"Oh, honey," Nell said, leading her into the house. "Come here." She pulled Sara toward the couch. "Sit down."
Sara sat, and Nell hugged her. She felt ridiculous and grateful at the same time, and her words came in jagged murmurs between sobs as she let everything out that she had wanted to tell Jeffrey. "Those poor children."
"I know."
"They looked so dirty, so hungry."
Nell shook her head, tsking.
"I don't want to feel this way."
"Oh, now," Nell said, stroking her hair. "Shh…"
"What happened?" she begged. "Please just tell me what happened."
"Come on," Nell soothed, taking a Kleenex out of the box. She held the tissue to Sara's nose and said, "Blow."
Sara did as she was instructed, feeling silly for her outburst. She sat up, wiping her eyes with another tissue. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry."
"It's a wonder you haven't broken down before this," Nell said, taking another tissue to wipe her own eyes.
"Those children…" Sara murmured. "Those poor boys."
"I know. It makes my stomach ache every time I see them."
"Why can't anyone do something?"
"Don't ask me," she said. "I'd put an ad in the paper if I thought someone would take them."
Sara tried to laugh, but she could not. "What about children's services?"
"You wanna know something funny?"
Sara waited.
"She used to work for them."
"No," Sara said. She could not believe it.
"She did," Nell confirmed. "About fifteen years ago she was a caseworker at the Department of Family and Children's Services. Then she got into a car accident on the way to do a house visit and sued the county and the state and anybody else she could get her hands on. Between her disability and whatever she got from the settlement, she's not hurting for money."
"Where does she spend it?"
"Not on any of her kids," Nell answered ruefully. "The upshot is, she knows all the rules. She knows how to get around having those kids taken away. D-FACS is scared of her. If it wasn't for Hoss making drop-bys every now and then, she'd probably put those two boys in a closet and throw away the key."
"What's wrong with the youngest?"
"Some blood thing," Nell said. "He's always having to get transfusions."
"Hemophilia?" she asked, thinking Nell probably meant infusions. Even in a town as small as Sylacauga, the doctors would know better.
"No, something else like that, but not hemophilia," Nell told her. "State pays all the bills, I'm sure."
Sara sank back into the sofa, feeling an overwhelming exhaustion. The two women sat there in silence, and for some reason Sara told her, "I was raped."
For once, Nell did not respond.
"I've never said that out loud," she said. "I mean, the actual words. I always say I was attacked or I was hurt…" She pressed her lips together. "I was raped."
Nell let her take her time.
"It was when I worked in Atlanta," Sara said, adding, "Jeffrey doesn't know." She picked at a piece of string on the cushion.
Nell gave Sara a moment before saying, "I guess we've each got our secrets from him."
"I've never felt like this with a man," Sara said. "Not about anybody." She tried to find a way to articulate it. "I feel totally out of control, like no matter what my brain tells me, there's this little thing in the back of my head saying, 'No, don't listen to them. You can't live without him.' "
Nell repeated, "He has that effect on women."
"I just want…" She threw her hands into the air. "I don't know what I want." She picked at the string again. "I can't even tell him to his face that I love him, but every time I see him or even think about him…"
Nell took another tissue and handed it to Sara. "I never believed it," she told her. "What they said about him and Julia."
"What exactly did they say?"
"That Jeffrey and Robert raped her in the woods."
Sara bit her bottom lip. Nell had said the words matter-of-factly, but they still had power. The word "rape" in and of itself was the most obscene sort of profanity.
"She was a slut," Nell said. "Not that that's any excuse. Hell, my sister Marinell was a bigger slut, but she knew better than to brag about it."
"Tell me everything," Sara said. "Jeffrey won't."
Nell shrugged. "She did things with boys. I don't know, it sounds like no big deal today, but back then, you just didn't put out." She amended, "Well, you did it, but you sure as shit didn't let everybody know about it."
"I remember," Sara said. Fear had kept her from giving in to Steve Mann, and shame had kept her from really enjoying it when she finally did.
"Julia wasn't pretty," Nell said. "She wasn't plain, either, but there's a quality girls like that have that makes them ugly. I guess it's some sort of desperation, where they grab onto anybody they think can make them feel better about themselves." She stared at the pictures of her family that lined the wall. "I look at Jen and it just makes me cringe sometimes because I see this need in her. She's not even a teenager yet and she's got this unquenchable thirst for approval."
"Most girls are like that."
"Are they?"
"Yes," Sara said. "Some are better at hiding it."
"I try to tell her she's pretty. Possum's just crazy about her. Went to the father-daughter dance with her at the end of school last year. My God, but that man can carry off a baby-blue tux like nobody you've ever seen."
Sara laughed, imagining Possum in the tuxedo.
"She's doing sports now," Nell said. "Basketball, softball. It's making a difference."
Sara nodded. Girls who participated in sports had more self-confidence; it was a proven fact. She said, "I look back and thank God I had my mother." Sara laughed at herself. "Not that I ever believed a word she said, but she was always telling me I could do anything I wanted to do."
"Obviously, part of you was listening," Nell pointed out. "You don't get to be a doctor just because you're pretty."
Sara felt a tinge of a blush at the compliment.
"Anyway," Nell said, folding and unfolding the tissue. "Julia was kind of loose. She didn't make a secret of it, either. She thought it meant something that the boys would go with her, like they thought she was special or they loved her. Like blowing them behind the gym after school made her some kind of special. She actually bragged about it."
"Did she ever go with Jeffrey?"
"The truth?" Nell asked.
Sara could only nod.
"The truth is, I can't tell you. I don't see why he would. I was giving it to him pretty regular then." She laughed at herself. "You never know with boys that age, though. A sixteen-year-old boy is gonna pass up on getting laid? Hell, most grown men wouldn't pass that up. Sex is sex, and they'll do just about anything to get it."
"Did you ever ask him about what happened?"
"I didn't have the guts," Nell said. "I wouldn't have a problem now, but you know how it is when you're young. You're scared to say something that might piss him off and make him leave you for the next hot thing."
"Who was the next hot thing?"
"Jessie, I thought, but in retrospect I know that he never would have done that to Robert." Nell tucked her feet under her legs. "I don't think he did, if you want my gut reaction. Even then, Jeffrey had this thing about him, this sort of guide that let him know the difference between right and wrong."
"I thought he was in trouble all the time."
"Oh, he was," Nell said. "But he knew he was wrong. That's what I kept after him about. He just knew better than to do the crap he did. He had to get to that point where he made the decision to listen to his gut." She added, "Your gut's a lot smarter than you think."