Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [100]
His mother swallowed, just like a child trying to be brave, and reined in the tremble in her voice. “That’s why I called my husband. He said he would see Wataru and talk to him. Make him feel better. Wataru’s our child. When a wife and husband separate they may become strangers, but the bonds of parenthood are different. I can’t help Wataru all by myself. Wataru needs his father.”
Rikako looked over Wataru from head to toe. Then, with a flash of brilliant white teeth, she asked, “Wataru? Did you do that to yourself? Really?”
Wataru couldn’t answer. His tongue was tied with fear—fear of saying the wrong thing, fear at what he had done.
“What do you want from him?” his mother interjected.
“I want you to be quiet. I’m asking Wataru a question,” Rikako replied, never taking her eyes off the boy. “Did you really hurt yourself? Or did someone else hit you? You don’t have to protect anyone, you know. You can tell me the truth.”
“Someone else?” his mother said, stepping forward. “Are you suggesting that I hit my son?”
Rikako said nothing.
“How could you even suggest such a thing?”
Rikako thrust out her chin and looked up. “I’m his mother, I’m his mother, is that all you can say? I’m a mother too, you know.”
She has children? Wataru shrank, looking up from Rikako’s slender legs. I wonder what kind of mother she is.
“I know. A daughter with your first husband, was it?” his mother said breathlessly, her face as white as a sheet of paper. “And you just thrust her upon Akira, didn’t you?”
Rikako sneered. “There was no thrusting upon anyone. Akira was quite happy to become Mayuko’s father. He said he always wanted a daughter.”
“He can hear you!” his mother shouted in outrage, clapping her hands over Wataru’s ears.
“It’s over, Kuniko, you know it as well as I do. No amount of plotting and crying will win Akira’s favor. He sees through all your ploys. So, go ahead, tell your lies. You’re only digging a deeper hole for yourself.”
Rikako continued, relentless, taking a half step closer to Wataru’s mother. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten for one day the lie you told—the lie that destroyed my and Akira’s dream. We were practically engaged when you came butting in and made up that story about being pregnant. We were in love, and your lie tore us apart.”
“Stop it. Stop it!” Wataru’s mother cried, clapping her hands over her own ears this time.
“No,” Rikako said, stepping into the apartment’s hallway, her shoes still on. Pushing Wataru aside she came up so close to his mother that their faces were almost touching. “Akira and I lived separate lives, we had to. But nothing could make us forget each other. When we met again two years ago, when we realized that we were still in love, that our feelings hadn’t changed, we made a decision. We’ll never be able to get back the time you stole from us, but we can live the rest of our lives the way we want. Together.”
Wataru’s mother swayed and fell into a crouch on the floor. Rikako loomed over her, as if picking the spot where she would drive the final stake.
“You can’t fool us anymore. If you are going to abuse Wataru just to get at Akira, then we’ll take him from you, even if we have to go to court.”
Wataru’s mother was moaning, clutching her head in her hands. Wataru stood with his back to the wall, wishing desperately to become a piece of wallpaper, to disappear for all eternity.
He was scared. He had never seen someone hate another person so openly. Animosity seemed to come rolling off Rikako’s body in tidal waves, smashing into his mother, driving her to the floor.
Rikako stepped back into the entrance hall and opened the door. As she made her way to leave, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder. “Oh yes, one more thing,” she said breathlessly, a boxer just out of a close fistfight. “Mayuko isn’t our only child, you know.”
Wataru’s mother hands stopped moving, fingers tangled in her hair. Wataru had no idea what she was talking about, but the woman