Chapter 11 - Belle Asked If I Was Staying
One year after garage, Belle found me packing overnight bag for conference.
She froze.
“Are you leaving?”
“For two nights.”
“Why suitcase?”
“Because clothes become socially useful.”
She did not laugh.
“Are you coming back?”
Her voice broke.
I understood.
Her mother died.
Grandmother disappeared.
Celia took her.
Adults vanished.
I knelt.
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
I remembered Harlan forcing promise on phone in garage.
I chose words carefully.
“I promise I intend to come back. And if something changes, I tell you. I don’t disappear.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
Then: “Do you love Daddy?”
Children.
“Yes.”
“Does he love you?”
“I think.”
From hallway Harlan said, “Very much.”
I glared.
“Eavesdropping?”
“Hallway quiet.”
Same excuse hospital.
Belle grinned.
“Can Rue marry us?”
“We are not planning wedding,” I said.
May you like
Harlan: “Not yet.”
I threw sock at him.
