Hidden Abnormality

19. The Strong Ones

Chapter Nineteen

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  Jazabelle had gone to help bake in the back while Minny and I stayed behind to speak to dad. She wasn't very happy about it, but Minny insisted they need help in the back while she's gone. Jazabelle had easily seen through her, but obeyed nonetheless.

  "I went to bed and woke up in the morning. After I brewed coffee, I looked around the house and couldn't find her. Not even a note."

  Minny frowned. She tapped her fingernails against the table. "Not even a note, hm?"

  Dad eyed her and nodded slowly. "You don't think she would leave, do you? I just returned home after so long. The other day she said she was going to try. She had even stopped smoking for three days."

  "She was going to try to leave?" Minny asked, a horrified look on her face.

  "Oh, no," he reassured. "Try to piece together our family again."

  Minny relaxed. "How was she when you both went to bed?"

  Dad shrugged. "I slept on the couch. I felt like I would be invading her space if I took up half the room so soon. Before she went into her bedroom she looked fine."

  "What do you mean? You are married. If you can't share a bedroom after this long then you might as well have stayed away," Minny grumbled.

  He gave her a warning look before returning his gaze to me. "Do you know of anywhere she could have gone?" He started to gesture widely with his arms and hands. After living so long away from Italy, his habits had died down quite a bit, but whenever he got upset they came back in full swing. However, he was asking the wrong person. I didn't know mom all that well.

  I shook my head. "I haven't had a meaningful talk with mom in a long time. If anybody would know her old habits it would be Jazzy. She lived with her for a few years before I took her home to live with me."

  He nodded thoughtfully. "When was that exactly? Nobody is giving me a clear picture."

  "When did she start living with me?"

  "Yes." He sat down beside Minny, giving me his full attention. Even Minny seemed to be paying close attention.

  I shrugged. "Um, you left when she was five, I moved out when I was nineteen, she moved in with me when she was almost nine. So, it's been about five years. Wow, no way."

  Five years? That seemed so long and so short. Had she really been taking up the spare bedroom in my apartment that long? I can't even remember what I had in there for one year. That meant I hadn't been living in my childhood home for six years. I only had one year to myself before my little sister moved in with me.

  "So she lived with your mother for three years after he left before you took her to live with you?" Minny asked.

  "The way you say it makes it sound like she had no choice. I gave her a choice and she decided to come home with me. She was tired of cooking meals for two when she was only seven. And then I got this job and started to get really busy when my work proved to be useful. But I still gave her attention and tried to be home as often as I could."