They ran.
“No jumping off the furniture.”
Grace shouted from upstairs, “That was Emily!”
A chill ran through me.
Emily shouted, “I’m a baby! I don’t know the rules!”
I was heating up soup when Grace came into the kitchen and pulled at my sleeve.
He had a serious face.
“Do you want to meet my mom?”
I stared at her. “What?”
She nodded. “Do you want to meet my mom? She liked to play hide-and-seek too.”
My heart began to beat strongly.
A chill ran through me.
“Grace,” I said carefully, “what do you mean?”
She frowned. “Do you want to see where he lives?”
Emily came in behind her, dragging a stuffed rabbit by one ear.
“Mommy is downstairs,” he said.
My heart began to beat strongly.
Grace dragged me down the hall as if she were showing me a birthday surprise.
“Down where?” I asked.
Grace grabbed my hand. “In the basement. Let’s go.”
All the bad thoughts hit me at once.
The closed door. The secrecy. The girls’ stares. A dead wife. A basement that Daniel never opened in my presence.
Grace pulled me down the hall as if she were showing me a birthday surprise.
At the door, he looked at me and said, “You just have to open it.”
I should have waited. Now I know.
My mouth went dry. “Does Daddy take you down there?”
She nodded. “Sometimes. When he misses her.”
That didn’t help.
CONTINUE READING…>>
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