The Bend in Redwood Road by Danielle Stewart

Author:Danielle Stewart [Stewart, Danielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Random Acts Publishing
Published: 2019-08-26T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Leslie

Nothing had been done. Holiday cheer had shriveled off her to-do list and died away. Leslie didn’t bake the cookies or wrap the presents. It was bad enough, that for the first time ever her boys weren’t coming home. Kerry seemed wholly uninterested in the holiday spirit too. To top it all off, she and Paul hadn’t spoken more than a few cursory words to each other in days. There seemed no point to force the old traditions.

Instead she sat. Read. Stewed and pondered. All while wearing her sweatpants and an oversized sweatshirt. Gripping a warm mug of coffee or binging on a bag of chips. She wasn’t due back at work until the day after Christmas, and so she could go full cocoon-mode for at least three more days.

Flipping open her laptop, Leslie did something she hadn’t in over a decade. She searched for the visual aids that accompanied her fuzzy memories, hoping to bring them back into focus. First, she examined online images of the MCA office. Dozens popped up. It was a small single level, nondescript brick building. The glass door had a decal of white letters that told people what it was. Without that, it could easily be dismissed as an office building with no clear purpose.

Her other senses kicked in as she looked at more pictures. There was an inauthentic smell of pine in the lobby. The welcoming plush chairs and bright splashes of art had initially put Leslie at ease. Some back-alley business wouldn’t bother with these small details. It was too beautiful to be dangerous.

It didn’t take long for that reassurance to dissolve. The plan she thought she’d put together had fallen apart. Reba Burns, her coordinator at MCA, had betrayed her. The promises she’d made about finding the perfect family for Leslie’s child were lies.

Lies she would not sit by and ignore. Leslie was not some sixteen-year-old kid, lost and ready to take the first solution she stumbled upon. Discretion was key, which is why she’d narrowed her options down to MCA adoption. But the more she pushed for answers the clearer it became that the company she’d picked had a dark secret. Reba, initially a gentle spirit with kind eyes and plump over-blushed cheeks had morphed quickly into a vehement witch when challenged by Leslie.

Pulling up a picture of Reba took her back to one of their last in-person exchanges. A moment scratched into her memory like a fleeing animal’s claws into the bark of a tree. The photograph above the newspaper article showed Reba’s sweeter side. Pinned-up curls and a gapped-tooth smile. A face that likely had most young women feeling at ease. As though they were meeting an understanding aunt with judgment-free advice. Leslie knew it was probably why Reba was hired in the first place. A gatekeeper to hell who wore a halo.

Her lacey collared dress was buttoned tightly, and in the frame of the picture a familiar broach could be seen pinned to her chest. A metal outline of the manger scene.

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