Sweet Magnolias Autumn

Ringing

Helen 

"Are you ready?" I asked Annie. She was sitting between Maddie and I, wearing yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt. Her face was washed clean of makeup, and her hair was pulled back into a damp braid.

"Can we wait until tomorrow?" Annie asked, not really looking at Maddie or me. "It's not like telling them today or tomorrow will make any difference." 

"They need to know, Sweetie," Maddie told her as she brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. We sat there for a couple of minutes before Annie responded.

"Okay," she said as she let out a breath. "But just Mom," Annie added at the last moment.

"Alright," I said because one was better than none. Annie shut her eyes tight and then went to pick up the phone. She dialled Dana Sue and put her cell phone on speaker. 

*Ring*

*Ring*

"We tried," Annie said, reaching for the phone. I reached for her hand, intertwined our fingers, and gently pulled our joint hands back, resting them in my lap. 

*Ring* 

"Hi, Honey." Dana Sue said before Annie was able to hang up the phone. 

"Hi, Mom," Annie said. You could hear the hesitation in her voice. 

"What's wrong?" Dana Sue said. The panic in her voice was louder than the words she spoke. "Let me grab, Ronnie." 

"Umm..." Annie said. She looked between Maddie and I; you could see the worry and fear in her eyes. I decided to take over before Dana Sue freaked anymore. 

"Dana Sue, STOP," I say in a rush before she calls Ronnie. "Dana Sue, I need you to take a deep breath and listen," I tell her and wait until I hear her take a deep breath and release it. "Alright, I need  you to listen and not get Ronnie." 

"The three of you are scaring me; please just tell me what's going on," she said. 

"We are going to tell you, but Annie would prefer it if only the four of us talked," Maddie said calmly. I would like to ask that you be patient with her." 

"Can you agree to do that for us, Dana Sue?" I asked. 

"I will do my best." She said. I looked over to Annie to see if she was ready, but she was just shaking her head back and forth. I looked at Maddie, and she nodded, understanding what I was wordlessly saying. 

"Jackson showed up again," Maddie told her.

"Wait...what?" Dana Sue asked, then went dead silent. The three of us sat silently, waiting to hear what Dana Sue had to say. We sat in silence for about fifteen seconds. Then she spoke again: "What happened?"

"I made a mistake. I was walking back after school, and I saw Jackson on the street; there was no one around."

"Stop." Dana Sue says. All of a sudden, Annie turns to look at me, and I can see the fear in her eyes, the questioning look, how she silently asks me what her mom will say. "It doesn't matter; we can discuss it later. Just tell me, honestly, how are you?"

"I...I...don't know," Annie whispered. "Can I go?" Annie asked, looking between Maddie and I. I tilted my head to the side slightly, letting Maddie know I was okay with Annie going if she was. After a couple of seconds, Maddie nodded in agreement. 

"Okay, sweetie," Maddie told her. I had never seen Annie move so fast before. She stood and made a beeline towards the stairs, jogging up them. Once we heard a door open and close, I turned my attention back to the phone call with Dana Sue. 

"She upstairs," I said, knowing Dana Sue would want to ask about five hundred questions. 

"What happened?" Dana Sue asked in a hurry. 

"We don't know entirely; she hasn't been saying much. What we do know is that she saw Jackson, got scared, and ran back toward the school. She called Ty. Thankfully, he was still on school grounds. He ran back, and...he found Jackson. He had Annie pinned against the wall, he...was...um....well," Maddie struggled to get the words out. 

"He was squeezing her wrist and...and kissing her neck." I finish for Maddie. 

"Oh, Lord." Dana Sue sighed. "What else." 

"All the details can wait; let's focus on the big things. Annie got herself out of the room. She was shaking and crying when we saw her. Maddie and I took her to the doctor, and they did an assault kit in case she wanted to press charges or needed the evidence. " I say in my lawyer voice, as Maddie and Dana Sue call it. 

"Evidence." Dana Sue says to herself, processing everything she hearing.

"Yes, just to be on the safe side," I say quickly. "The doctor said she just has some bruising and a buckle fracture in her right wrist. " I glance over at Maddie as a sign for her to take over. 

"He Broke her arm." Dana Sue all but shouted into the phone. 

"Not complete. It's a buckle fracture, a small fracture in her wrist; she doesn't need a cast, just a splint for a few weeks," I explain. 

"That's the worst of it; she just hasn't said much. She is staying here tonight. My Mom is still in town, so Kyle and Katie are staying there tonight, so she will have privacy." 

"Thank you, but we are coming home, and I need to be there for her," Dana Sue says. 

"Not tonight. It's too late, Dana Sue. By the time you get her, she will already be asleep. Come home tomorrow morning and give her a bit of time to process on her own. She didn't want to tell you because she didn't want you to cut your trip short." 

"Annie is more important than any trip." Dana Sue stated. 

"We know she is, but she needs time. Come in the morning." Maddie says. 

"Think about it, Dana Sue. In the meantime, we need to come up with a plan about where we go from here." I tell them.