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Emma picked it up. “Can I have it?”
Hannah looked around, almost afraid Joel Destin’s ghost might appear and yell at her to get out. But she shook the thought away and nodded. “It’s yours.”
When Olivia arrived, she went straight to business. “We should stop by the bank for his statements, tomorrow.”
“Come look at mom’s old bedroom!” Emma said, pulling Olivia down the hallway. The room still looked as stark as it had when she’d lived there. The bed was made up with the same plain, cheap comforter he’d bought when she returned as a teenager. She remembered him mumbling about what a waste her mother was, and how he wasn’t going to deal with a waste of a daughter if she gave him any trouble.
She returned to the living room, suddenly just wanting to get out. Anxiety crawled up her arms and legs. She had been there long enough.
“You should have an estate sale,” Olivia said. “There are things you could donate, too, like his suits and stuff. Do you think you’ll want to live here?”
Hannah shook her head. That was the last thing she wanted. The house was dark, and dusty, and full of memories she wanted to forget. “I’m going to sell.”
“I think that’s for the best,” Olivia said. “You know you could stay on at the barn forever.”
Hannah smiled at Olivia. “I do know that.”
Emma walked back into the room, holding a heart-shaped locket in her hand. Hannah recognized it right away. She had bought it herself, the day she found out she was having a baby girl.
“Where did you find that?” she asked, taking it from Emma.
“On top of your old dresser.”
That day flashed in her head like yesterday. She’d never forget coming home and seeing him just standing there, waiting for her with the velvety jewelry box in his hand. “Where did you get the money for something like this?”
She hadn’t known what to say. If she told the truth, he’d be mad. If she lied, he’d be mad. So, she just waited.
“Did you steal it?” He loomed over her.
“No!” She couldn’t believe he’d think such a thing. “I’m not a thief.”
“You seem to be a whole lot of things, lately,” he sneered at her, looking down at her pregnant stomach. She was nearly eight months along at that point, and her hormones and emotions were out of control. She started to cry.
It only intensified Joel’s anger. “As long as you’re living under my roof, eating my food, and planning to raise a kid here, you don’t get to buy expensive jewelry! Any money you have is coming to me!”
He stood so close to her that his spit sprayed her face. She could smell the day-old hangover on his breath.
“What else are you hiding from me?”
She hung her head, wrapping her arms instinctively around her belly. “Nothing, I promise.”
“Liar!” He rushed down the hall toward her room. He yanked a drawer from her dresser and threw it on the floor, spilling the contents. It didn’t matter. Her whole room had already been torn apart, her clothes tossed around, her journals torn up, books thrown off the bookshelves, and her picture frames broken.
What did she do to cause all this? Was it really just because of a cheap necklace? She didn’t understand.
“What else are you hiding from me?” he screamed in her face again.
When she didn’t answer, he stalked away and then returned, tossing a box of trash bags at her. “That’s what you are, just a piece of trash. Pack up and get out.”
She stood in the middle of the mess, holding her belly and crying, promising her unborn child she’d always protect her.
She packed as much as she could into two bags. Then she called Georgie.
She remembered feeling so ashamed she only had a teacher to call. No mother. No friends. Only an undependable drunk of a boyfriend. But moving to the farm forever changed her life, changed it so much for the better.
She popped open the locket. “I bought this for you.” She showed Emma a black and white ultrasound picture of a tiny little peanut-shaped blot. “That’s you.”
She pulled back Emma’s long blonde hair and clasped the fine chain around her neck as her daughter hung onto the locket, studying the photo. “That’s a baby? That’sme?”
