Ruthless King

“Because you sound funny. And you’ve been avoiding my calls.”

“Mama, I haven’t. I’ve been busy. Margaret is on my case constantly at the moment.”

“What have you been doing in the evenings after work? And the weekends? Please don’t tell me you’ve been sitting at home, twiddling your thumbs.”

“Of course not. I’ve been going out. I’ve been hanging out with friends.”

Her mother sighed in relief. “Thank God.”

Wow.

“Way to be insulting, Mama.”

“Well, it’s just . . . I know you struggle to make friends. Who have you been with?”

“Sasha. The girl who lives across the road with Mrs. Y.”

It wasn’t technically a lie.

“Good. That’s good. So you haven’t seen anyone else? You haven’t been on any dates?”

“No, Mama.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll find someone else to date. Someone nice. Not like that Lowell. Regent said he’s been fixing things up at the house for you. That’s good. He was always such a nice boy.”

Nice boy?

She couldn’t see anyone calling Regent a ‘nice boy.’ Well, no one but her mama.

“Um, yes, that’s not exactly how I’d describe him, Mama.”

“Well, he didn’t have much of a childhood. His father started grooming him to take over from him from a young age. But I could always tell that Regent was going to be different from his father. That boy has a conscience. His father and yours never did.”

Mama never said much about Jilly’s dad, so it was a surprise to hear her say that.

Of course, it was also absolutely true. The horrible things her father would do . . . then he would just carry on like nothing had happened.

And she only knew about those horrible things because he enjoyed telling her and her mother . . . in gory detail. Usually over dinner.

She still had some nightmares about the things he’d told her. No doubt he did it to keep them in fear of him.

It was an effective strategy.

“That’s not what you said after his father died. You said that it was too soon to tell whether he’d stay a good man or become a monster like his father.”

“Well, obviously, he’s still a good boy. His father would never have cared about our living conditions. I really hadn’t thought Regent would do all of that. I just thought he’d go check up on you.”

Dread balled in her stomach, making her feel ill.

“What do you mean you thought he’d just check up on me?”

There was silence on the other end of the phone. A sure sign of guilt from her mother. The only time she went silent was when she was guilty or scared.

“I have to go, darling. Frank is calling my name.”

“Mama, what did you do? Did you ask Regent to check up on me?”

“Well, I might have. But I was just so worried about you. I had called you twice and you hadn’t answered.”