Chapter Four

***I'm not completely satisfied with this chapter, but it does still serve the purpose that I had intended. I will most likely come back to this chapter and rewrite it, possibly dramatically changing it, but the key elements will remain the same.

“Is she asleep?” Chelsea was already lying in bed when John got back from tucking in Elisabeth.

“Yeah.” John shut the bedroom door and walked to the dresser. He emptied the contents of his pockets. Wallet. Pocket knife. Car keys. He placed them neatly in his dresser organizer that Chelsea had set up for him and taught him to use to keep things tidy long ago. He removed his shoes and walked to the closet where he placed them on his shoe rack. He started unbuttoning his pants when Chelsea spoke.

“Am I a bad mother?”

“What? Of course not. What kind of silly question is that?” John finished dressing down to just his boxers and climbed into bed.

“Why won’t Elisabeth trust me? Why did she go to you to fix her scraped knee?”

“Honey, she’s just a kid. Just because she went to me doesn’t mean you’re a bad mother or that she doesn’t love you.” John knew he said the wrong thing the moment it came out of his mouth.

“What?!? So now she doesn’t love me any more either? You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? Daddy’s ‘Little Bit’ chose him over her mother. I can’t believe you just rubbed that in my face.” Chelsea stared at John for a moment and he saw tears starting to build in her eyes. She rolled to her side away from him and turned off the bedside lamp. The room went dark.

“Great,” he said as he flopped on his back. He stared at the ceiling, but all he saw was black. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like that, Chelsea. Of course Elisabeth loves you, and you’re a great mother. Kids do funny things sometimes. You shouldn’t let it bother you so much.”

Chelsea sighed deeply. “It does bother me…a lot. You say kids do funny things sometimes? Elisabeth goes to you for everything. She always has. Everything a mother typically does for a child, she goes to you for. As far as I’m concerned, that makes me a bad mother. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I’m obviously not doing something right.” With the last few words she spoke, John could hear in her voice that the tears started rolling down her cheeks.

“Chelsea…”

“Just shut up, John.” She cried. “Go to sleep.” He took her advice.

* * * * *

John and Chelsea were startled in the night. They heard screams coming from Elisabeth’s room.

“Daddy!” She cried out.

The moon was crossing the windows in the front of their bedroom and cast light into the room. John could see Chelsea glaring at him while she shook her head. “Chelsea, stop. It’s not my fault. I’m on the same team, you know. Go get her. Comfort her. Show her you’re a good mother.”

She shook her head. “Don’t patronize me John. She’s calling for you. Go take care of her.”

Defeated, John rose out of bed and walked to attend to Elisabeth. That was the last time they ever argued about the love of their child.