dear.”
Josie walked in and sat down on the settee next to her mother, smoothing her skirts and looking down into her lap. She was second guessing herself again, but she got this far, she needed to go through with it.
“What is it, Josephine? You looked troubled?”
Josie felt a lump growing in her throat and her eyes were tearing up. She needed to hold herself together. “I am troubled mother, and I can't bear this burden on my own any more. This is just something that is really hard for me to say, I'm not sure how to do it. I don't want to make you sad and I don't want you to hate me.”
“Hate you? There is nothing in this world that would make me hate you! A mother's love is unconditional.”
Josie nodded and smiled. She didn't want to take away her mother's happiness, but she had no other choice.
“Mother, it's about George?”
“George? What about him?”
“He...he...he really makes me uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable?”
“Yes, it's how often he stares at me and the way that he looks at me mother, I feel that it isn't an appropriate way for a stepfather to look as his stepdaughter. It's almost as if, well,...it just makes me uncomfortable. And at first it was just the looks, but now, I feel as if he is always trying to find a way to be close to me, to touch me...”
As she spoke, Josie noticed her mother didn't have the look of shock on her face that Josie had expected her to. Instead her jaw was clenched and she listened with no emotion, almost as if....as if she already knew. Josie wondered if her mother had picked up on George's behavior towards her and had kept it to herself.
“Oh, Josie, I think you are mistaking the honest affections of a stepfather to his new stepdaughter. He wants to make you, to make us , feel welcomed here. He has gone out of his way to give you everything, a lifestyle most girls your age could only dream of.”
Josie tilted her head and looked her mother straight in the eyes. “I know he's been good to me, and he's been good to you. That's why this is so hard for me mother, after everything you've been through, you of all people deserve happiness. I honestly don't think I'm mistaking his intentions. Do you think that I'm making it up?”
Her mother shook her head. “No, it's not that I think you're making it up, dear, it's that I know you have an active imagination, probably from always having your head buried in a book,” her mother smiled nervously as she spoke.
“ Is it possible, Josie,” she went on, “that you are reading too much into this? Because I think that is exactly what is happening here. We owe him so much, child, for everything he's done for us. He is a good man, he treats me like a queen and he has taken you in as if you were his own.”
Josie shivered at the thought. She was definitely not his own. She wasn't sure how to take what her mother was saying, it seemed she was just dismissing Josie's concerns. She hoped that her mother didn't think that she owed him her own daughter. The very thought was horrifying.
“ Henry the eighth treated Anne Boleyn like a queen, too, look where it got her.”
“ Josephine, really!”
“ It's been getting worse, Mother. I saw him, spying on me, when I was in my room changing.”
“ Maybe just thought you heard something, perhaps it was nothing. Why must you assume the worst?”
“ Did you hear what I said? I saw him, I saw his eye through a crack in the door, there was no mistaking that he was trying to peek at me while I was undressing. He was a regular peeping Tom. I've never felt so violated in all my life. I'm afraid of him, Mother.”
Her mother was getting agitated. “Afraid of him? Has he ever hurt you? Has he ever laid a hand on me? Do you know how lucky we are to have him? What exaclty would you have me do with this information?”
Josie was heartbroken, this was not how she had hoped this conversation would go. “I just wanted to let you know that it was happening. I guess what I'd like
Josie walked in and sat down on the settee next to her mother, smoothing her skirts and looking down into her lap. She was second guessing herself again, but she got this far, she needed to go through with it.
“What is it, Josephine? You looked troubled?”
Josie felt a lump growing in her throat and her eyes were tearing up. She needed to hold herself together. “I am troubled mother, and I can't bear this burden on my own any more. This is just something that is really hard for me to say, I'm not sure how to do it. I don't want to make you sad and I don't want you to hate me.”
“Hate you? There is nothing in this world that would make me hate you! A mother's love is unconditional.”
Josie nodded and smiled. She didn't want to take away her mother's happiness, but she had no other choice.
“Mother, it's about George?”
“George? What about him?”
“He...he...he really makes me uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable?”
“Yes, it's how often he stares at me and the way that he looks at me mother, I feel that it isn't an appropriate way for a stepfather to look as his stepdaughter. It's almost as if, well,...it just makes me uncomfortable. And at first it was just the looks, but now, I feel as if he is always trying to find a way to be close to me, to touch me...”
As she spoke, Josie noticed her mother didn't have the look of shock on her face that Josie had expected her to. Instead her jaw was clenched and she listened with no emotion, almost as if....as if she already knew. Josie wondered if her mother had picked up on George's behavior towards her and had kept it to herself.
“Oh, Josie, I think you are mistaking the honest affections of a stepfather to his new stepdaughter. He wants to make you, to make us , feel welcomed here. He has gone out of his way to give you everything, a lifestyle most girls your age could only dream of.”
Josie tilted her head and looked her mother straight in the eyes. “I know he's been good to me, and he's been good to you. That's why this is so hard for me mother, after everything you've been through, you of all people deserve happiness. I honestly don't think I'm mistaking his intentions. Do you think that I'm making it up?”
Her mother shook her head. “No, it's not that I think you're making it up, dear, it's that I know you have an active imagination, probably from always having your head buried in a book,” her mother smiled nervously as she spoke.
“ Is it possible, Josie,” she went on, “that you are reading too much into this? Because I think that is exactly what is happening here. We owe him so much, child, for everything he's done for us. He is a good man, he treats me like a queen and he has taken you in as if you were his own.”
Josie shivered at the thought. She was definitely not his own. She wasn't sure how to take what her mother was saying, it seemed she was just dismissing Josie's concerns. She hoped that her mother didn't think that she owed him her own daughter. The very thought was horrifying.
“ Henry the eighth treated Anne Boleyn like a queen, too, look where it got her.”
“ Josephine, really!”
“ It's been getting worse, Mother. I saw him, spying on me, when I was in my room changing.”
“ Maybe just thought you heard something, perhaps it was nothing. Why must you assume the worst?”
“ Did you hear what I said? I saw him, I saw his eye through a crack in the door, there was no mistaking that he was trying to peek at me while I was undressing. He was a regular peeping Tom. I've never felt so violated in all my life. I'm afraid of him, Mother.”
Her mother was getting agitated. “Afraid of him? Has he ever hurt you? Has he ever laid a hand on me? Do you know how lucky we are to have him? What exaclty would you have me do with this information?”
Josie was heartbroken, this was not how she had hoped this conversation would go. “I just wanted to let you know that it was happening. I guess what I'd like
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