Close to You Read Free Page B

the backseat window. Eliza could see Katharine Blake sitting beside her soon-to-be five-year-old granddaughter. As the driver opened the car door, Janie spilled out onto the sidewalk, running to hug her mother.
    â€œMmmmm. That feels so good,” Eliza cried as she felt the little girl’s arms wrapping around her. “I missed you. Did you have a good day with KayKay and Poppie today?”
    Janie nodded happily. “Yeah. KayKay took me to the zoo. We saw the monkeys. Poppie was too tired to go. He stayed home and took a nap.”
    Eliza glanced into the backseat of the car. Katharine was in her late sixties now and it couldn’t have been a treat for her to take a child to the Central Park Zoo on a hot summer afternoon. The chocolate ice-cream splatters on Janie’s yellow T-shirt testified to the good time the child had had, but now, as mother and daughter climbed into the car, Eliza could see that Katharine looked exhausted.
    â€œWhat would I have done without you?” Eliza whispered to her mother-in-law as she kissed her on her soft cheek.
    Katharine just patted Eliza’s hand. Both women understood exactly why it had been best for Janie to spend the last few weeks with her grandparents during the day while Eliza was at work. None of them wanted to let the child out of their sight. While they knew the child-care situation was temporary, they dreaded the inevitable time when a new babysitter would be found. After the last time, how could they ever trust anyone again to take care of then precious Janie?
    But trust, they had to. Eliza knew this arrangement couldn’t go on forever. It wasn’t fair to Katharine and Paul. Over the course of their lifetimes, they had worked hard and paid their dues, suffering the worst fate any parents can endure. They had watched their only child—John, Janie’s father—die.
    Then, they had faced the terror of losing Janie as well.
    If Janie was traumatized over the loss of Mrs. Twomey, the housekeeper who had watched over her for as long as the child could remember, it didn’t show. And that bothered Eliza. The little girl had witnessed her mother being shot by the housekeeper in a situation far too complicated for a child to understand. How could Janie be expected to comprehend that her beloved Mrs. Twomey had committed two murders and almost killed Eliza as the caretaker tried to cover up her own son’s misdeeds? Janie had seemed to readily accept Eliza’s explanation that Mrs. Twomey was troubled and sick and wasn’t in her right mind when she hurt Mommy.
    Eliza had consulted a child psychologist who was of the opinion that, while many children suffer trauma, it wasn’t just one thing that scarred a child for life. It was repeated instances of abuse or abandonment or betrayal that did the psychic damage. If Janie continued to feel secure in her mother’s and grandparents’ love, unthreatened in her surroundings and nurtured, as Eliza had every intention of doing, the doctor was confident she would be all right. Yes,it was true, Janie did not have a father, but it was also true that since he had died before she was born, she had never known him to suffer the loss.
    As time went by and Janie was exposed more to the world of other children with both parents there would be, inevitably, longings for a daddy of her own. At any point, counseling was always an option.
    â€œI know you must be tired, Katharine, but I’m so glad you’re coming out with us to see the house. I so value your opinion. And from what Louise tells me, if we want it, we’re going to have to make a decision on the spot.”
    Katharine shook her head wearily. “I don’t understand this market. In my time, you could think about things for a few days and then decide. This is crazy.”
    â€œYou’re right,” declared Eliza, taking Janie’s hand and looking out the car window at the Hudson River as they drove up the