With All My Heart - Emilia Finn Page 0,53
am I supposed to fix this?”
She stares into my eyes for a long beat. Her stare makes my heart race, because I know she revisits her abusive daddy every time she thinks of Jon.
She admits, whatever Jon gets is a million times worse than anything she ever got.
“Fuck.”
She nods. “So we catch him. That, right now,” she points at the wall, “tonight is the last time he sneaks into our home in the middle of the night with whatever injuries he’s wearing. Next time he says he’s going home, hell, next time he says he’s going to the fort, we follow. We have to end this, Bry. He can’t go on like this.”
Chapter 16
Bryan
“One two! One two! And through and through.” My green-haired son – dressed as a tree – waves his arms and pretends to be a creepy willow on a stormy night. “The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!”
I cough and hide my laughter at my always-serious son and his terrible – woeful! – acting. It’s talent night for my son’s fifth grade class. We’ve been here for an hour and a half already.
We’ve seen shitty magic tricks.
Shittier dance recitals.
One reasonably awesome Kata demonstration. And now it’s Aiden’s turn.
“Bry!” Nelly slams her elbow into my ribs and has the breath exploding from my lungs on a snort. “Stop it. Watch him.”
“Babe,” I hiss out on something of a hybrid angry laugh. “He’s a fuckin’ tree! His hair is green. That shit ain’t gonna wash out for weeks.”
“He left it dead, and with its head. He went galumphing back.”
Bobby slaps his thigh and brushes his crying eyes on Jon’s shoulder. “He’s so bad. It’s so bad!”
“He took his vorpal sword in hand, and chopped his brother’s head off if he doesn’t stop laughing!”
Bobby howls and kicks the chair in front of him. His laughter echoes in the auditorium and leeches into what was an unsmiling Jon.
Jon’s been so serious, like he knows Nelly and I have been watching closer than ever, but he’s been careful. He’s not telling us where he’s going. He’s not limping.
But Iz has been at our house less.
As in, he’s getting spooked, and he’s taking her with him, because that’s what he does.
If he runs, he runs with her.
“So rested he by the Tum-Tum Tree. And stood awhile in thought.”
Aiden brings his plastic sword down over his play-mate’s head, but not before pointing it right at Bobby – despite the show lights blinding him, and the fact the audience is in the dark.
His promise comes across loud and clear.
I’ll be paying more ER expenses in the next twenty-four hours.
I swear, the clock says Aiden was on stage for only ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Between Nelly’s dangerous jabs, and her twenty-four roll of disposable camera film, she snaps the last on his bow, then she swings her handbag and slams it against her first-born son’s face. “Robert! You’re this close to being grounded!”
“Mom!” The crowd stands and applauds as excitedly as any crowd you might find at a fifth-grade talent show. “It sucked, Mom! It’s sucked rotten eggs.”
“You don’t laugh at him! That’s mean.”
“Dad was laughing.”
I spin on my traitorous son and pin him with a glare.
He swallows dramatically as I silently mouth the words ‘snitches get stitches.’ “Yard. Tomorrow.”
“Dad.”
“Five a.m.”
“Dad!”
“Fifty burpees first.”
“Dad!” He stomps his foot like a spoiled child, but his lips twitch anyway. Tomorrow we rumble, not because he laughed at his brother, but because he snitched on me.
“Honey!” As soon as Aiden reaches us in the crowd, Nelly pretends like we didn’t just organize Sparta in her backyard. Throwing her arms around his broad shoulders and pressing embarrassing kisses to his face, she leaves red lipstick all up and down Aiden’s already rosy cheek. “I’m so proud of you! The way you chopped that boy’s head off. It was amazing.”
“Aww, Mom. It’s no big deal.”
“It was a huge deal! What do you want to do to celebrate? It’s your night, honey. You deserve roses and a standing ovation.”
Bobby gags and pokes his finger inside his throat, setting Jon on a silly bout of giggles. I throw my elbow back and catch Bobby’s ribs, then stupidly, without thinking, I do the same to Jon and send him buckling and his face draining white.
“Fuck.” Leaving an oblivious Nelly to smother Aiden, I turn to Jon and help a now serious Bobby push Jon’s head between his knees. “Shit, buddy. I’m so sorry.”
Hair that’s grown a little long for his face hangs in