AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As we pulled up in front of Nadine’s trailer, Minty leaned over to the steering wheel and honked. We hadn’t been back inside since the fateful day with the photo, and it seemed as if he had no intention of changing that now.
Nadine came out to the top of the small set of steps and waved us in.
Minty rolled down the window. “Just come on, Mama. We’ll be late.”
“No, please, sugarbaby. I need to show you something.”
Minty tensed next to me. “What?”
“You don’t have to go in,” I said. “You’re the prince, remember?”
He made an impatient gesture at me without even looking around.
Nadine went on, “It’s just that I got a new sofa, and I put up the tree with your favorite angel on top. I thought you might want to see it all for yourself.”
Minty went very still, and then slowly opened the passenger sidedoor to climb out. I turned off the car and followed.
“Hi, Luke,” Nadine called with a grin. I waved, but in my heart, I wanted to throttle her. “Come on, boys. It’s a real pretty couch. I got it at Goodwill for just about nothing.”
I followed Minty up the stairs, giving Nadine a closed-lipped smile and keeping a wary eye on her. If she pulled any crap, I wouldn’t hesitate to grab Minty and leave without her.
She wrapped her arms around her son on the top step, pulling him into a hug. I stayed close behind.
Inside, the living room had been entirely turned around. The new pale green and gold plaid sofa was against the back wall instead of the front. She had bought a blanket in similar colors to throw over her recliner, and she’d taken down the wall of photos altogether, replacing it with a huge, terrible frameless painting of sunflowers. I half-suspected she’d done it herself.
“What do you think?” she asked, spreading her arms wide to show off the room and still grinning like she deserved a cookie for getting rid of the couch her son had been raped on.
Forgiveness.
Yeah, I didn’t think I possessed enough of it to cover that.
“It’s nice, Mama,” Minty said, wandering over to the tree and tilting his head back to peer up at the angel, an old-fashioned thing in a gold tinsel dress. “She’s so pretty.”
Nadine enveloped him in a hug from behind, sniffing his hair and kissing his cheek. “Not half as pretty as you.”
“Thank you. It’s because I’m a fairy prince. Tell her, Luke.”
“He’s a fairy prince, Mrs. Arnold.”
“Yes, covered in fairy dust at birth,” she whispered with a happy giggle.
Minty relaxed in his mother’s arms and nodded, never looking away from the angel. “Yes, thank you. I’m amazing, I know.”
I nearly laughed, but I managed to keep a straight face.
Nadine said in a small voice, “I also took the liberty of changing up your old room.”
Minty stiffened again. “How’s that?”
She released him, clasped her hands together like a child, and explained. “I turned it into a sewing room with fabric and things for me to try to start up a seamstress business. What do you think?” She moved toward the door to the short hall. “Want to see?”
Minty licked his lips and looked to me.
I mouthed, “It’s up to you.”
Putting up his chin, he took hold of my hand and led me past her. Together we walked down the hall to the room where he’d last seen his father, where he’d confessed his shame to me, and where, now, a big table with a sewing machine on top reigned where there had once been a bed.
The room was painted rose-pink, and it smelled like rose oil too.
