I follow the woman I’ve barely spoken to down a winding path between fifteen-foot palm trees and spiky tropical bushes. “This place is crazy,” I say, not able to stay silent as I pass a huge red flower-spike.
“It’s my favorite part of the estate,” Jessica says, her hand stroking the bark of a tree with the familiarity of an old friend.
She leads me deep into this tropical snow globe, the glass roof barely visible through the canopy, birds chirping from somewhere in here, and doesn’t stop until we’re at a bench next to a waterfall, lilies floating in the water as it streams out, a plant-free pool with steps into it nearby.
Patting the seat beside her, she perches there, looking back the way we came. I join her.
“This isn’t a fairy tale,” she says, not looking at me.
“I never thought it was.”
She glances at me, a small smile hinting at the corners of her lips. “I see why Mattie likes you. You came into this clear-eyed, unlike poor Olivia. But if you knew this life is a nightmare and not a fairy tale, why are you here?”
“Because your husband wants to hurt people I care about. And I’m not going to let him.”
She twists her fingers in her lap. “You might think you have the teeth to fight him. But any misstep, he’ll find. Every mistake adds up, more chains to hold you down, until you’re less safe, and they’re less safe, than when it all started.”
I sigh, staring at the water cascading down beside us, the dull roar likely what made her choose this location. “He’s not omnipotent. He’s a man. A smart, cruel man, but a man nonetheless.”
“It’s taken me years to gain enough leverage to just keep Mattie safe. And you think you can do better?”
I don’t know this woman. Not at all. All I know about her is that she’s kept her daughter safe. Or at least, as safe as she can when she’s dealing with a monster like Trips’ dad. So I don’t answer.
It’s her turn to sigh, looking me over. “You’re right. He is just a man. And he won’t live forever. Let’s hope you last long enough for Archie to gain back a little bit of his sunshine.”
“Sunshine?”
“He was one of the sweetest, happiest kids when we met. Trevor was already cruel and manipulative when I entered the picture. But Archie, even after losing his mom, was so full of life and hope that I assumed it meant he was being raised by a good man. That Clarence was a good man.”
Closing my eyes, I try to imagine that version of Trips, and it’s impossible. That hopeful little boy died long before I met the man he’s become.
Jessica continues whatever confession she led me out here to deliver. “A credit to his mother, it turns out. But if she could keep him safe, I could do the same.”
The force of my anger at that statement surprises me. “And what happened to that plan? Because you failed. Miserably.”
She nods, not hiding from the truth. “I did. I’ll be the first to admit that every broken bone, every hospital visit, each one isa strike against me. Because it came down to Archie or Mattie. And she was just a baby. Babies die all the time, for no reason at all, as Clarence would often tell me. Especially little girls. But little boys in this house don’t. So I made my choice. But every visit to the doctor, to the hospital, I prayed for them to figure it out, to take him away, to rescue him.”
“Money hides sins better than any prayer,” I mutter, something my dad has said before, the words making more sense today than any time in the past.
She stands, her fingers digging into her skirt. “You seem like a smart girl, and you care for him, I can see that. Hold on to that. Because Clarence will try to take that away. He doesn’t understand love, and he hates how illogical it makes people. But it’s the one thing he can’t steal from us.”
The click of her heels fades as she steps into the foliage, leaving me alone in the kind of room I’d never even imagined existing, droplets of water slowly gathering against my skin the longer I stare at the artificial stream winding farther into the garden.
That’s where Trips finds me, damp, in a swimsuit and coverup, grief, curiosity, and rage battling inside me, no one emotion winning out over the others.
He sits next to me, his knee brushing against mine. “What did she want?”
“To warn me about your family.”
He scoffs.
A leaf falls from a vine near the waterfall and gets caught in the eddies below. “She also explained why she got distant.”
“I’m sure she painted herself the martyr.”
“Not at all. She knows exactly what she did. She traded your safety for Mattie’s life. Apparently, your dad has never been fond of girls.”
“Fuck.” His hands dig into his hair as he rests his elbows on his knees.
