"I don't tell you how to make panties, Magenta. Don't tell me how to work a case. I'm going to win this. We will make it happen, but if that little girl starts picking fights, they'll blame Luke. If she becomes a problem child, they'll blame Luke. Meredith is already trying to drag his ass through the mud!" She leaned her head back and groaned in frustration. "Did you know that bitch got pregnant on purpose?"
"What?" I asked, convinced I'd heard her wrong.
"I'm not positive, but that's sure what she made it sound like. She had the right guy, and she was convinced that he'd marry her if she got pregnant. He was 'supposed to,' she said. He promised to take care of her, and she thought that was what those words meant."
"That fucking bitch," I grumbled.
"You heard the way she talks," Darnell said. "Wouldn't shock me if she was raised to think that's how this works."
"And she's trying to teach Faith the same thing," Cessily told us. "Guys, that's what you boneheads don't see. If Faith goes back to live with Meredith,thatis what she'll hear every single day. A good girl marries up. If you want to make something of yourself, you'll drop to your knees. If you intend to have a good life, spread your legs and let the best boys have their way with you, because girls are supposed to be pretty and fuckable."
"No," I breathed.
Cessily just nodded. "So keep your shit together for one more month. Faith deserves that much. If she cuts? It's going to do a hell of a lot less damage than what her mother's words will do. The shittiest part is that I can't prove it. Meredith isn't stupid. She's just warped, and she knows better than to say anything in court. Doesn't mean she didn't say it in mediation."
"That changes everything," I admitted.
"This is what I'm working with." And she patted the file she'd just dropped. "All it takes is a little silence, a hint of complicity, and this sort of mentality can flourish unchecked. Well, Meredith didn't count on Luke wanting his daughter to grow up and be a strong girl. She assumed that since he was so willing to bend her over - although it was probably missionary." She huffed in disgust. "But he went there, so clearly that's what he thinks of girls, right?"
"It's different when it's your kid, isn't it?" I asked.
"Don't ask me!" Darnell said. "I'm kid-free. Gran taught us all how to use condoms, brother."
"And birth control," Cessily added. "We girls got a special day when we turned sixteen. Trip to the doctor and a day in town. That old man gave me a lecture about how my love would be greater for the first guy I slept with, and how it was like tape on skin, and each time I had a new lover, it would mean less and less."
"Saying I'm worn-out tape?" Darnell asked.
"You've got a big dick," Cess teased. "That's all I care about."
"Keep that up and I'll fall in love, baby. Talk to a man like that and it's like all his dreams have come true."
I rolled my eyes at both of them, knowing they were full of shit. "So how do we help Faith if we can't make her tougher?"
"She needs a friend," Darnell said.
I just threw up my hands. "Really? We all know that. In case you missed it, we're failing as teen matchmakers."
"No," Cessily said. "She needs a tribe. She needs a goal to hold out for. Some reason to push through one more day, making this a challenge instead of just hell."
"But what?" I asked. "She's already claimed her color."
"She's got a horse," Darnell added. "She's been given clothes. Everything that girl wants, she has. What else is there?"
"Something big," Cessily said, tapping at her lips. "Not something tangible, either. We don't want to teach her to value materialistic things. But what does she really want that we can actually make happen?"
"A dog," I breathed. "She just told me that when she texted. She wanted a dog, but her dad was living in that trailer and her mom didn't want one."
"A big-ass dog," Darnell said.
"A rescue," Cessily corrected.
I pointed at her. "That. Think Violet would go for it?"
"You'd have to ask Luke," Cessily pointed out.
"Shit," I scoffed. "I think that man would love a dog. He'd have it follow him around all day long." Then I headed to the door, leaving without a word. "Violet?" I called across the house.
"Office," she yelled back.
