Eve by Iris Johansen Page B

looking down at Sandra lying on the bed. “I think she’s fading fast. Do you want me to help you undress her?”
    “No, it won’t be the first time she’s slept in her clothes.” She turned on the lamp by the bed. “When I was younger, there was no way I could manage to help her.” She carefully bathed the cuts and bruises on Sandra’s face. “Bastard. Why would he want to hurt her like this? All he’d have to do is treat her nice, and she’d do anything he wanted.”
    “He’ll think twice about doing it again.”
    Yes, the beating John had given him had been brutal and merciless. She had been a little shocked at how merciless at first. She wasn’t shocked after getting a closer look at Sandra’s face. “Do you think he’ll call the police?”
    “No chance. Not if he had heroin in his pocket. He’ll just cut his losses and get out of Dodge.”
    “Good.” She was gently rubbing salve on Sandra’s cut lip. “I just hope he doesn’t try to look up Sandra again.”
    “I’ll be around for a while. Let me know if there’s a problem.”
    “I’ll handle it. She’s my mother.”
    “Hurts, Eve…” Sandra was opening her eyes. “What are you doing, honey?”
    “Just putting some salve on your lip. Go to sleep, Sandra.”
    “I was bleeding … and there were bruises.”
    “Yes, but they’ll go away.”
    “I’ll be just as pretty as ever?”
    Eve nodded. “In a week or so.”
    “That’s good.” She was gazing drowsily up at Eve. “You have a bruise, too.” She reached up and touched the purple mark on Eve’s cheek. “Did Jimmy do that to you?”
    “No, someone else. A couple days ago. I’m okay.”
    “Poor Eve.” She gently patted Eve’s face. “Poor little girl. Like mother, like daughter.” Her eyes closed. “Like mother, like daughter…”
    Eve stiffened as if Sandra had struck her.
    She threw the salve on the nightstand and got to her feet. Her voice was shaking when she said, “She’ll be okay for the night.” She turned and strode out of the room. “Turn out her lamp.”
    An instant later, the light went out, and John came out of the bedroom.
    “Thank you for helping with her.” She was standing at the window with her back to him, looking down at the street. “Though I didn’t give you much choice, did I?”
    “I had a choice.” He paused. “And you’re not like your mother, Eve. She’s not a bad woman, but she’s weak. There’s nothing about you that’s weak.”
    “I know that,” she said. “But when I see her like that, I have to keep reminding myself. And how can I be sure that she wasn’t stronger when she was my age? Was she like me? Can life beat me down and turn me into what she’s become?”
    “Not if you don’t let it.”
    She drew a deep breath. “That’s right. I’m not thinking straight right now.” She turned around to face him. “Sometimes I get scared, but it doesn’t last long. Do you ever get scared, John?”
    “Now and then. Usually it’s about being trapped somewhere and not able to get out.”
    “And that’s why you’re going to join the Army and see the world. You’re going to avoid all the traps,” she said. “I don’t have to see the world. I’m going to make my own world.”
    He smiled. “And what a world it will be. I’d like to stay around and see it.”
    And she would like him to be there to see what she could accomplish, she realized. He would give life an edge, an excitement.
    What was she thinking? That edge and excitement were what was most dangerous to her. She needed steadiness and focus to reach her goals.
    He was looking around the room. “Very clean, very neat. It looks like you.”
    “It’s the only way I can stand it. I taught myself to keep house, but I’m still a lousy cook. Strictly TV dinners.”
    “I like to cook. It relaxes me.”
    “Another thing your uncle taught you?”
    He nodded. “He never got married. He had to do for himself. I’d like you to meet him someday.” His gaze was