Joy remained at the top of the stairs, her face solemn and worried in the way that almost-three-years-olds can be.
Leo held out his hand. “Come on down, sweetheart. It’s your granddad.”
“She doesn’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about,” Nora spat out. “First off, in case you fucking don’t remember, she can’t hear, and second, she hasn’t seen you since last Christmas for ten minutes and that was eleven months ago.”
“Through no fault of mine,” he retorted.
I was getting fed up with this row. I don’t care if the little girl was deaf, she could pick up on the fury that was going back and forth between these two. I decided to step in.
“Listen, both of you. I understand how upset you are but get a grip. Nora, maybe she doesn’t need to know everything at the moment. Can you tell her that her mommy can’t come home right now and leave it at that?”
Nora seemed reluctant to give up the fight. I thought she was the kind of person who went to anger as a default line.
“She’s got to be told sometime.”
“True. But perhaps when everybody around her is a bit calmer.”
“Christine is right,” said Leo. “Why don’t you do what she says, Nora? I’ll go into the kitchen and get Joy some milk. Does she like cookies?”
“Dee didn’t let her have them. She doesn’t believe sugar is good for kids.”
“Well, she’s probably hungry and it’s important her routine be maintained as much as possible. What were you going to feed her for supper?”
“Jesus, I don’t know. Dee did dinners. I’m just the ears.”
Joy was coming slowly down the stairs, one step at a time as she’d been taught. She made signs again at Nora, who this time responded. Even I could see how awkward her signs were, but the child understood her. Her lower lip protruded but she didn’t cry. Nora signed again but spoke as well.
“Let’s go into the kitchen, babe, and make some dinner. What would you like? Baked potato and chicken? That sounds easy.”
Joy stood looking up at Leo and me. He held out his hand to shake, making a clumsy sign.
“Hello, Joy.”
Like any other kid in the world, Joy had her own method of diffusing of tension and she thrust her toy, a stuffed green dinosaur, into the air. Her right fingers spelled something rapidly and she made some of her own guttural sounds.
“She says this is Horace. He’s hungry.”
I pointed at my mouth and rubbed my stomach. “Me too.” Well, it wasn’t American Sign Language but it was pretty universal. To my delight Joy moved closer, took me by the hand, and started for the kitchen.
“You’ve made a friend there,” said Nora. “Lucky you. She’s not usually that quick to go to strangers.”
Frankly, I thought the poor kid had chosen me as the least threatening of the three of us. Nora had a cloud around her as tangible as black flies in spring and Leo was barely holding it together.
“Let’s see what we can find for you and Horace, shall we?”
“She can’t understand you,” said Nora with too much satisfaction for my liking.
“If she can’t, you can. If you’ve no objection, I’ll just root around the kitchen and find her something to eat.”
“Be my guest.”
She swung off and stomped off up the stairs. I was afraid that Joy might be upset at the disappearance of the only familiar face but she wasn’t. She tugged my hand again.
“I’ll wait in the living room,” said Leo. “I don’t think she’s used to me and she’s a bit apprehensive.”
I was glad he’d said that because I was about to suggest it myself.
Joy was “chatting” to me. To free her hand she had to tuck Horace under her armpit. She was making incomprehensible sounds at the same time. I smiled at her and nodded vigorously. I know from my experience with Chelsea that children don’t always want a response other than an indication that you are listening. I let her lead me into the kitchen.
It was already dark outside and I snapped on the lights. Joy headed for her own chair, climbed on it, and sat down, looking at me expectantly. Now what? Nora had said potatoes and chicken but the child probably needed a snack before that was ready. I opened a cupboard that was next to the sink. A lucky guess. It was the cereal cupboard. I took out a box of organic cornflakes, held it up, and pointed. Joy grinned happily and nodded her head.
The door swung open and Nora came in. She had a child’s sweater over her arm.
“I thought she might need this…” She halted. “Hey, she shouldn’t be eating cereal at this time of day. Dee would never allow that.”
Before I could stop her, she actually snatched the box out of my hand.
“It seems like a long time to wait for her dinner to cook.”
“It’s not any different from her regular hour. She’ll be fine. He said we shouldn’t change her routine and he’s a fucking shrink, so he should know.”
Nora was turning this into a power play and I could have slapped her. I didn’t even know if she was telling the truth and Joy couldn’t tell me. But she did. She gave a high-pitched squeal and pointed at the cereal box then at her mouth.
Nora shook her head and tapped her fingers on her watch. “She likes her own way,” she said to me.
I turned my back so Joy couldn’t see my face or lips. Nora’s eyes glittered and she reeked of marijuana. She must have lit up a fresh toke while she was upstairs. It hadn’t had its legendary mellowing effect, that’s for sure. I moved in closer so that I was only a couple of inches away. She had her back to the cupboard and couldn’t move.
“Nora, I’m going to overlook the fact that you’re using a controlled substance and that, as a police officer, it is my duty to charge you. I won’t do that. This child needs you, and she needs you to be present and friendly, as I am sure you usually are. Clear so far?”
Her eyes darted away from mine. “Good. I take it that’s a yes. Now, at this time of the day, shortly before dinner, which isn’t ready, what would she normally have for a snack?”
“Carrot sticks and maybe some hummus dip.”
“Do we have some?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s give it to her then.”
I stepped away so that Nora could move. Joy was playing with Horace, making him wave his arm at her. She used her other hand to sign back at him.
Nora went over to the fridge, the door covered with the mandatory child’s drawings. She took out a carton of milk and a plastic baggie of carrot sticks.
“There’s no hummus.”
I went back to the table and sat opposite Joy. Suddenly she looked up at me and made a low sort of growling noise at the same time making a sign at me.
“What did she say?” I asked Nora.
“What do you think? What she’s already said a dozen times. Where’s Mommy?”
She signed back at the child, who promptly stuck her thumb in her mouth and pressed the dinosaur against her cheek. Nora clucked her tongue.
“Dee didn’t like her to suck her thumb. She’s too old for that.”
At that moment the door opened and Leo came in.
“Is everything all right?”
“Fine,” said Nora. But it wasn’t. Leo scared Joy. He said he hadn’t had anything to do with her so maybe it wasn’t personal. Maybe it was just because he was strange and so tense. Whatever the reason, she slumped down in her chair, squealed the high-pitched cry again, and waved her hand frantically for him to go away. He backed away. “Never mind. I’ll go. Christine, can I have a word with you outside?”
I followed him out into the dining room. Joy was letting go. Nora must have gone to comfort her because the sounds abruptly ceased and became whimpers.
Leo opened the front door and went out onto the porch. I followed him. He was shaking with agitation.
“Christine, I don’t know what to do. She’s my granddaughter and I scare the bejesus out of her. I don’t want to leave her with that drugged-out harridan but I don’t know what else to do. Staying here isn’t helping the situation.”
Given the hostility I’d witnessed between Leo and Nora I was inclined to agree with him.
“I think you should get Hannah and Jessica over here. They are familiar to her.”
“I don’t feel as if I can do that either. You saw them. They hate my guts. I’m the bad dad. The one who abandoned his daughter.”
He took a few paces up and down the porch in a way I was now becoming familiar with. It was cold out here and I pressed my arms closer to my body.
“She rejected me, not the other way around. Oh it’s true I didn’t agree with what she did but I would have come around. You saw that child in there. She’s my flesh and blood. I would have been here every day if Dee had wanted me to but she was too stubborn.” He turned to face me, his eyes full of anguish. “And now it’s too late. Oh God, Chris, what am I going to do?”