Broken Flower (Early Spring 1)

She followed him to close his door and I followed her. I had a chance to glance in before she closed it. Everything in his room but his bed was gone, even his desk, where he sat to write his notes and create his studies. I had a glimpse of his bookshelves, too. They were bare.

She slammed the door and spun on me. "Get to your room. You're never to come down here. Go on!" she said, pointing and I hurried away. She trailed behind me. I expected she was going to shut my door again, and probably lock it, too, because she could, but she didn't. She followed me into my room instead.

"Sit," she said, pointing to the settee.

I did so quickly and she approached, folded her arms under her small bosom, and peered down at me. "Did he touch you?" she demanded.

"What?"

"When he took you out of here, did he touch you?"

What did she mean? He had held my hand, guided me by putting his hand on my shoulder. Should I say yes? I didn't know what to say.

She brought a chair to the settee and sat in front of me. "Let me explain this to you, Jordan. Your grandmother hired me after she discovered what Ian was doing to you in your room. She was and is very concerned about that. It's not normal for a brother to do such things with a sister. It's not normal for him to do it with any girl, for that matter. You're too young to understand all this. It's all happening to you much too quickly," she said.

She did sound very calm, very concerned. There was no anger in her face, and Mama had said the same thing about all this happening to me too quickly.

"He made me hold his hand," I admitted.

She nodded. "Yes, yes, go on. What else?"

"He put his hand on my shoulder."

"I see. Go ahead."

I shrugged. "That's all. He didn't want me to get lost."

She sat back, smirking. "He never put his hand between your legs? Don't lie," she followed quickly,

I shook my head.

"If you lie to me and I find out later that you didn't tell me everything. I'll tell your grandmother she has to send you away, too. You'll never see your mother again. How would you like that?"

I started to cry.

"Think carefully before you answer me, Jordan. Be sure you tell me the truth or else," she said, and then leaned toward me. "Did he touch your chest? Did he make you take off your clothes? Did he touch you when you were undressed? Did he show you his thing?"

She fired her questions at me so quickly. I could barely understand and envision one before another came flowing over it. There I was again, trying to be a good liar and knowing I couldn't do it well. Would I get sent away? I had made a pact with Ian, taken an oath. I couldn't tell her anything, but I didn't have to. She was nodding.

"He did, didn't he? He did all those things, didn't he?"

I started to shake my head, but she smiled and then she reached into her pocketbook and took out what I knew to be Ian's small notebook.

"It's all here," she said, "All of the disgusting things he did to you and thought about you. I didn't want him to know I had it yet, that I had found it in his desk, until I had spoken to you and confirmed it all to reassure your grandmother this," she said, shaking the notebook, "wasn't just imaginary.

"I knew it wasn't," she said, slapping the notepad down on her leg. "If I ever saw one boy like that. I've seen a dozen. I knew it the first time I set eyes on him."

Again. I tried shaking my head, but she wouldn't even look at me now. She was looking up at the ceiling and rubbing the outside of the notebook as if she were washing it.

"That's good," she said. "That's good that you were honest. Your grandmother will be happy to know we've bonded and you trust me. That's good."

She stood up so quickly. I flinched and sat back.

"Don't come out of this room, understand. If he comes to the door," she added, more in a loud whisper, "then you can come out screaming for me. Yes, then you can come out. Otherwise, don't."

She put the chair back and went to the door. "It's going to be all right, Jordan. Soon, it will all be fine and you and I will have a wonderful summer together, okay? Just rest now, sweetheart. Go on, lie down for a while. You've been dragged through a horrible experience. You should rest and then we'll see about your dinner. You'll even get a nice dessert because you've been good."

She smiled at me and then walked out, closing the door. I sat there staring at it until I realized tears were streaming down my face and dripping off my chin. Poor Ian, I thought, confined to his room with nothing in it, none of his precious and important things.