A Sibling's Love

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jake was still pondering over Laura that evening while he looked over the case files from work. He just couldn’t focus.

          His father and his new bride, Melody, asked him to stay at the mansion with Laura while they were on their Honeymoon.  He had tried to politely decline, knowing that Laura never wanted to see him again, but his father wouldn’t have it. It was hard to argue with an ex-lawyer, especially if he was your father.

          “Where the heck is she?” He wondered out loud.

          When dinner was served by Minnie, Laura wouldn’t come out from her hidey-hole. She was somewhere all alone and without something to eat. How many nights had been similar to this one for her?

          Jake shook his head fervently to try to clear his conscious of guilt and concern.

          Laura was a puzzle that Jake didn’t need to try and figure out. He had tried to look up information about her and Melody, but had found very little. Laura traveled a lot and never seemed to stay put in one place for more than six months tops. Neither she, nor her mother had a criminal record, but they did have a hospital record as long as his arm and beyond. It had taken him nearly a week to go through them.

          According to the records Laura and her mother were very… “Clumsy”. They, especially Laura, often “tripped” or “fell down the stairs”, breaking ribcages and bruising in peculiar places.

          Is this what she had been talking about earlier? Who was it that did this? No wonder she thought he was a monster. No wonder she had reacted so coolly and calmly. She had experienced nastiness before.

          On a sudden surge of anger directed at him and all the others who had hurt her before, he lost control and flipped his work desk.

          Jake just stood there and wallowed in his rage for a brief moment as he heard footsteps dash up the stairs. He knew, sadly, that they wouldn’t be Laura’s; they would be Minnie’s.

          “Jake!” Minnie gasped in concern and shock as she burst through the door.

          This was the woman who had practically raised him. This was his mother; the other one had simply gave birth to him and left.

          As Jake just stood there, Minnie placed her hands firmly on her hips and took on a stance that warned Jake that he was out of line, “Jacob Andrew Sullivan! What on God’s green Earth possessed you to do such a thing?!! Look at the mess you made!”

          It was very rare that Jake completely ignored Minnie, but he did now, “Minnie have you seen Laure since dinner?”

          Minnie softened her stance a fraction of an inch, but her face had already gone buttermilk soft. She hadn’t seen him this worried since she had been in that car accident nearly two years ago. Jake had always been careful not to show people that he cared. He didn’t want to care, for he was afraid that if he cared, something bad would happen.

          “Your worried about her aren’t you, Jake?” Minnie asked as softly as a welcoming spring breeze beckoning you to come outside.

          “No,” he sighed, “I’m just concerned for her welfare.”

          “Close enough,” Minnie smiled, “May I ask why?”

          “I hurt her today, Minnie,” Jake looked away for he was too ashamed of himself, “I lost my temper. My concerns for my father clouded my judgment. I was so bitterly angry thinking that she and her mother might try to take advantage of my father that I grabbed her wrists and warned her of the consequences that would follow if she did. There are bruises where my hands had touched her delicate skin. To make matters worse, I’m not sure whether she is afraid of me or not.”