River’s End

parrot if I had wings. I ‘member lots of things.”
    “I bet you do. Do you know what time you went to bed?”
    “I’m ‘posed to go to bed at eight o’clock. Chickens go broody at eight. Mama told me the story about the lady with long, long hair who lived in the tower.”
    “Later you woke up. Were you thirsty?”
    “No.” She lifted her thumb to her mouth again. “I had a bad dream.”
    “My Noah has bad dreams, too. When he tells me about them, he feels better.”
    “Is Noah your little boy? How old is he?”
    “He’s ten now. Do you want to see his picture?”
    “Uh-huh.” She scooted closer as Frank took out his wallet and flipped through. Cocking her head, she studied the school photo of a boy with untidy brown hair and a wide grin. “He’s pretty. Maybe he can come over to play.”
    “Maybe. Sometimes he has bad dreams about space aliens.”
    Forgive me, Noah, Frank thought with some amusement as he replaced his wallet, for sharing your darkest secret. “When he tells me about them, he feels better. You want to tell me about your bad dream?”
    “People are yelling. I don’t like when Mama and Daddy fight. He’s sick and he has to get well, and we have to keep wishing really, really hard for him to get all better so he can come home.”
    “In your dream you heard your mother and father yelling?”
    “People are yelling, but I can’t hear what they say. I don’t want to. I want them to stop. I want my mama to come. Somebody screams, like in the movies that Rosa watches. They scream and scream, and I wake up. I don’t hear anything, ‘cause it was just a dream. I want Mama.”
    “Did you go to find her?”
    “She wasn’t in bed. I wanted to get in bed with her. She doesn’t mind. Then I...”
    She broke off and gave a great deal of attention to her puzzle.
    “It’s all right, Livvy. You can tell me what happened next.”
    “I’m not supposed to touch the magic bottles. I didn’t break any.”
    “Where are the magic bottles?”
    “On Mama’s little table with the mirror. I can have some when I get bigger, but they’re toys for big girls. I just played with them for a minute.”
    She sent Frank such an earnest look, he had to smile. “That’s all right then. What did you do next?”
    “I went downstairs. The lights were on, and the door was open. It was warm outside. Maybe somebody came to see us, maybe we can have cake.” Tears began to stream down her cheeks. “I don’t want to say now.”
    “It’s okay, Livvy. You can tell me. It’s okay to tell me.”
    And it was. She could look into his green eyes and it was all right to say. “It smells bad, and things are broken, and they’re red and wet and nasty. The flowers are on the floor and there’s glass. You don’t walk near glass in your bare feet ‘cause it hurts. I don’t want to step in it. I see Mama, and she’s lying down on the floor, and the red and the wet is all over her. The monster’s with her. He has her scissors in his hand.”
    She held up her own, fingers curled tight and a glazed look in her eye. “ ‘Livvy. God, Livvy,’ “ she said in a horrible mimic of her father’s voice. “I ran away, and he kept calling. He was breaking things and looking for me and crying. I hid in the closet.” Another tear trembled and fell. “I wet my pants.”
    “That’s all right, honey. That doesn’t matter.”
    “Big girls don’t.”
    “You’re a very big girl. And very brave and smart.” When she gave him a watery smile, he prayed he wouldn’t have to put her through that night again. He drew her attention back to her puzzle, made some foolish comment about talking pumpkins that had her giggling. He didn’t want her parting thought of him to be of fear and blood and madness.
    Still, when he turned at the door to glance back, Olivia’s eyes were on him, quietly pleading, and holding that ter-rifyingly adult expression only the very young can manage.
    As he started downstairs, he found his thoughts running with Jamie Melbourne’s. He wanted Sam Tanner’s blood.
    “You were very good with her.” Jamie’s control had almost reached the end of its strength. She wanted to curl up and weep as her mother was. To mire herself in chores and duties as her husband was. Anything, anything but reliving this over again as she had through Olivia’s words.
    “She’s a remarkable girl.”
    “Takes after her mother.”
    He stopped then, turned and looked at Jamie squarely. “I’d say she’s got