The Forgotten Child

Chapter 5, The Forgotten Child

Chapter Five

She'd made good time. As she glanced at the clock she saw it had only taken two hours to scrub every pot, load the dishwasher, and run it twice; but that was after she'd soaked and scraped off the dried food. Did he have to dirty every dish in the house?

Trevor was a different story; she'd never seen a child so happy to play alone. Katy tried twice to share her dolly and even picked up one of his toy cars and played beside him on the carpet. He'd ignored her, until she'd picked up the green car he lined up in a straight line across the coffee table. He screamed a high pitched, shrill cry as if he'd been hurt; Katy, of course, started crying and dropped the car. Trevor, without looking at her, grabbed the car and put it back in its specific spot, in line. Except now, he was making a "whop, whop" sound. Emily hugged Katy and took her into the kitchen, then set her up with her Dolly away from Trevor. Emily asked Trevor what was wrong and asked him not to scream but to use his words. He ignored her. She'd need to talk to Brad; it seemed odd for a child to act this way. Maybe he had abandonment issues. She pondered that while she cleaned and searched the sparse pantry for something edible to feed everyone for lunch.

* * * *

Emily was stirring the soup on the stove when someone knocked on the front door. She turned off the propane, and hurried to the door, glancing at Trevor and Katy watching Dora on the big screen TV; actually, Katy sat on the sofa and watched, Trevor was bouncing on both feet two inches from the TV screen.

Emily opened the door to a short guy wearing a brown hat. "Delivery for Brad Friessen."

"He's out back, do you need a signature?"

"Yes, ma'am, but you can sign for him if you swear he lives here and you'll give it to him." The guy chomped on a piece of gum and grinned. Guess that was his sense of humor.

Emily signed for the package and closed the door. A loud crash and what sounded like glass shattering echoed from the kitchen.

"Oh, shit!" Emily dropped the box and hustled across the worn wooden floor. Katy stood in the archway wide-eyed.

"Mama, Trevor bad." Katy pointed to the tiny little dark-haired boy, wearing blue cotton pants and a striped T-shirt, barefoot, sitting in an orange, sticky puddle beside an open fridge door. The lower plastic side bar stuck out like a partially detached thumb and dangled to the floor. Jars and containers were scattered on the floor. Chunks of glass and pickles surrounded Trevor. "Trevor, don't move."

"What the hell's going on in here?" The back door clattered and Brad stomped into the kitchen, brushed past Emily, bent over and picked up his wet boy, moving him out of the mess.

"Stay there." His deep, smoky voice was sharp as he cast an accusatory glance at Emily.

"Weren't you watching him, how in the hell did this happen?"

Trevor tried to step into the puddle of orange juice, flapping his arms and yelling "da, da, da." Over and over.

"Dammit, you're going to cut yourself." Brad picked Trevor up and moved him over by Katy, who stood quiet and unsure in the doorway. Big pools filled Katy's eyes. She looked ready to cry.

"Brad, a delivery guy brought you a package; I signed for it. Trevor was in front of the TV. I just turned my back for a second."

The cream-colored walls seemed to vibrate as the tension thickened the air. Katy burst into tears and Brad ran his large callused fingers, the hands of a working man, through his hair, irritated. He ground his teeth with his tight, strong jaw. His Adam's apple bobbed. Then he sighed and threw his hands in the air, as Emily picked Katy up.

He let out a weary laugh and something softened as those magnificent eyes connected with hers.

"Well, let's clean this up." Brad reached for a roll of paper towels on a shelf by the back door. He ripped off sheets and dropped them onto the puddled juice.

Emily kissed the top of Katy's head and wiped her tears. "Watch Dora and let me clean up this mess. I'll come and get you." Katy clung when Emily tried to get her to sit on the sofa. But she appeased her with her dolly and was able to slip away. Trevor was a different story. He was making a "whop, whop" noise as he swayed back and forth just inches from the chunks of glass Brad scrambled to pick-up.

"Why don't I take Trevor and get him cleaned up." She didn't wait for a reply, but squatted down in front of the child. He was whimpering in his juice-covered pants, making a different noise now, "whee, whee, whee" over and over again, as he played with his fingers. "Actually, Brad, I don't know where his room is. If you could point the way to the bathroom and his room, I'll get him changed into some clean clothes."

It took Emily a moment to realize Brad had stopped cleaning up the mess and was watching her with a look that resembled confusion, or maybe he didn't understand what she'd asked. Then he dumped a wad of soggy paper towels into a black garbage bag, and stood to his full height. He gestured toward the back of the kitchen, where there were a set of stairs by the back door.

"Just up those stairs, first door on your right is the bathroom, Trevor's room's beside it on the left."

Emily hesitated in front of the boy. Not in fear, but wondering what his reaction would be toward her. She could feel the heat from his father burning into her back. Clearly, she was center stage.

"Come, Trevor, let's get you cleaned up." She held her breath, waiting for him to freak out. She didn't want that to happen in front of Brad, she was nervous enough as it was. Trevor was still agitated and he whimpered when Emily reached under his arms and picked him up. Trevor wouldn't look at her, but he did wrap his tiny, baby-fat, little arms around her neck and his wet legs around her waist. Okay, so far so good. Emily stopped in the archway. "Katy, come with Mommy."

Emily walked with a sureness up the wooden stairs, Katy right behind her.

      You can buy THE FORGOTTEN CHILD and the rest of the THE OUTSIDER series at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, iBooks, Google, Gardners, All Romance and Smashwords. You can sign up for my newsletter, follow me on Twitter, or like my Facebook page. See http://www.lorhainneeckhart.com/series/the-outsider-series/ for all links. Thank you for reading! THE FORGOTTEN CHILD has now been translated in TWO languages, GERMAN & FRENCH!