Don't Open That Door - GoM 1

Echoes - 3

It was a short, lonely funeral at the church cemetery. When it finished, Father Jason shook Kat's hand, trying to hide how sorry he actually felt for her. Kat thanked him for the service, holding back her tears, the bruises on her face concealed behind the light veil of her old hat. Felicity tried a smile at the priest, who spotted the music box the little girl held to her chest.

"Oh, my mom gave it to her," said Kat, as if apologizing for her child's weirdness. "She takes the stupid thing everywhere."

"It's not stupid!" Felicity replied, and turned to Father Jason. "My guardian angel lives in here."

The priest looked convincingly impressed. "Then you must be take care of it. Your angel's lucky to have such a beautiful home. I have mine walking around with me everywhere, even when it rains!"

The little girl giggled. "Your angel can come visit mine anytime, Father."

"I'll tell him. Just remember: he likes his tea with two sugar."

Felicity saw his wink and smiled wider, nodding. Father Jason was like Granny. They knew. Not like Mom. She had needed to cry and throw a tantrum to get Mom to let her take the music box to say goodbye to Dad.

Caleb joined them to shake Kat's hand. He'd been late, just out of bed and stinking of liquor. But Kat smiled at him. He was the only one who had attended the funeral, other than herself and Felicity. Not even Neil's estranger mother had come.

While Caleb talked with Kat, Father Jason stayed with Felicity. He crouched down to level their eyes and spoke in a confidential tone.

"You have to look after your mom these days, Felicity. Remember that losing your dad made her very sad. She may seem to be in a bad mood, but she's not. She's just sad. It means you need to be patient with her."

"Can I ground her if she's bad?"

"Do you like being grounded?"

"No."

"Then you know it's not funny, so you shouldn't ground her."

"Okay, but I'll tell her off."

Felicity frowned and Father Jason chuckled.

"That's a scary face, child! You will scare your mom! You just explain what she did wrong to her, so she can make it right. That should be enough."

He patted Felicity's shoulder softly and straightened up. Kat had already said goodbye to Caleb, so she nodded at the priest and took her little girl to the car.

Father Jason watched them leave with a heartfelt sigh. The complete absence of friends and family was no mystery to him. Nobody liked Neil, and those who cared about Kat were too happy to hide it throughout the funeral. Caleb was the only one who truly mourned over Neil because he'd just lost his only low-life pal in town.

The priest thought of Kat's veiled face. Earlier that morning, Doctor Lorrigan had told him that the night before, when the ambulance had gotten to Kat's place, she was in such a bad shape after Neil's beating, that the paramedics didn't know who they should take care of first.

Felicity found out her home was a great place to be since Dad wasn't around. Mom said she didn't have to go to daycare that week, and they spent the mornings together, cleaning the house and doing little things to make it look better. In the afternoon, Aunt Jane would visit with Melissa, Felicity's beautiful blonde cousin, who had just started her first grade.

Melissa was aware of Felicity's admiration and behaved like an indulgent princess. She let Felicity praise her, but never challenger her rule. She always had Felicity do whatever she fancied and Felicity played along, because her cousin was smart and she always came up with funny games to play.

While they played in Felicity's room upstairs, Kat and her sister Jean sat together to go through the Logan's finances. Unfortunately, they didn't need an expert analysis to conclude that Neil had left his wife and child up to the neck in debts.

Only after his death, Kat found out he'd gone into the red months earlier, when he'd joined Caleb's poker nights. First he'd borrowed money from the one shark in town and never paid the loan. Then he'd stopped paying the mortgage. And lately, he'd skipped even credit cards and services payments. Wherever Kat and Jean looked, they only found reds and overdue dates.

"How am I gonna pay all this?" Kat mumbled in shock, her welling eyes moving over the bills spread on the table.

Jean shook her head. "I don't know, Kat. Let me talk to Carl about this. He can give you good advice."

"Okay."

"D'you want more tea?"

A racket upstairs pushed both women to their feet, and from the living room they heard the little girls yelling at each other. Melissa ran down the stairs, crying out loud. She dived into her mother's arms as Felicity stood up on top of the stairs, glaring down at her cousin as she held the music box to her chest, a reddening scratch across her cheek.

Kat ran up the stairs while her sister comforted Melissa. She saw the little blood on Felicity's face and her braids messed up. She held her daughter tight, feeling her shake.

"Easy, Bunny, it's okay," she whispered. "What happened?"

"Mel wanted my music box," the child grunted.

"And why wouldn't you let her have it for a while? Mel shares all her toys with you when we go to her place."

"She can have anything, but not my music box."

Something in Felicity's voice made Kat loosen her arms to look at her. A chill ran down her spine at her daughter's glare. It was the same rage that used to burn in Neil's eyes before one of his outbursts. Kat held her tight again, to keep from seeing that terrible look in her child's eyes. To try to control her own fear.

"She can't take it away for me! Never!" Felicity cried.

"Of course not, Bunny. Calm down."

"Hey, Kat, we're leaving," said Jean from the living room. "I'll ask Carl tonight and tell you about it tomorrow."

"Sure. Thanks, sis."

Her sister waved at her and left with Melissa by the hand, still crying and accusing Felicity of being bad and mean to her.

"She's so spoiled," Felicity grumbled as soon as the front door closed.

Kat sighed, lifting her in her arms. "Yeah. Lucky me, you're nothing like her."

Felicity's face lit up with a smile. Kat smiled back.

"Let's wash your face, Bunny. Cous Mel did that to you? Does it hurt?"

"No, Mom, don't you worry, it doesn't hurt."

Kat set her jaw. Those are the exact words she used to say when Felicity found the bruises from Neil's abuse. The girl looked back, down the stairs at the front door, and pressed the music box tighter to her chest.

"Wish Mel wouldn't touch you ever again," she murmured.