With a heavy heart, she stepped back down the steps and into Dred’s arms.He held her tight against his chest.She felt safe with him.
“Hello, can I help you?”The voice came from behind her.
Pixie stopped breathing for a moment.She hadn’t heard that voice in over six years.
“Oh my God,” her mom said, dropping the bags of groceries in her hands.“Sarah-Jane.Is that you?”
Pixie left the safety of Dred’s embrace and stepped toward her.All the words she’d planned on saying escaped her.Her mom was not only alive, but she looked healthy.
“Mom,” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes.
Her mother sobbed and hurried to her, throwing her arms around her tightly.“Oh, my baby girl.I thought I’d never see you again.I missed you.So much.I didn’t know what happened.When I came home that night, neither of you were home.I am so sorry, Sarah-Jane.”
Pixie tentatively placed her hands around her mom’s shoulders.Too many years of hurt and anger bubbled under the surface for her to fall into a heartfelt reunion.Her mom’s selfish actions had placed her at risk.And too many times her mom had ignored her cries for help.
“Can we go inside and talk?”Pixie asked, noticing Dred picking the groceries up off the ground and scooping them back into bags.
“Of course,” she replied, wiping under her eyes, smearing the heavy mascara she wore.
The trailer looked different.It was tidy.The tiny kitchen counter was empty.There were no dishes piled by the sink, the air wasn’t permeated with the suffocating smell of tobacco.Thankfully, the awful stool Arnie had made her ...well, it was gone.She led her mom to the sofa, and encouraged her to sit.
Dred placed the groceries on the table and sat down on the only other chair in the room.
“Let me look at you,” her mom said, taking hold of her hand.“You grew up so perfect, baby girl.”
Pixie hated it that the praise meant so much.Her chest inflated traitorously like a helium balloon at the comments.She needed information, and the sooner she was out of here, the better.
“Mom, this is my boyfriend, Dred.Dred, this is my mom, Helen.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Mrs.Travers,” he said politely.
Helen nodded.“You, too, Dred.”She turned back to Pixie.“Why are you here?What have you been doing all these years?”
Pixie wasn’t ready for small talk.“Mom, what do you remember of the night I left?”Helen’s hand shook in hers.
“Not much, I’m ashamed to say.I remember Arnie was having a card night.I was pissed because he’d been out fishing all day.And he’d left all his stuff out on the counter over there.”She tilted her head in the direction of the sink.Pixie remembered, but that mess had saved her, because that was where she’d found the fishing knife.
“I’m sorry, Sarah-Jane.I’ve been clean for four and a half years, and have been trying to get sober for longer than that.But those days are hazy at best.All I know is when I woke the next morning, Arnie was still gone and so were you, I kept thinking you’d both come back.But you didn’t.I was frantic and started asking the neighbors if they’d seen anything.One of them said Arnie helped a guy that sounded a lot like Brewster into his truck and drove off.And I dealt with it how I’d got used to dealing with things.Drugs.”
Helen sighed heavily.
“Have you seen Brewster since then?Or do you know anything about him?Where he worked?”
“I don’t.I’m sorry.He was good with his hands, I think.Carpentry, car mechanic maybe.”
Pixie tried to hide her disappointment.“Do you have any photographs from back then?”
“Let me go see.I have boxes of old pictures in the closet.”Helen stood and walked to the rear of the trailer.
“You doing okay, Snowflake?”Dred asked, leaning forward and putting his hand on her knee.
She placed her hand over the top of it.Truth be told, she’d felt numb the moment she set foot in the trailer.
“Here.Try this box.”Her mom returned and handed her an old shoebox.
Pixie spilled the photographs onto the table and started to sift through them.There were too many memories attached to the pictures to give them anything more than a cursory glance.
Dred lifted a photograph toward her and looked at her quizzically.She was about thirteen, but the biggest shock was her hair.“Brunette, huh?”
