Suzie’s House 49: Unraveling

  It’s been a while since we’ve had a look inside Miranda’s head, but she has her own take on what’s happening with Ben.  Remember how she thought of the household as her personal creation, like a do it yourself family?  Then things got a bit out of hand for her.“No!”  Ben screamed at the top of his lungs.

Miranda had never seen anything like it before.  Ben just wasn’t the sort of kid who threw temper tantrums.  Even when Suzie and Rob were hip-deep in the kind of nasty name calling divorce that made movies Ben had been a rock.

Now he thrashed, and shook his head.  His face went beet red.  He screamed “No!” over and over again.

“What’s going on?”  Miranda wasn’t sure she should ask.  She had been on her way to the kitchen to find out what was taking so long with the bag of ice Suzie had promised for the bump on Drew’s head. If this turned out to be as bad as it looked, Miranda could get sucked in like a pig in quicksand.

“Please, don’t make me.  Don’t make me.”  Ben flung himself at Suzie’s feet.

“You have to understand.  It’s for your own good.”  Suzie stooped protectively over him.

“What is going on!?”  Miranda started to feel a little panicked.  When Suzie said stupid things like, “it’s for your own good,” it was time to run for cover.

“I’m sending Ben to live with Bob.”

“No!”  Miranda cried right along with Ben.

It was happening already.  The house was falling apart.  Miranda had barely rolled out of bed with Vin and look; Suzie was sending away the one person she loved more than anyone else in the world.

Ok, so maybe it didn’t have anything to do with Miranda.  And maybe it did.  Maybe Suzie didn’t want Ben to see two unmarried people fooling around under the same roof as him.

“Um….  Why?”

“Why?  Isn’t it obvious?  I’m sending Ben to his father for his own protection.”  Suzie gave Miranda an irritated glance before turning her full attention back to her child.

Which told Miranda exactly nothing.  Did she mean endangering his innocence?  Or his health?

Vin kept her from asking something really stupid by coming through the door right then.  “You’re sending him away because of the red headed men?”

Suzie nodded.  Miranda hid her sigh of relief.  It wasn’t her fault after all.  Then she tensed again as she realized it didn’t matter.  The results were the same.  Ben was leaving them. 

“But I thought Drew was going to…”  Miranda didn’t bother to finish the sentence.  She closed her eyes in regret.  Drew had promised to protect Ben, but he hadn’t done a very good job of it a few minutes ago.  If it weren’t for sheer luck, the red headed men would have kidnapped Ben.

Ben sniffled.  The poor kid, he looked from one to the other of them, his eyes pleading for support.  Miranda felt for him.  His father was every bit as lousy as her own.  There’s no way Miranda would have sent her own child into a life like that.

“But can’t we…”

Suzie cut her off with a glare.  And what could Miranda say?  That they simply wouldn’t let the boy out of the house again until the two men were caught?

Two, rather than one.  It blew her away to think all this time they’d been afraid of one man when there were two and both were out to get them.

Drew staggered into the room, his hand on the back of his head and his eyes narrowed in pain.  “What’s going on?”

“Oh!  Your ice!”  Suzie extricated herself from Ben to hand Drew a lumpy, dripping dishtowel.

“Drew!  Please, let me stay.  Please?”  Ben clawed his way to his feet using the table as Drew eased into a chair on the other side.

Suzie quickly and gently explained that she felt it would be best to send Ben to his father’s apartment for a while.  Drew look stricken, but he nodded agreement.

Ben turned to Vin, who wouldn’t meet his eyes.  He turned to Miranda. 

All this time Miranda had been afraid Vin would tear her heart out and grind it into the dust if she ever let herself really love him.  Never once had she worried about Ben.  Ben was just a kid.  How could he possibly tear her up inside?

And yet he did.  Simply by looking at her with his heart in his eyes, pleading her to take up his cause he made her bleed inside.

“Suzie.”  Miranda nodded toward the hall.

“Stay right here.”  Suzie put a hand on Ben’s shoulder before passing Miranda on the way to the hall.

Once they were around the corner and presumably out of earshot Miranda turned to Suzie.  “Are you sure he’s safer with his father than he would be with us?  Are you absolutely sure?”

Suzie pulled her head back, her brows furrowed.  “Of course I am,” she said, though she sounded like she still needed to think about it.

“The thing is, if Bob is a much like my old man as I think, then maybe Ben would be better off with us, redheads or not.”

“I… um…”  Suzie shook her head.  “That’s ridiculous.  Bob is Ben’s father.  He would never hurt Ben.  He isn’t abusive.”

“No.  Just neglectful.”

Suzie huffed angrily.  “Look, Miranda, I appreciate your concern, but this is not your business.  Ben is my son, not yours.  It’s up to me to determine what’s best for him.”

Miranda opened her mouth to argue, then stopped herself.  Suzie was right.  It wasn’t her business.  It wasn’t like Miranda had a maternal bone in her body.  She had no idea what was best for Ben.  Suzie Hammacker was the ultimate in home makers.  She probably knew this stuff by instinct alone.

Still, it burned from her chin to her belly button to have to look Ben in the eye and shake her head when they went back into the kitchen.

Tears rolled down Suzie’s face.  She took a shuddering breath.  “You’re going, and that’s final.”

Ben wailed.  He dropped his head to the tabletop, covered it with his arms and sobbed.  Every tear he shed made Miranda want to cry too.

The previous was Suzie’s House 48: Birth of a Scream

This is Suzie’s House 49: Unraveling

Next is Suzie’s House 50: On the Case