“She didn’t send me,” Maggie said. “Andwhat’s wrong with her isn’t so easily fixed.”
Marsha took a deep breath. “Go ahead, honey.Tell me what happened.”
Maggie focused on the cat as she told hergrandmother about what happened to her mother. She hated being theone to reveal this to her, but she couldn’t not tell her. Marshahad a right to know what became of her daughter. She kept thereality of vampires from her, but she did tell Marsha that Mindybelieved a vampire raped her.
Tears streamed down Marsha’s face whenMaggie finished speaking. “My poor baby,” Marsha murmured andpressed her hand to her heart. “My poor, beautiful baby.”
Maggie didn’t know what to say, so shecontinued to pet the cat as Marsha absorbed Maggie’s words.
“And what of you, honey?” Marsha asked aftera few minutes. “Who took care of you all these years?”
When the cat jumped from her lap, Maggiefelt unreasonably abandoned by the animal. “I was a ward of thestate. I mostly took care of myself.”
Fresh tears streamed down Marsha’s cheeks.“That’s not right.”
“That’s life, and it wasn’t bad. I learned alot.” Maggie lifted her mug to sip at her coffee. “My motherdoesn’t want to see me, I bring back too many bad memories, butmaybe, she would like to see you.”
“Probably not, but I would like to seeher.”
“Why didn’t you report her missing?” Maggieblurted. Perhaps it was a scab better left alone, but she had toknow something of what happened here. Something of why no one everclaimed her mother, orher.
Marsha lifted her mug before setting it downagain. “I didn’t report her missing because she chose to leave.”More tears pooled in her eyes, and she dabbed them away with ahandkerchief. “I was only seventeen when I had your mom. Her fatherleft me a year after she was born; he died a year later in amotorcycle accident. I tried to do my best with Mindy, to give hereverything I could, but it wasn’t enough. Mindy always had bigdreams.”
Marsha waved a hand at the pictures of Mindydressed in different costumes. “From the time she was a child, shewas in every play the school and town put on that called forsomeone of her age. She was the most talented and beautiful inevery production, and I don’t say that because I’m her mom,everyone said it. Mindy was going places, they all agreed.We’d see her star on the Walk of Fame one day.
“When she turned fifteen, the two of usstarted fighting more than before, just as many teenage daughtersdo with their mothers. She was ashamed of me, of this place, of thelittle we had, and she wanted more. During that time, she worked,and she saved every dime she earned.
“April fourth, the day she turned eighteen,we got into our last argument. She meant to quit school and go toNew Yorkthatday. I pleaded with her to graduate, and whenpleading didn’t work, I threatened her, but what could I do? Whatgood were my threats? She was eighteen. I couldn’t stop her.
“So, she packed her things as I screamed ather, and then I cried. Her last words to me were, ‘I hope never tosee you again.’ My last words to her were…” Marsha’s voice broke ona sob. She wiped her eyes with her handkerchief again.
Back in control, Marsha continued. “My lastwords to her were, ‘If you leave, don’t come back.’ I didn’t meanit, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say to stop her fromgoing. It didn’t work. Mindy never looked back at me as she walkedout the door for New York City. I only knew she took the busbecause I followed her to the station. It was the last time I sawher.”
Maggie swallowed the lump in her throat asMarsha’s sorrow beat against her. What had her mother been thinkingto throw this away? But then, Maggie realized Mindy had been likeso many other stubborn teens with big dreams. An act of violenceshattered all those dreams before her mother ever had a chance tolive them.
“The bus must have stopped in Boston,”Maggie murmured. “The police found her on April fifth.”
“The bus did stop in Boston,” Marshaconfirmed. “I checked the schedule. And Mindy would often talkabout visiting Boston too. She dreamed about seeing all the cities,so she probably decided to get off the bus to look around.”
It had been the worst decision of hermother’s life, but if she hadn’t left here and stopped in Boston,then Maggie wouldn’t be sitting here now.
“When is your birthday, hon?” Marsha askedher.
“December nineteenth,” Maggie whispered, hervoice choked with emotion.
Marsha leaned forward and rested her hand onMaggie’s knee. “We all make choices. Some of them we regret for therest of our lives. Others lead us somewhere better, but they areall our choices and we mustownthem. What happened betweenyour mother and me wasourfault. What happened to Mindy inBoston was the fault of a despicable man, but none of it,noneof it is your fault.”
Tears of gratitude and relief pooled inMaggie’s eyes. She’d half expected this woman to hate her too. Whathad happened to her mother wasn’t Maggie’s fault, but she was theresult of the brutal act that shattered Mindy. Marsha had givenbirth to Mindy, she’d raised and loved her, but Maggie was astranger.
“I hoped,everyday, I hoped shewould call me again and let me have the chance to tell her I hadn’tmeant it and she could come home anytime. I never changed mynumber, never moved, in case she should try to contact me again. Itried to find her when the web started becoming popular, but I’mnot much for computers. I’m glad you are,” she said as she pattedMaggie’s knee. “I always hoped to turn on my TV and find herstaring back at me on some show or movie, but I never saw heragain.”
“Because of her rape and mental status, mymother’s face was kept off the news after she killed the nurse, butmissing people posters were originally passed around to trylocating her family. I’m amazed no one from town saw her.”
Marsha waved her hand and sat back. “Theworld was a much smaller place twenty-five years ago.”
“It was.”
“Why don’t you tell me about you? What doyou do? Are you married? Do I have great-grandchildren?” she askedexcitedly and Maggie smiled.
