet voice that Danni had to lean forward to catch what she said.
Danni tucked a strand of Mia’s hair behind her ear and tried again. ‘I ran into Addy Jensen today, Jessica’s mum, she was told and then told me that a boy in your class named Oliver Marks was stalking you, harassing you. Is that true, love? We can’t help you unless we know what’s going on.’ Danni reached out a hand to touch Mia, but she shunned her, pulled away then stared up at her imposing father who, thus far, had remained silent on the matter.
‘He… he… I guess he’s been bothering me a bit,’ Mia stuttered.
Relieved that she had got her talking, Danni didn’t want her to stop, she wanted Mia to open up to her. ‘What things does he do to you?’ Danni was almost scared to ask, who knew what went on in schools any more, even mid-sized ones like Mia’s. The teachers knew most of the kids and some of their immediate families. The Brooks family were known to the teachers for all the help and time that Danni and, on occasion, Joe donated to the school.
‘He just creeps me out,’ Mia said, looking up at her father again, so that Danni was left wondering what was going on there. Yet another thing to ask Joe when she got a moment alone with him.
‘How, baby? Be specific.’
‘I can’t. He said he’d hurt me if I told.’
This time Joe did say something, it was mumbled under his breath, but Danni heard it and probably Mia too.
‘You need to tell us so we can help you. Make it better,’ Danni said.
‘He sits behind me in class and plays with my hair. He sniffs it. I hate that. We can sit where we like but, he’s always behind me. I can feel him staring at me. He takes my photo all the time, even when I’m looking straight at him. He doesn’t even try to hide it. My picture is all over the inside of his locker. He takes photos for the school newsletter, I’m always in it. Sometimes, he rides the bus home with me, sitting a few rows back, but I know he’s there, I’ve seen him, he doesn’t hide, he sits there, just staring at me. He doesn’t even live out this way. Mum, he knows where we live. I’m worried he’s going to show up here one day and hurt me. We’re isolated and Dad’s not here most of the time.’ She sa
w Joe swallow, no doubt feeling the weight of his absence. The added stress it had put on his daughter.
Mia stopped to catch her breath and swipe away the tears that had started to form in her eyes. Danni reached out to her again.
‘If you touch me, Mum, I’m going to lose it. Just don’t touch me. Please.’
Not comforting her crying daughter was the hardest thing she had ever had to do, and that included fighting for her life whenever Beth attacked her. But she had to do as Mia had asked.
‘He follows me from class to class and asks me to let him kiss me. He says one day he’ll just take his kiss… and more.’
Danni could feel her blood pressure rising, fast. She wanted to find this tormentor of their daughter’s, knock him to the ground, and put her boot on his neck, pushing down until she heard the sharp snap. She was shocked at herself that she could even think of such a terrible punishment for a child.
‘You’re scared of him, aren’t you, Mia?’ Danni asked.
She nodded weakly.
‘I’ll sort him out,’ Joe said evenly.
‘No. This has to be done through the school, no point scaring the kid, you’ll just get into trouble. I’ll make an appointment to see the principal as soon as I can. We’ll get him transferred out of your classes, maybe banned from photography for the newsletter. There are things we can do, honey.’
‘That’ll just make him mad, Mum, he might do something even worse than just following me and scaring me. And I’m already scared of him. What if he touches me?’
‘Then I’ll put him through a wall, diplomacy can get fucked,’ said Joe, face red with rage.
‘How about we try it my way first, okay guys?’ Danni suggested, trying to calm the situation, despite fuming inside.
They both nodded, Joe angry, Mia apprehensive.
He craved her. He couldn’t wait to leave work early to go and see her. Joe worked as a bricklayer, currently on a job in the next town over, a huge house on the outskirts of town. It was going to be bloody magnificent when they were finished with it. Like something out of a magazine. Pity the owner was such a pain in the ass. He rocked up every morning throwing his weight around, asking questions and basically wasting Joe’s time. Despite this, Joe loved his job, it was his escape, his way into another life that he loved living.
As Joe worked, laying brick after brick, he wondered why he felt the need to have these two realities. If he was being honest with himself, he had been drifting away from Danni for a long time. Somewhere deep inside him, he still loved her, but he thought maybe that was habit, not love. He wasn’t sure and he didn’t want to explore any further in case he opened up a box that he couldn’t close again. He’d been with her since she was a teenager, things change, people grow apart, right?
He loved his kids, little Noah, his beautiful girl Alexandra and his baby girl Mia. Could he ever leave them? Because leaving Danni meant leaving his kids as well. But he had to be happy too, right? Didn’t he deserve that? Didn’t he deserve the life that he thought he should be living? Joe had spent a lot of time while laying bricks thinking about his life, his past and his future. He’d always been protective of Danni, he had been drawn to her vulnerability from the beginning, but was he expected to take care of her his whole life?
Being apart from his kids would kill him but sometimes pain in the short term is gain in the long run. He had a special connection with each of his children but Mia especially had always been his little girl. However, lately they had been drifting apart. It was his fault. He knew it. As he thought about the deteriorating relationship that he had with his eldest daughter, he gripped the steering wheel tighter. Thinking of Mia always made his blood pressure rise, his teeth clench and his heart stutter. He resented the fact that she was pulling away from him, but he and Danni were powerless to stop it. There had been something wrong with her for a while. She thought he didn’t notice, that he was oblivious, but he did see and he did care. Now it all made sense.
Joe swiped a hand across his sweaty and dusty face, he didn’t want to think about Danni and the kids right now, he had other, more pleasant things on his mind. His woman. He was headed back to town to see her. To wash the filth of the day from his face, to be loved, to be somewhere where he was wanted, needed, desired as more than just a father. The window was down, the air rushing across his face, drying the sweat from his manual labour.
His girlfriend (he loved calling her that in his head and couldn’t wait to be able to say it out loud to everyone) was pretty much the only person he could be himself with. That person used to be Danni, but no more. His woman was sweet to him, caring and loved him for who he was. There’d been other women in the past, which he wasn’t proud of. He hadn’t been able to stay faithful to Danni and he wondered if it was due to the fact that he simply wasn’t in love with her any more. He didn’t want to break her heart, but he figured it was inevitable at some stage.
He pulled up outside her house, a smile already on his face, anticipating the warm welcome he knew he’d get, the stress-free existence of being with her. He pulled the key out of the ignition and grabbed the bunch of slightly wilted flowers from the passenger seat. He checked the street before getting out of his pick-up. There was no one around, so he hopped out and walked up the path, overgrown with weeds.
He knocked on the door and waited for her to open it. When she did, he smiled broadly. ‘Hello, my love.’
14
The day after they’d first broached the subject of Oliver, Mia was very subdued when she came downstairs for breakfast. Danni had been awake half the night, pacing downstairs so she didn’t wake everyone else up. She was trying to work out how to fix Mia’s problem without making it worse, and avoid pushing Mia further away from her. Every plan she came up with ran the risk that Oliver would retaliate, but there was nothing else they could do, they could not let bullying and stalking stand. Their Mia was slipping away right before their eyes. She was upset or snappy, crying and moody all the time, and her schoolwork had suffered.
Danni offered to drive Mia to school since she was going there anyway, but Mia refused, presumably because she didn’t want to be seen getting out of the car with her mum. Danni remembered her high school experience, well, until Joe had come along and changed everything. For a moment, she paused in the car and thought about how differently her life might have turned out had she not started dating Joe, had she not fallen pregnant with Mia. She would have left the town she grew up in and might not even have had kids at all. She could have lived in the city in some nice apartment. But she loved her life. Her life was here, her family was here, and she wouldn’t change it.
Danni saw the school bus pull up outside the school and watched as Mia stepped off it. She slung her bag on her back and began to walk into school. Danni’s heart swelled with love and pride. Mia was being victimised, yet still came to school every day, doing her best to ignore Oliver and keep up with her studies. Now she knew why Mia didn’t date. It would be hard to trust boys after this. Danni was sad for her but remembered how she didn’t trust Joe at first either. Sometimes she still didn’t trust him. The thought flitted through her mind before she even had a chance to stop it, or to analyse it. Sometimes she didn’t trust her husband.
Danni patted her hair and marched across the expanse of dead grass heading towards the principal’s office. She didn’t have an appointment, but she didn’t care. She’d wait in the waiting room all day if that’s what it took to see him and report this bullying behaviour.
And that’s exactly what happened. First he was in a staff meeting, then a budget meeting, then back to back interviews with other parents who had appointments. The secretary who sat behind the desk gave her a mournful look every now and then and mumbled, ‘He shouldn’t be too much longer.’ But he was always longer. Danni had waited patiently and was now waiting impatiently for her turn. Finally, he shook the last hand and ushered out the last lot of parents.
‘Mrs Brooks, I understand that despite not havin
g an appointment, you want to talk to me?’ he said in a snappy voice, a frown on his haggard face. He was clearly miffed that she dared arrive without prior arrangement. She didn’t much care.
‘If you have time.’ She knew it came out sarcastically but she was too tired to worry about it. She was annoyed. He had failed her daughter; therefore, he was part of the problem. Question is, would he also be part of the solution?
He motioned for Danni to sit down on one of the two plush chairs provided. She chose to stand, hands gripping the back of the chair so tightly that her knuckles were white with indignation.
He inclined his head slightly. ‘What can I do for you today, Mrs Brooks?’ he asked in a polite yet patronising way. His voice was confident and calm yet imposing, designed to make students shit themselves and parents to calm down. But Danni would not be calmed. She was pissed and she hoped it showed.
‘Well, you can start by telling me why my daughter Mia is being harassed and what punishment the boy, Oliver Marks, is receiving.’
He steeped his fingers under his chin like a stereotypical bad guy. ‘I’m not sure I know what you are referring to, Mrs Brooks. How about I call for Ms Jane Appleby, the guidance counsellor for Mia’s year, and see if she can shed some light on the situation?’
Already he was distancing himself from the issues, putting it on someone else’s shoulders. Principal Peterson picked up the phone and asked to see Ms Appleby. A moment later Danni heard the command over the loudspeaker. Command, not request.
‘Won’t you take a seat while we wait, Mrs Brooks?’ He looked slightly uncomfortable at having a woman standing over him.
‘No, I don’t think I will, thank you, Principal Peterson.’ She liked seeing his discomfort. It gave her power over him. Danni turned at the muted sound of high heels click-clacking over the tired lino floor. There was a light knock at the door.
The Silent Daughter Page 8