Free Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 04 - Jupiter Returns by Peggy Holloway Page A

everything it wouldn’t matter. And I was enjoying what you wrote. It was like reading a good book.”
    I laughed , “I’m no great writer, but the journals are for my own therapy. Did you find anything interesting about yourself?”
    She laughed, “I was reading the part where we went shopping with Mimi that first Christmas we spent together. Remember, Mimi pulled out a big roll of one hundred dollar bills and tried to give us each some?”
    We got a good laugh over that memory. After putting on our pajamas and getting under the covers, we talked until we fell asleep. We had talked about our past. I still hadn’t asked her about Westpark.
    Tracy and John flew in the next morning and Tracy took me aside. “Did you ask her about Westpark?” Tracy asked me.
    “N ot yet. We were catching up, enjoying each other’s company and I hated to spoil it. Give me a little time, Tracy.”
    She didn’t like it but agreed. “Are you going to try to find out how Jupiter and Christina came to be in the apartment with Bettina and her mama?”
    “She will tell me when she’s ready, Tracy. I know it’s frustrating for you but I need to go slowly with her.”
    “I know, I know. Don’t mind me. I want to nail Jupiter so badly I can hardly sleep.
    I hugged her and told her I understood and went to pick up Bettina.
    She was so much less closed off that I decided to conduct a more directed play therapy. The first thing she did was to get down the doll house and the little girl doll.
    She stood the little girl doll in the middle of the living room and sat back on her heels and looked at me like she wanted me to ask. I trusted my instincts and asked, “Where are the mommy and daddy?”
    She twisted her hair around h er finger and said, “The daddy left when she was just a baby. The mommy died.”
    “I’m so sorry. It isn’t fair is it?”
    “No, ” she said, balling up her fist. “And I’m going to kill her back. She’s a mean lady. I hate her.”
    “It’s okay to hate her but we can’t kill other people, can we?”
    She looked at me and shook her head. I took a chance here but I wanted to get as much information as I could before she clammed up again.
    “Did you know the mean lady before she came to your house?”
    “Mr. Fu said we had to leave because mommy lost her job. Aunt Janis gave us money to stay there so we could pay Mr. Fu.”
    “She was your aunt?”
    She started chewing on her hair. “No, she’s not my real aunt, but she said to call her aunt.”
    I hesitated wondering how far I could go before she closed up again then came up with what I thought was a more safe question, “How long did she stay with you and your mommy?”
    “They both stayed there.”
    “Oh yeah, Aunt Janis and the lady who looked like me?”
    “She was nice. She wouldn’t let aunt Janis hurt me like she hurt mommy. Is my mommy really dead?”
    I nodded, “I’m so sorry.”
    She crawled into my lap and rested her head on my chest and cried silently. I joined in. It’s hard to stay objective when you are going through your own grief, so I cried but made sure my eyes were wiped clear of tears before she pulled back.
    She had a lot of grief to go through but she had made a major breakthrough that day and I felt proud of her. Besides grieving in a healthy way, I hoped she would develop the habit of feeling and expressing what she was feeling, so that she could become a healthy happy person.
    I would be having more sessions with Bettina but she was well on her way to healing.
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 18
    I cut the play therapy down to twice a week with Bettina. Mrs. Frazier told me she that Bettina was beginning to play with the other children and to do well in school. She still had nightmares but she was getting better every day.
    I noticed the first few days Julia was with us she ate enormous amounts of food. I had never seen her eat so much and suspected she was pregnant. She had always confided in me and I didn’t understand why she