Chapter 2 - The Room Under My Parents’ House
I didn’t investigate the basement.
Not then.
Rosie was hurt, terrified, and still wearing yesterday’s dress.
Getting her out mattered more than winning an argument.
I carried her to my truck while my family followed me onto the porch.
Bethany shouted that I was overreacting.
Mom demanded that I bring Rosie back inside.
Dad stood behind them saying nothing.
Jason never came outside.
That bothered me.
But Rosie mattered more.
At Cincinnati Children’s, a pediatrician documented the bruise and marks on her arms.
I hated every photograph.
Rosie hated the questions.
She said Bethany had grabbed her hard.
She said Bethany had slapped her once after Rosie spilled juice.
Then the doctor asked whether anyone else had hurt her.
Rosie shook her head.
“Did anyone scare you?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Grandma.”
That surprised me.
Bethany had been my obvious target.
My mother had always been controlling, but she adored Rosie.
At least I thought she did.
Rosie explained that Margaret had taken her downstairs after bedtime.
There was a room with boxes.
Pictures.
Papers.
And “Mommy’s things.”
My wife, Emily, had died eighteen months earlier after a car accident on I-71.
Since then, my parents had helped with Rosie when I worked late shifts supervising warehouse maintenance.
I had been grateful.
Maybe too grateful.
“What Mommy things?” I asked.
Rosie touched my sleeve.
“Her red bag.”
I knew exactly what she meant.
Emily had owned a red leather overnight bag.
I hadn’t seen it since the week she died.
I’d assumed it had been lost when we cleared her damaged car and hospital belongings.
Then Rosie added something stranger.
“Grandma told the man Mommy promised it to him.”
“What man?”
“The man at dinner.”
Jason.
I looked toward the hallway where a hospital social worker was waiting to speak with me.
Emily had barely tolerated Jason when he was married to Bethany.
May you like
She would never have promised him anything.
And if my daughter was right, my mother had been keeping my dead wife’s belongings hidden in her basement for eighteen months.
