Page 235 of Fury

Her cheeks turned pink, and she let out a belly laugh, her blue green eyes darting around in a circle. “Yes!”

Something jolted through my chest. Dazzling.

“I want her to be happy, too,” I said, clearing my throat. “Just like that. Like you and Mark.”

“Yay. If you treat her right, she’ll like you back.”

“You’re a smart girl, you know that?”

“You have that zingy thing.”

“Zingy thing?”

“You know, that feeling between a boy and a girl. I could tell right away with you and Lenore. Mommy and Daddy have it too.” She laughed, twisting her mouth again.

“Can I help you?” a young guy in his late teens came up behind Zoë. He wore a name tag—Tim—on his Pine Needle Garden Center Family Owned since 1936 T-shirt.

“I’m taking this.” I handed Tim the sack of powder.

Tim blinked at my scarred hands. “Anything else you need today, sir?”

“That’s it. For now.”

“I’ll ring it up for you at the front.” Tim trudged up the aisle.

“Well.” I shifted my weight. “Bye, Zoë. Thanks.”

“Bye-bye. Say hi to Lenore for me.”

“I will.”

I paid Tim for the grout and left the nursery, holding the sack under my arm tightly. I clutched it like a football, and I was crossing the goal line with one second left on the clock. I closed my eyes, and burned her smiling blue green eyes into my heart. The soft giggly chirp of her voice. A spirit full of innocent positivity.

She had never known rejection, or life and death fear, or hunger, never been touched by anything sordid or miserable or degrading. There was only radiant sun and brilliant rainbows in that girl.

“Protecting that child. At any cost,”Tania had said.

My and Serena’s flesh and blood walked the earth and dreamed and danced and sang and laughed, setting the sky on fire.

Sunshine, our daughter is so beautiful.

A wave of light-headedness passed through me, and I gulped in air. Unbuckling a saddlebag, I shoved the small grout bag inside.

Then I tucked my experience of my daughter deep in my quaking soul.

66

“Why didn’t you come tothe party?” Tricky strode through my front door, his glazed eyes ricocheting around the dark entryway, shoulders tense.

I stood stock still. “I didn’t say I was coming to the party.”

“Uh, yeah you did.”

“No, I didn’t. I rarely go to club parties, you know that. I said I might come.”

“Oh, might. Right. She might come. She might like me today. She might spend the night tonight. She might go down on me tonight—”

“Get out of my house.”

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