The Dark Side - Danielle Steel Page 0,34

“if it’s one of your complicated, academic psychological theories that never make sense to me. You know what they say, ‘If you hear hoofbeats, don’t look for zebras.’ The right answers are usually pretty simple. Don’t go looking for convoluted reasons, Connie. Our son and his wife probably don’t supervise their kid properly, and need to watch her more effectively, even if he is our son. It could be as simple as that. Don’t make yourself crazy trying to figure it out. And whatever the reason for Jaime’s injuries, there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it.” Listening to her husband, Constance knew it was true. He had a way of breaking things down to the basics. She was their child, and they got to make the rules. It didn’t matter who was responsible for her injuries. It had been heartening to hear from Austin that he was trying to talk Zoe out of some of her absurd theories too. Maybe that was all Constance could do. As a grandmother, she got to sit on the sidelines, sometimes in a front row seat, and say as little as possible, or even nothing at all. She knew from experience that Zoe didn’t welcome comments and advice from her mother-in-law.

Constance had understood that as soon as Jaime was born and Zoe couldn’t work out the nursing, but she wanted no advice from her or anyone, even her sisters-in-law, just from “specialists,” whose theories sounded as off base as Zoe’s. All Connie could do was pray and hope that they would get more sensible about parenting and the simple rules of safety regarding Jaime. Beyond that, she could do absolutely nothing, except what she had done today. Plant a seed with Austin, and hope it would grow.

* * *

—

For several weeks, Zoe was busy with some reorganization at the children’s shelter that involved changes of staff, new systems and techniques they were adopting, a new computer setup, and a board meeting. Zoe had to work late several nights, Austin was home alone with Jaime, and he really enjoyed it. She was a bright, affectionate little girl, and he loved spending time with her, and taking care of her.

Thanks to Zoe, all his wishes had come true. He had a wife he loved deeply, and a beautiful little daughter. He could tell how bright she was, even though she couldn’t speak clearly yet. She said a lot of words. He could hardly wait until she could communicate with them in sentences. Then she’d really be fun. She was more daunting as a baby, when he didn’t know what to do with her. But the older she got, the more he enjoyed her. Fatherhood was everything he had hoped it would be and more, even if it had been confusing in the beginning.

* * *

—

When Zoe got home that night, she told him about the changes they were implementing at the shelter. Since he was on the board, he would hear about them at the upcoming board meeting, but he liked the insider information he got from Zoe. They were getting more hardcore cases from the courts now, children who had been severely physically abused, some of whom came to them directly from hospitals after they’d been injured, and many of whom were too damaged to put into foster care, and couldn’t adapt to normal family life. A number of them had been serially raped by older family members, even their fathers, brothers, and uncles. Some had been viciously attacked by their mothers and had crippling defects as a result. One had been blinded by bleach sprayed in her eyes. In dealing with all of them, Zoe showed remarkable wisdom, dignity, and compassion, and great medical judgment. She also had a strong alliance with several judges who trusted her implicitly and admired the way she ran the shelter.

As Austin listened to her, he remembered everything that he loved and admired about her, and how remarkably capable she was. There were few women he respected as much as he did Zoe, except maybe his mother, who was the smartest woman he knew. He could sense that his mother didn’t understand Zoe. She was so discreet and so modest, she rarely talked about her work and all that she accomplished. He often wished that his family knew more about her, but much of what she shared with him was confidential. She was the soul of discretion, and incredibly humble. He often thought that