tell him, Dana,” she said quietly but firmly. “Tell him what your grandmother said last night while we were gone. He needs to hear this.”
Do you hear me? Do you understand? But Dana reached up and squeezed Beth’s hand.
And all Beth could do was stand there and trust.
Dana licked her lips. Her face shifted. Beth knew that look. It was the one Dana got when another homework assignment hadn’t gotten turned in, or a quiz had been totally blown off.
She was getting ready to lay it on thick.
“Um…when you and Mom were…out, Grandma told me…she told me Mom was going to get rid of you.”
Todd frowned. He also straightened up. Beth took the opportunity to steer Dana past him, out into the bedroom. She checked through the connecting doorway reflexively and saw Jeannie still curled up under the covers in the other bed.
Todd followed them. “What the fuck is that girl talking about, Star?”
Dana wasn’t having any of that. Nobody answered for her. “Jeannie told me Mom was going to get you drunk and get rid of you, and that Mom and me and her were going to all take off together.”
Beth sighed. “I tried to tell you, Dad.”
Todd’s fists curled up tight. Beth immediately slid between him and Dana. She lifted her chin. She remembered this too. Only he’d been so much taller then—a monster with a great, long shadow and yellow fangs. Then, it had been Jeannie behind her. Now, it was Dana, and that made all the difference.
“You set this up,” he growled. “You told her what to say, just now, in there.”
“Knowing how you’d beat the crap out of my daughter if you found out she lied? You really think I’d take that kind of chance?”
Because you know I’ll do anything for her. You know I’d never put her in danger. That’s what your whole plan hangs on.
He looked bewildered. He ran his hand back across his hair, an old gesture from when he was a younger man and had to push his hair out of his eyes. Memories were coalescing inside him, thoughts rearranging themselves into realizations.
Beth held her breath.
You’re getting there. Almost there.
That was when Jeannie stirred and sat up in bed.
“What’s going on?” she mumbled. “Why didn’t anybody wake me up?”
All at once, Dana lit up. Beth saw in the mirror how her eyes blazed, and Beth’s heart stopped.
Dana jerked around, ran into the other room, and threw her arms around her grandmother.
“I told him, Grandma!” she wailed. “I’m sorry! I couldn’t help it! He heard me talking to Mom, and I had to tell him.”
“Told him…” Jeannie’s bewilderment and disbelief were every bit as strong as Todd’s had been. She slowly lowered her hand to Dana’s back, mostly because she didn’t seem to know what else to do with it. “Told him what?”
“That thing you said, about what Mom was going to do.” Dana lifted her face, confused. Beth felt her fist tighten. Careful, Dangerface. Careful. Not too much. “I had to!”
Todd stared at his granddaughter and his wife. Beth could practically hear the thoughts in his mind crumbling. He knew Beth would lie. He knew she could be dangerous. But when he looked at Dana, all he saw was a clone of the little girl Beth had once been. He saw Star.
Star was always frightened. Star had always been alone. She had always been trapped in a room with parents who would use her when they needed her. Her life had been about surviving them, not defying them.
He had no understanding that Dana might have had a different kind of life. He’d always made sure his women were too dependent, too ashamed, and far too frightened to move.
Except maybe not. Except maybe someone had lied to him. Someone jealous. Someone terrified he might actually leave. Someone who could not live without him. That he could believe. That he could understand.
Todd walked up to his wife. Jeannie scrambled back in the bed. Dana slid out the far side and backed away, but Todd ignored her.
“What’s this about, Jeannie? What did you say to the girl?”
“Nothing, Todd! What would I say?”
Beth came up behind him, close enough to feel the fever warmth of his body and smell stale sweat and garlic.
“You better tell him, Mom,” Beth said. “You know how much worse it gets if he catches you lying.”
Jeannie scrambled out of bed. Dana jumped back out of her way. “What are you doing, Star?”
Jeannie came forward around the bed, intent on grabbing