Page 44 of Just Like the Brontë Sisters

“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” Elizabeth said. “You don’t have to go to so much trouble for me though.”

“It’s no trouble,” said Mitch. “We want to celebrate your arrival.”

Magda batted her eyes in agreement. “I just wish the apartment was big enough that you could stay.”

Elizabeth laughed and looked around at the tiny space that Jo Beth had been confined to for the last several months. “There’s obviously no room for that.” Then she rose from the couch slowly, as if her joints needed a good oiling.

“You’re going already, Mom? You just got here.”

“Don’t worry, Jo. Your mom will be back.”

Magda’s voice sounded counterfeit and it matched the false look of sympathy she gave Jo Beth. Too bad she couldn’t hit Magda, but Jo Beth knew her mother would be horrified by the violence. “Really?” Jo Beth said, packing her words with venom. “You’ve known her for thirty seconds and you’re reassuring me on her whereabouts? Please. Just because I’m carrying a baby doesn’t mean that I am one.”

“Sorry,” Magda said.

Sorry-not-sorry is more like it, Jo Beth thought.

Elizabeth swallowed hard, obviously sensing the tension. Jo Beth knew that the two things her mom avoided at all costs were burning caramel and conflict. To Elizabeth, both resulted in a sticky, smelly mess. Elizabeth seemed to hem and haw, but ultimately she decided to stay silent as she looked to Mitch, who was so used to Magda’s and Jo Beth’s bickering that it barely even registered.

“You ready to go?” he asked Elizabeth.

“I’m coming too!” Jo Beth nearly shouted.

Jo Beth surprised herself at how swiftly she rose from the couch, but that’s the power of determination. Mitch, Magda, and Elizabeth all just stared at her, noiseless as she moved into the hallway and scrounged through the tiny, bursting closet for a pair of shoes that she hadn’t had cause to wear for months. Mitch was the first to finally say something. “Babe, you know you can’t leave the apartment. The doctor wants you on bed-rest. You’re already moving around more than you ought to.”

Where were those damn shoes? “I don’t care. I want to be alone with my mom.”

Elizabeth spoke next. “Sweetheart, why don’t I stay a little longer? I’m not really that tired. I’ll just hang out here for a while and Mitch can take me back after dinner.”

Jo Beth wanted to scream her frustration; every single shoe in that closet belonged to Magda, whether they were the pair of size six waterproof Teevas or some delicate, strappy heels. She pushed all of them deeper into the closet. “I need to talk to you, Mom. Now.” Jo Beth took her mother by the hand, and led her into the bedroom, which was taken up almost entirely by a “full” bed. It was even smaller than a queen, and lately it had been unmanageable for hugely pregnant Jo Beth to share it with Mitch, who was six foot one when slouching. They’d started using the bed after Magda had volunteered to sleep on the cot in the living room. Otherwise, Mitch would have had no place to sleep, unless he shared the bed with Magda, and even Magda wasn’t bold enough to suggest that. The bed was unmade with rumpled sheets and the room’s curtains were drawn. But Jo Beth didn’t care how unwelcoming or unkempt the room may have seemed; she shut the door and spoke in a fierce whisper. “You have to take me with you, Mom. It’s not safe for me here. They’re trying to hurt me.”

Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed, her attempt to control her response obvious. “Trying to hurt you, how?”

Jo Beth launched in, the accusations that she’d obsessed over for weeks just rolling from her tongue. “The accident wasn’t an accident, Mom. Magda didn’t secure my zip line on purpose. She wanted me to fall, and she wants to keep me here, bedridden, where I can be controlled. Mitch is in on it too. I just don’t know why. Not yet. But I have to get out of here and you have to help me.”

“Darling,” her mom said evenly, “I know it’s been difficult, stuck here all these months, especially when you’re used to being so active. But I really don’t think Mitch means you any harm. He loves you and he loves the baby.”

“What are you basing that off, Mom? One conversation that you had with him during the ride from the airport?” Jo Beth took her by the shoulders. “This is not just pregnancy hormones or my chemically imbalanced brain. This is real. Leaving is the only safe option for me.”

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her messy hair and pushed up her glasses to the top of her nose. “If you leave and start walking around, you’ll most likely go into labor.”

“So?” Jo Beth replied. “I’m almost full term.”

Elizabeth’s look was so rueful that she may as well have been wagging her finger at her daughter. “Not for another three weeks. Don’t you want your baby to be as healthy as possible?”

“Yes, of course, Mom.”

Elizabeth sighed. “So, I’ll be here and I’ll take care of you during the day, and if Mitch and Magda are truly trying to hurt you, then I’ll know and we’ll do something about it.”

Jo Beth began to scratch the back of her neck but, actually, her whole body itched. “During the day doesn’t count. They can hide it during the day. What really matters is at night.” Jo Beth paused and peered into her mother’s eyes. “Are you just humoring me, Mom?”

“No, of course not.”

She’d lost her ability to read her mother, so Jo Beth decided to just play along. “Good, because I’m not making this up. They’re always whispering and speaking Spanish, like they’re pretending they’re not American anymore. And yesterday Magda served me this pudding made with coconut milk.”

Instead of a strong response, Elizabeth just gave Jo Beth a blank stare, and that made Jo Beth yell. “You know I’m allergic to coconuts!”

“Is it possible you’re over-reacting?”