Chapter 40
CHAPTER
Nova Jones
MAGNOLIA APARTMENTS UNION SPRINGS, ALABAMA
Nova stared at the rug. She was embarrassed. For herself. And for her mama.
She’d seen her leaning into the lawyer, trying to flirt with him. She hated when her mama acted that way. Being a Pick Me girl. Showing off her chest.
If Nova tried any of that, Mama would open up a can of whoop-ass on her.
Her mama turned around and pointed toward the kids in the corner. “Nova! Settle these rascals down. Get ’em something to eat.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Nova walked into the kitchen and opened a full loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter.
There was grape jelly in the fridge; she got that, too.
Ever since the DA brought the case about the abortion, they had all the food they needed.
Church pantry showed up every week with plenty of groceries for all six of them.
Treats, too. Like the Little Debbies and Hostess cupcakes.
Nova made three sandwiches, cut them into neat triangles and put them on a plate. She walked into the living room and waved the plate like a lure. “Ya’ll want PB&Js?”
Arbonne ran over. Reba followed, dragging baby Caden along with her. They all piled into the tiny kitchen and grabbed for the sandwiches. Nova walked down the hall to release Tre from captivity.
“You behave,” she whispered, walking him out, “or she’ll make me lock you up again!” Tre nodded and ran into the kitchen to join his siblings.
Nova stood by the refrigerator watching them all eat. She wasn’t hungry. Had a bad feeling in her stomach.
Then she saw the lawyer standing in the doorway.
“Nova? Can I ask you some questions?”
She looked past him to her mama, still sitting at the living room table. Her mama gave her a quick, impatient nod.
“Where?” asked Nova. “Here?”
“Come sit in the living room.”
Nova followed him over to the table where her mama was sitting. She picked a chair across from the lawyer, as far away as possible. She felt awkward. She didn’t know how to deal. Didn’t have Mama’s game. Didn’t know how to play a grown man.
The lawyer put his iPhone in the middle of the table. “I’m going to record our conversation, Nova. That way, down the line, nobody can claim that either of us said something different. Is that okay with you?”
Nova thought about that. It made her nervous, being recorded. But the lawyer was right. It was better than somebody lying about it later.
The first questions weren’t hard. Name, age, birthday, where she went to school. The lawyer was making notes on a pad. Then he put down his pen and looked straight at her.
“Nova, did you get pregnant in the past year?”
She closed her eyes tight. Couldn’t look at him. Nodded.
“Nova, you have to say it out loud.”
She breathed out, a heavy sigh. It was hard. She didn’t want to talk about it. Hurt to think about it. “Yes.”
“Thank you, Nova. Please remember to speak up.”
She opened her eyes. The lawyer didn’t look mad. Didn’t sound impatient. But he could be making her the fool. She didn’t trust him.
“The police report says you got pregnant in December. Is that correct?”
“Yeah.”
Nova looked down. Couldn’t bear his eyes on her. Or her mama’s.
“And you told the police it happened at a party. With older kids?”
“Yeah.”
She kept her gaze down on the table. Concentrated on a scorch mark, the black circle a hot pan had made. Wanted the lawyer to go away. Leave her house. Never come back.
“Do you know who got you pregnant, Nova?”
“It was dark.” Her answer was loud, like it jumped right out of her. She felt like she could hear her heartbeat. “They gave me weed. And wine. And it was too dark to see.”
“Who gave you weed and wine?”
“Older kids. I didn’t know them. Driving around in a car. They not from here.”
“What about the one you had intercourse with? What do you remember about him?”
“Nothing.”
“Can you describe him? Size, race, voice?”
“I don’t remember.” Nova cut her eyes to the side, looking to her mama. Wanting her to help. Wanting her to forgive her. Wanting her to not hate her right now.
“I told him no, told him to stop. I said he was hurting me.”
“So you can recall that? That it was painful, and you told him to stop. What did he say?”
Nova’s breath caught. She wanted to run. Bolt from the room. The memories flooded into her head. What got done to her. What was taken from her. She could remember the pain, the bleeding, and her screaming and begging, please stop.
And she remembered something else. Crying for Mama. Over and over, she kept thinking while it was happening, I want Mama.
“Nova? What did he say?” It was the lawyer. Wanting an answer.
“I don’t know. Can’t remember.”
“Do you recall when you suspected you were pregnant?”
“In March.”
“And how do you remember that?”
“Dogwoods.”
The lawyer’s head tilted. “Dogwoods?”
Nova nodded. “The dogwoods were blooming. That’s when I figured it out. That I didn’t have a period.”
The lawyer looked confused.
He didn’t get it. How she always clocked the season by the flowers blooming. Forsythia, pansies, crabapple, redbud, dogwood. The pink and yellow and purple of spring flowering all around while she suffered through those terrible weeks. No one to talk to. Not a soul to rescue her.
“So when you realized that you’d missed your period, what did you do?”
Nova wanted to bury her head in her arms. She wanted the questions to stop. She could feel her mama’s eyes on her. “I waited. To see if I’d start bleeding. Prayed.”
“And you didn’t tell anybody?”
Nova shook her head. “We got a nurse at school. She started asking me stuff. Because I’d get sick in class in the mornings. Go lie down in her office after I threw up.”
“Was that Cocheta Bass?”
Nova nodded. “She got me a test. The kind where you go into the bathroom and pee on it. It turned blue.”
“And Ms. Bass, the nurse—she was the one who took you to see Dr. Gaines?”
“Yeah.”
“At her office.”
“Yeah.”
“How many times?”
“Just the one time. I was supposed to go back for a checkup, but I got sick and Mama called the ambulance. They took me to the hospital. That’s when everybody found out.”
“Okay,” said the lawyer, “let me make sure I’ve got this. Before you went to the hospital, Nurse Bass knew you were pregnant. And Dr. Gaines knew. But nobody else?”
Nova’s head jerked up. “Nobody. I never told nobody about it.”
Nova’s stomach hurt so much she was just about doubled over in the chair. She couldn’t be honest with the lawyer. Or her mama. She couldn’t say what really happened.
Because all hell would break loose if she did that.