He followed as she staggered to the bathroom.She peered over her shoulder.“Are you coming in?You want to make sure I actually get clean?”
“Would you prefer me to do that or Bella?”
“Neither!”
“Then get in there, wash your hair, brush your teeth, and by the time you return we’ll see what we can get done.Okay?”
She stared at him, eyes narrowed, and for a moment loathing, as strong as anything else he’d ever witnessed from Minnie, speared him.
He shrugged it off.“So you do want me in there with you, huh?”
“No!”Her cheeks pinked.“I’m going.”
“Good.”
She slammed the door, and he exhaled shakily.
Then turned to see Bella eyeing him with a frown.“Don’t you like Mommy anymore?”
“I beg your pardon?Of course I do.”
“Then why are you yelling at each other?”
He sighed.He probably had not been the Jesus-like witness that he should’ve been.“I’m sorry you heard that.”How could he explain his actions?“You know how sometimes your mom might ask you to do something and you really don’t want to do it, and then you do it and you’re glad you did it, after all?”
She nodded.
“I think that’s the same with your mom.I think she’s been working so hard that she has made herself sick.And it’s hard sometimes when you’re sick to see things as they really are.Like, she needs a shower but feels like it’s too hard.So I was just encouraging her to do so.In a firm way.”
Bella gave another nod, her expression thoughtful.“Is she depressed?”
Wow.That was a word he hadn’t expected.And, yes, while he suspected something of that nature, he wasn’t about to put a label on something that was so easily misunderstood.
“I think she’s been under strain for quite some time,” he said carefully, “and that makes it hard to see some good things.I know your mom’s job is not easy.”
She nodded.“Sometimes she cries when she gets back from work.”
Oh, poor Gen.He heard the sound of the water pressure in the pipes adjusting, like Gen was changing the temperature in the shower.But he didn’t want to imagine her in there.Had to take his thoughts captive.Now.
“Hey, do you mind if we pray for your mom?”
“Pray?”she asked doubtfully.
“Talk to God.Ask for Him to help her.”
“Uh, sure.”
He bowed his head, closed his eyes.Not because he thought God needed those two things to occur in order to hear him, but because Kyle didn’t want his daughter’s skepticism staring him in the face.“Hey God, thank You that You love Bella, and You love Gen, and You love me.”
“And Grandma too,” Bella inserted.“Oh, and Nanna and Poppy too.”
He swallowed a smile.“That’s right.And Lord, You know exactly what’s going on with Gen, in her heart and in her mind, and we pray that You would heal her.Help her know the peace that only You can bring.”He cupped the top of Bella’s head.“And I pray that You would help Bella know that too.”
“And Grandma.And Nanna and Poppy, too.”
“That’s right, them too.And we pray that You’ll help us clean up everything too.In Jesus’s name, Amen.”
He waited for her to say Amen, but she didn’t.She was staring at him.
