Mia nodded eagerly, and he sat on the edge of her bed. “I’m going to ask you to do something, and it’s going to sound kind of weird, but I think it’s a good idea. I’ll explain all about it, and then you can decide if you want to do it, okay?”
“Okay.” She liked that he was giving her the choice, but she knew that if Jacob thought something was a good idea it probably was.
“See this?” He pulled a box out of the bag. “I bought it just for you, and I’ve already read the directions. It’s a special kind of test.” He opened the box and pulled out something plastic and held it in his hand. “This is a container that you spit into. Once it’s full, I’ll mail it to a special place, and they’ll do tests on the spit, looking at something called DNA. The tests can tell us all kinds of things about the person who did the spitting. I’m hoping if you do this we can find out more about where you came from and if there are other people connected to you.”
She was puzzled. “People connected to me? What does that mean, Jacob?”
He didn’t answer for what seemed to be a long time, and then he said, “I don’t think your mom and dad are alive, but you might have other relatives: aunts or uncles or cousins even. Maybe even grandparents. This test might tell us if you do.”
Mia knew who all those people were from watching the television and from books, but she never thought she might have some of her own. “Do you really think so, Jacob? I might have a grandma?” Grandmas on TV were always so nice.
“It’s possible. But look, Mia, the test might show nothing, so I don’t want to get your hopes up, okay? We’d just be doing this to find out everything we can, understand?”
“I understand.”
“If nothing comes up, I don’t want you to cry about it. You still have us, right? So it’s not like you’ve lost something.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Do you have any questions?”
“How does that work with my spit? How does it tell them about other people?” She wanted it to be true, but none of it made sense.
Jacob shook his head. “It’s very complicated. Just trust me, it works. Do you trust me?”
“I trust you.”
“You know I would never lie to you, right?”
“I know.”
“So do you want to do it?”
“Yes,” she said eagerly.
“You can’t say anything to my mom and dad, though, you got it? If my mom found out, she might kill me. You don’t want that, do you?”
“I won’t say anything,” she assured him.
Spitting into the tube was a big chore, but Jacob was patient with her. He talked her through it, telling her to take her time. The key, he said, was to let the saliva build up in her mouth for a while before spitting. At one point her mouth felt dry, and he let her take a break. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to get enough spit, but after a few minutes it was okay again. When her spit came all the way up to the line on the plastic container, Jacob gave her a fist bump. She watched as he took the wide part off the top of the tube and then screwed a cap on to seal it.
“It looks like a test tube,” she said.
Jacob looked at her with surprise. “How do you know what a test tube is?”
Mia shrugged. “I just know.”
“You’re one smart little person.”
She liked it when Jacob said nice things like that. As she watched, he put the test tube into a clear plastic bag and pulled off a strip of blue plastic along the top, then pressed it shut. Once that was done, he put the whole thing in a box and sealed it tight.
He said, “And that’s all there is to it. I’ll mail it in, and in a few weeks we’ll get the results.”
“The results?”
“A report that will tell us about your relatives.”
“Will that come in the mail too?”
“No, I’ll be able to see it online.”
Mia nodded. She knew what online was. Jacob and his parents were always looking at their phones or other screens, but she wasn’t allowed. They could find out all kinds of things online—what the weather was going to be like, what time the football game would be on, how long to bake chicken. Any question a person had could be answered by going online. Jacob let her look sometimes when no one else was around, and once he’d even taken a picture of her, but he was always the one holding the phone. Maybe someday she could do it too.
“So then you’ll tell me what the report says?”
“Trust me, squirt, after I find out, you’ll be the first to know.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Mia!” Suzette bellowed as she came into the house. “Get over here right now!” She usually prided herself on having a lovely speaking voice—in fact, her college music teacher had complimented her on her dulcet tones—but this sentence came out in a guttural, excessively loud way. It infuriated her to hear her voice sounding so ugly when it was absolutely unnecessary. Why did her family drive her to this?
Mia sheepishly came out of the kitchen, her face showing that she knew she was in trouble and her body shaking with the knowledge of what was to come. Good. At least one person in this household understood when they’d violated the rules. Suzette was so tired of having to keep them all in check. It was exhausting.
“Yes, Ma’am?” Mia said quietly.
Suzette dropped her handbag and her shopping bags and grabbed Mia’s arms so they were pinned to her sides. “What the hell was that all about?” When the girl didn’t answer, she lowered her face so they were nose-to-nose. “Are you supposed to open an outside door? Ever?” She shook Mia so hard that the kid’s teeth rattled.
“No, Ma’am.”
“But you did it anyway, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Why would you do that if you knew it wasn’t allowed? Why?” She felt the anger build up inside her. She could snap this child’s neck if she wanted to, but she held back. No one ever gave her credit for the times she could have acted out in anger. There were occasions when it was tempting. She could have ruined Matt’s life and had him thrown in jail. She could have easily exposed Jacob for the clueless sloth he was, and as for Mia, no one would miss a child who didn’t exist.
Not only did she not get credit for not tearing them down, she didn’t get the accolades she deserved for doing the opposite. On a regular basis she talked up her husband and son, downplaying their many weaknesses and creating fictitious personality attributes they didn’t have and never would.
She told stories of extravagant gifts Matt lavished on her, saying, “I tell him not to, but he insists! Says nothing is too good for his soul mate.” The embellishments were justified by knowing that Matt would have given her these gifts had he only recognized how lucky he was to have her as his wife. She’d elevated him from a dolt to an enlightened husband, which was very kind on her part. In her spun tales, her husband wrote her love notes, which she quoted to the women in her social circles.
As for Jacob, she’d had to think long and hard about how to make him look good. His grades were atrocious, and he clearly wasn’t an athlete. His taste in fashion was appalling, as were his manners. None of this was her fault. She tried to help him, she really did. The only option left was to depict him as a secret creative, an undercover genius, one who couldn’t be bothered to conform to society’s expectations. She was a one-woman public relations company in charge of making the Flemings the envy of everyone she came into contact with. And now Mia had done something so stupid it could destroy everything she’d worked so hard to build. She gave the girl another shake. “Answer me!”
“Sorry,” she whimpered.
“Why, Mia? Why can’t you listen?” So many times Mia was just a blank slate, her face giving not a clue as to what was going on in that damaged little brain of hers. This was one of those times, and it made Suzette furious. She shoved her against the wall, hoping for some kind of response, but Mia just trembled and shook her head. “Do you want the police to come and lock yo
u up? Is that what you want?”
“No, Ma’am.” The words came out in a whisper.
“That’s what will happen, you know. You’ll be thrown in a cold dark cell with no food or water, and there will be rats and bugs crawling all over you. Does that sound good to you?”
“No, Ma’am.”
“Here we give you a nice home and keep you safe and warm. All I ask is for you to follow directions. It’s not that hard, Mia, not that hard at all.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Suzette remembered a time when she’d thought Mia was a gift from the universe, an offering to help ease the loss of baby Olivia. Ha! She couldn’t have been more wrong. Within a few months she’d realized that Mia lacked the spark that her daughter certainly would have had. Olivia would have been like Suzette, a charmer with a take-charge personality. This child had the personality of a dishcloth. She shook her again. “You need to learn, Mia. Start paying attention.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Jacob’s lumbering footsteps came down the stairs as she finished correcting Mia. No doubt he was planning on defending the little minion, something he’d been doing lately. His interference was not appropriate. She would not allow a teenager, a mere child, to dictate how she should handle things in her own house. She still had Mia pinned against the wall when he came into view, and she didn’t even bother turning her head to acknowledge his presence.
“Jeez, Mom, I could hear you all the way upstairs with my headphones on. What’s wrong now?”
The sight of him, sloppy and fat in his oversize clothes, disgusted her. Even more off-putting was the insinuation that her raised voice was an overreaction. Did he think she wanted to come home to a problem that had to be addressed? No, she did not. How much nicer would it be if everyone did as they were told? The household would hum along like a well-oiled machine, and all would be right with the world. If they followed her rules, the house would be a damn utopia. It wasn’t as if she asked for much.
Jacob came closer. “Mia, are you okay?”
So that was it. He didn’t even care about her, but assumed that she was overreacting and that Mia was blameless. Essentially, he was choosing Mia over his own mother. What an insult, given all she’d done for him. In a surge of retaliation, she gave Mia a sudden push, knocking her to the floor. Mia went down hard, her head hitting the wall as she fell. Suzette was happy to see the shock on Jacob’s face. She always knew how to get his attention. “Mia is fine,” she said crisply. “We’ve reached an understanding, haven’t we, Mia?”
Mia nodded as she slowly sat up. Jacob froze, his pudgy face showing his horror.
“And now, to drive the point home, Mia will be skipping dinner tonight—and so will you, Jacob, since you weren’t keeping an eye on her.” Judging from the look on his face, she’d picked the perfect punishment. Jacob was going to be crying in his room without his dinner, but it served him right. Where was he while Mia was exposing the family secret to some stranger in the garage? He needed to take some responsibility in all this. And it’s not like skipping a meal would be a hardship for him. He had plenty of fat to burn.
“Okay, Mom. I’m sorry for not keeping an eye on Mia.”
“That’s better.” She dusted off her hands. “Now go and tuck Mia in for the night, and I want you to spend the rest of the night in your room as well. You’re both being punished.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Mia scrambled to her feet and followed Jacob to the basement stairs. Once they were out of sight, Suzette went into the kitchen to start off the evening. She could almost taste the glass of wine right now. There was an unopened bottle of Riesling chilling on the top shelf of the fridge. It would have been her first choice, but she really needed to polish off the merlot first. She didn’t like to have a lot of open bottles of wine sitting around. So unseemly.
As she sat at the table, enjoying her first sips of merlot, her mind strayed to the old woman who’d boldly walked up her driveway uninvited. Such gall. She seemed harmless enough, but it was odd that she’d specifically asked about a little girl. It had to be a coincidence, but it was still unnerving.
This week was throwing all manner of grief her way. First Dawn from Magnificent Nutrition had called to say that her employee’s grandmother had made threats about her special purchase, and now this. Suzette had heard the panic in Dawn’s voice, but she wasn’t worried. As far as Suzette was concerned, nothing could be traced back to her. She paid in cash and picked up an unmarked bag. Big deal. Even if she was caught with the pills, she could claim she had no idea what they were, that someone must have switched out her vitamins.
The old woman wasn’t a worry either, just an annoyance. There was no way she could know about Mia. The child never left, and the windows on the first floor were always covered. No one knew she was there. Of course, then Mia had to open the door right at that moment, which was hideous timing. The woman hadn’t seemed to notice. Luckily, she came off as a bit of a birdbrain, so no harm done. It couldn’t happen again, though, and Suzette was sure it wouldn’t. She’d driven the fear of God into Mia, and Jacob too. Or maybe it was the fear of Suzette. She laughed at her new turn of phrase.
It was times like this that she really missed her father. He’d been gone for nearly three years now. Three long years. So much time for her to be without the one person who knew her to the core, and approved wholeheartedly too. Her mother was still alive, but she was useless. She’d been a terrible mother when Suzette was growing up, and now, as an old woman, she was needy and difficult. Suzette was glad to let her brother, Cal, take charge in that area. He was, she was sure, scheming to take over her part of the inheritance. Such a greedy jerk, the way he acted like he cared about their mother, taking her to doctor’s appointments and helping her with home repairs. He was so obviously trying to curry their mother’s favor. Well, if he was going to squeeze her out of the family fortune, he might as well earn it.
Her father had always told her she was special, and he’d delighted in her every move. He’d say, “All you need to know about Suzette is that she’s always right and she needs to be the center of attention.” He said it with such affection that hearing those words made her glow. In his eyes, she was always right, and he was happy to have her be the center of his world. Throughout her childhood, he was her cheerleader. When other girls were mean to her, he told her they were jealous. If she didn’t win a prize at school, he told her the officials were idiots. When friends turned their backs on her, he told her they’d be sorry someday. She was better off without them. Her father definitely had her best interests at heart.
Her mother was another story. She was always ready to knock Suzette down a few notches, telling her she was no better than anyone else and that she needed to learn how to compromise and get along with others. As if. Suzette had quickly learned to ignore all that defeatist blather. Her father’s voice was the one she held on to.
Another bit of wisdom her dad had imparted? How to present herself to the world. He’d started off asking a question: “You want everyone to know you’re the best, Suzette?”
She’d leaned in to listen, knowing even then how important this would be.
He’d continued. “There’s only one way to make it clear to everyone else around you. First of all, you should know that your competition is not the smartest girl in the room, not the prettiest in the room, and certainly not the tallest, richest, or strongest. Your competition is the one who is the most confident. Confident people get what they want, and men are drawn to confident women like cats to catnip.”
It was the best advice she’d ever gotten, and those had become her words to live by. At times she was tempted to share this knowledge with others—Jacob, for one, could certainly use a dose of confidence—but she always held back. Why should anyone else know this secret? It was intended for her, Daddy’s princess, the most confident girl in the room and now the most confident woman in every room.
She took another sip of wine and smiled.
> Chapter Twenty-Two
After Niki left a voice mail for Amy, she and Sharon ate dinner, still puzzling over the little girl Mrs. Fleming had adamantly denied lived in her house.
“Could she maybe be keeping her there for a good reason?” Sharon asked. “Like maybe she’s hiding a friend and her daughter from an abusive spouse?” Thirty years before, Sharon had once done that herself for a work colleague. She’d forgotten all about it until just recently. Matilda was the woman’s name. They’d worked together, but she barely knew her. Just to say hello to, basically. And then, one day, Matilda came to her door with her six-year-old son and a small suitcase and begged for a place to stay. “Just for a day or two,” she said. “Until my mother arranges for our plane tickets home.” Home was Nebraska, where she’d grown up. The husband knew all his wife’s friends, but he didn’t know Sharon, so her place was the perfect hiding spot. As soon as Matilda got word that the tickets were waiting for them at the airline counter, Sharon drove them both to the airport. That was pre-internet, so she never knew how the story ended. She hoped Matilda and her son went on to a happier life. The husband had sounded like a brute.
“Maybe.” Niki sounded doubtful. “But there are other things that don’t add up as well. I’ll show you after we’re done eating.”
Once the dinner dishes were taken care of, both of them trooped up the stairs, the cat following right behind them. Niki grabbed a chair from the junk room and got Sharon situated before turning off the lights. “The last few days I’ve been watching every evening, and I’ve been noticing a pattern.”
“A pattern?” Sarge jumped into her lap as if he wanted to be included, and without thought she began to pet him.
Niki looked through the binoculars for a minute before lowering them and putting them in Sharon’s hands. “Yeah. All of the first-floor windows are always covered, even on the sides and the front. At least they were every time we drove past. The second floor seems to vary. Sometimes the blinds are up, sometimes they’re down.”
The Moonlight Child Page 14