One evening, as I was tucking Maggie into bed, she 紧紧地抱着 her favorite bunny and looked at me with those big, innocent brown eyes.
“Mommy?” she said, her voice hesitant.
“Yes, my love?” I replied gently. “What’s on your mind?”
She dropped her voice to a whisper.
“New – Dad asked me to keep a secret from you. Is that okay?”
Those words hit me like a sledgehammer, causing my stomach to twist in knots.
“Baby girl, you know you can call Jacob ‘Dad,’ right?” I asked, trying to compose myself before she revealed whatever secret was weighing on her.
“I like New – Dad better,” she pouted. “So… is it okay to keep the secret?”
“No, sweetheart,” I said softly, struggling to keep my voice steady. “You can always tell me everything. What’s going on?”
She fidgeted nervously, biting her lip.
“New – Dad said I shouldn’t tell you… but yesterday, when you were at work, I woke up early from my nap and went looking for him. He promised we could play on the PlayStation. But I couldn’t find him anywhere.”
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
“What do you mean?” I asked, gently brushing her hair back. “Dad wasn’t here when you woke up? He left you alone?”
“I called for him, but he didn’t answer,” she continued, glancing at me nervously. “Then I saw him and a pretty lady in a red dress come out of the basement. He told me not to tell you.”
My heart started racing.
“What were they doing down there?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know, Mama. I just know he told me not to tell you. But you said secrets are bad, so…” Her voice trailed off, and she looked at me as if she’d done something terribly wrong.
“You did the right thing, sweetheart,” I said, trying to hide my growing unease. “What did she look like?”
“She had long blonde hair, like a princess. And a red dress. She smelled really nice, too.”
The basement?
It was just a dusty, unfinished space filled with old boxes and tools. Jacob and I hardly ever went down there since he moved in.
Why on earth would he take a woman down there?