28. Be With Family

28

BE WITH FAMILY

“ D on’t say I didn’t warn you,” Sloane said the next morning when the landlord let her into her mother’s apartment. She leaned in close so no one heard but Dane. “That stairwell smelled like a concentrated men’s gym locker room.”

He laughed. “Unlike women’s?”

“No,” she said. “Most women’s products end up covering that up.”

She looked around her mother’s bare apartment.

There was one beat-up old couch against a wall that she was guessing was Shiloh’s bed. A small galley kitchen on the opposite wall which consisted of a fridge that might be older than her, a stove that didn’t look like it worked, a sink that was stained with years of use but clean and a tiny scarred yellow countertop with a few cabinets.

Her mother worked changing the beds and cleaning the rooms at the hospital and she’d always been a neat person with what they’d had.

That hadn’t changed .

Neither had the places her mother lived.

She supposed this was all that could be afforded and shouldn’t judge, but it was bringing back memories she’d rather not have.

Shiloh ran over to a box in the corner. Just a cardboard one that looked like one of those banker boxes that stored papers. Her little sister opened the lid and pulled out a few toys. Some were probably older than Shiloh.

“Do you want to take them with you?” Dane asked.

Sloane looked at Dane and frowned. “I can buy her new,” she said quietly. “Matter of fact I will be. Everything tomorrow.”

This morning had been more depressing when she went through the two bags of clothing her sister had with her. Most of it was worn out or stained and looked to be too big or too small.

She found a pair of jean shorts that would pass and an aqua T-shirt with rainbows and unicorns on it. She figured they needed something happy to look at.

The bathroom routine hadn’t been fun either.

Shiloh had no idea how to take a shower or have her hair washed that way. She’d said her mother dumped buckets over her head.

With the length of Shiloh’s hair, she was shocked her mother hadn’t cut it off to help with that chore.

She didn’t have a bucket to wash Shiloh’s hair, but it desperately needed it.

She and Dane coaxed the little girl into the shower after Dane decided to wash Snow. That was what Shiloh named her lamb.

Sloane had her work cut out for her, she knew, but was thankful for Dane’s assistance .

As much as she didn’t want to stand in the bathroom with Shiloh and help wash her, it was the only way she would know it was done. The little girl needed help with her hair anyway.

She’d left the door open and had to actually call Dane for assistance at one point because her fingers were stuck in Shiloh’s hair trying to get the soap out.

They used almost half her bottle of conditioner on top of it and finally could get not only their fingers but also a comb through it to dry some and then braid it.

“She needs some comforts of home,” he said quietly back.

Sloane nodded, thinking of the room she, Sabrina and two other girls had stayed in before she’d left the cult. There was no comfort there.

Her mother stayed in another room with other mothers. It was almost like what she’d assumed dorm living would be.

“Okay,” she said. “It’s not like there is a lot. That whole box can go in the back.”

“Can I take this?” Shiloh asked of one thing. An old Barbie doll with cheap clothing on it.

“We can take the whole box,” she said. “It will fit. Then you’ve got them when we get back home. Your new home,” she clarified.

“Really?” Shiloh asked. “I couldn’t take anything but clothes when I left before.”

“You can take what you want,” Dane said. “We’ll make room for it and if it doesn’t fit we’ll arrange to have it shipped.”

“Yes,” Sloane said. “Anything you want.”

Shiloh put the lid back on the box and then ran into a room. Sloane assumed it was her mother’s room and had been avoiding going in there but knew she had to.

When she got to the doorway, Shiloh had a big picture frame in her hand and turned it. “It’s Mom and you and me. Mom said this was your friend.”

She reached for the frame that had a collage of photos in it. Old ones for sure. There was nothing of her as a child. Just some that were taken and printed over the years by other people.

There was one photo in the center of her mother with her and Sabrina on each side. It was right before she left and Sabrina was frowning like she normally did.

“You haven’t changed,” he said.

“I was nineteen here,” she said. “I remember this. Right before I moved. That’s Sabrina. Things must have been really bad for Mom to say it was a friend.”

“Don’t think of that now,” he said.

The rest of the pictures were of her mother and Shiloh or just Shiloh alone over the years.

“I think this is a great thing to take,” she said. “We can put this in your room.”

“Thank you,” Shiloh said and hugged her again, then ran to the dresser. “Mom has a blanket I like. Can I bring that?”

“Of course,” she said. “You grab everything you want and put it on the bed and we’ll bring it to the car.”

“Hello?”

They turned their heads to see a woman standing in the doorway to the room. “I’m Casey. Hey, Shiloh. Come here, baby girl.”

Shiloh ran to the woman. “I’m going to miss you. I wish I could stay with you.”

She wouldn’t be hurt by those words. “I know, sweetie. But you’re going to be with family and that is what you need,”Casey said.

“I’m Sloane,” she said, reaching her hand out. “This is my boyfriend, Dane Grey.”

“He’s a doctor,” Shiloh said.

“Fancy,” Casey said. “Nadine said you turned out well. I live next door.”

Her mother would know nothing about who she dated. She imagined it was just a figure of speech.

“Can you tell me anything about my mother?” she asked. “Has she been sick? Or any man that might have been in her life?”

“No man,” Casey said. “Never. They’ve only lived here two years. I watched Shiloh at night when your mother took extra shifts on the weekend. It wasn’t a big deal to have her sleeping next door. I’ve got a teenage daughter and it kept us entertained. My Trina was hardly home. She’s working now or she would have come to say goodbye to Shiloh.”

“Why don’t you and Shiloh finish gathering what you need?” Dane said. “I’d like to hear anything you can tell me about Nadine in terms of her health.”

Sloane nodded and returned to the room with Shiloh after she’d heard that her mother always seemed to be battling some kind of ailment.

Sounded like nothing changed there, but Dane could sort through it better than her.

She and Shiloh found the blanket her sister wanted. It was nice and soft, looked somewhat new. There wasn’t much more other than a box with some jewelry in it.

It was odd to her to see a silver locket necklace. She managed to pry it open and there was a picture of her and Sabrina on each side.

“Mommy never wore that,” Shiloh said. “She said it couldn’t be touched either.”

“Do you know where she got this or when?” she asked.

“A friend gave it to her.”

“Do you know the friend’s name?” she asked.

“It was a coworker,” Casey said, moving into the room. “She showed it to me when she moved in. I knew about you and...Sabrina.”

“My friend?” she asked, looking at Shiloh.

“I don’t know much about that situation other than who she is,” Casey said. She’d leave it at that. It didn’t concern her right now what happened with her mother and sister.

“Did she say who gave her this?” she asked. “A guy or girl?”

“No. I think she got it before Shiloh was born. I always suspected it might have been a man but have no idea.”

She nodded her head to have Casey leave the room with her. “Do you think it was Shiloh’s father?”

“I don’t know,” Casey said. “I wish I could help. Your mother was very private about her life. She said she’d moved here from Virginia before Shiloh was born. She never said why. No one asks a lot of questions around these parts.”

They were in public housing. She expected there were criminals living here and many with those who had things to hide.

“I appreciate it,” she said. She pulled her card out from her business. “My cell phone number is on the back. My email is on the front or you can call the spa if you think of anything. I don’t think it’s going to matter, but I’m trying to wrap my head around a lot of things. I’d like to know if I have to worry about Shiloh’s father somewhere. ”

“I don’t think so,” Casey said. “If your mother is to be believed, she doesn’t know who the father is.”

“What?” she asked. “How is that possible?”

She’d never known her mother to date or even been around men much.

In the cult you weren’t allowed once the leader was done with you.

The few years living with her mother when they left, there were never any men around. Her mother was livid if she or Sabrina talked about a boy or even dating.

Just another reason she had to leave and be able to experience life without it being through someone else’s lens.

“Your mother didn’t drink or do drugs that I knew of, but she said that she was out one night at a party with some friends. Things got out of control and she woke up the next morning in the spare room and didn’t remember much. She didn’t know a lot of people at the party either.”

Shit.

“So she could have been drugged and raped?” she asked.

“Maybe,” Casey said. “But other times she talked about a guy she was dating before she moved. It went back and forth. I often wondered if things were made up but never questioned her on it.”

“Which is no help to me at all,” she said. “I only want to know so I can protect Shiloh.”

“I think you’ll be fine. A lot of men in my experience don’t care if they’ve got a kid coming or not. Or if they know, they don’t do anything about it. There was never any support coming in that I knew of.”

“They didn’t have a record of that either at the county.”

This was just going to have to be something she’d have to set aside for now and get all her legal work taken care of .

“I hope you can keep in touch with some updates on Shiloh. I’m going to miss her and hope she does well.”

“I will,” Sloane said. “I promise.”

She and Dane gathered the rest of what Shiloh wanted and hit the road.

She had to put this behind her to just be able to breathe.