Judgment Call by E.B. Roshan

Author:E.B. Roshan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roshan Publishing
Published: 2022-09-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen: Preen

Sitabi sucked her water down and handed the cup back to me.

"Goodnight, Baby Girl." I started for the door, but she popped out from under her blanket and scooted across the mattress toward me.

"I'm scared, Mommy. Don't go."

"There's nothing to be scared of here." I made a show of searching the room, looking behind the window curtain, opening the wardrobe door.

The bag of shiny green fabric lying beside it caught my eye. Was it only this afternoon Kiva and I had fought about the color? Maybe it didn't matter much if my wedding dress was green for a virgin or white for a widow. But if Kiva and I were going to spend the rest of our lives together, I hoped it wasn't just his memories of me he was in love with.

Mother's voice came from the hall, asking a question, and Kiva answered. Something about 'getting it tomorrow.'

It sounded like he was leaving. His foot hit a loose board by the woodbox and it squeaked like a rat in a feed sack.

"What's that noise?" Sitabi whimpered. "I'm scared."

"If you go to sleep, God will send angels with good dreams."

She popped her thumb in her mouth and curled up again. Her eyes never left my face.

"The night is for sleep, so you need to sleep."

"I never sleep at night," she said, without taking out her thumb.

"Oh no?"

"Never."

"Well, little owl, you need to sleep now."

"Don't go, please." She sat up again.

"I'll stay for five more minutes, all right?" I sat down beside her on the mattress and pulled the blanket up to her chin. As her breathing slowed, so did mine. Her curls made the softest, most perfect circles around her head.

"Will that man come?" Sitabi's eyes were as dark and wide as a baby deer's.

My heart dropped. Not much got past her. "What man?"

"The scary man on the horse."

"No." I clenched my fists, making it a promise.

"Not here?"

"Never here."

"Why not?"

"Because he won't. Now go to sleep."

"I'm not sleepy."

"You have to try."

Why did everybody have to pay for my mistakes? Even my baby girl wasn't free.

I traced the design on her woven blanket—Three Peaks—the weaving pattern Mother taught me when I was just a few years older than Sitabi. The black and red pattern wobbled and blurred before my eyes. Rama and I had shared a blanket with the same pattern in Dor through many chilly nights.

Where was he lying now?

Dr. Neyrev's accented voice sounded in my head. 'If nothing else, we hope to be able to let families know where their loved ones are buried.'

If he knew where Rama had been taken after we left his body in the alley, he would have told me. But maybe Erkan had found out later, when things calmed down. Or maybe he knew somebody who knew. I could ask him—but what would Kiva say?

"If my real daddy was here, he would hit that man and make him run," Sitabi said. "He'd scare him so bad."

"You mean Rama?"

"Yes. He'd make the horse buck, and that bad man would fall off and die.

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