Chapter 293: Tampa
*Sobriety is for quitters and I’m not a quitter. – Donna Leigh*
RYE’S MEMORIES
The cop followed Donna Leigh home. Leigh Anne had gone to the food bank the day before. Both girls had cleaned the apartment; meaning they poured out the alcohol and flushed the drugs.
When the officer walked through the apartment, it appeared to be a normal home. Not the house for a drugged-out whore and her two teenage daughters.
Leigh Anne told him that it was their parents’ wedding anniversary. They convinced him that she was not typically like that. They painted a picture of a kind and loving mother.
A grieving war widow.
In a moment of desperation, Donna Leigh said that they were moving in with her cousin. It was three in the morning, so he didn’t make her call Anthony. But he said that he would be back before nine and wanted to talk to her cousin.
At seven, a somewhat sober Donna Leigh called her cousin Anthony. He had always said that he would help them. Readily, he agreed for them to come and stay with them. He and his three teenaged sons would be there Friday night. They would load up everything on Saturday and move them from Savanah to Tampa on Sunday.
But there were stipulations.
“No drugs. No alcohol. No men.” Anthony demanded. “Rehab when you arrive. Both girls will go back to school. And, Donna Leigh, you have to go back on your medication. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Donna Leigh had mumbled.
“If you can’t do this, tell me now. I’m not going to waste my time and money on you if you’re not willing to do the work.”
“Fine, Anthony.” She finally agreed.
The officer returned just before his shift ended and spoke with Anthony over the phone. The doctor and professor of psychology assured the officer that the girls would be well taken care of. A plan was already in place for them to move. Arrangements were made for Donna Leigh to get help.
He continued to check in with the small family over the next few days. Even after Anthony and the boys arrived, the officer came around. He had seen too many addicts fall through the cracks and never get out. For the sake of the daughters, he wanted to make sure that it did not happen to them.
When Rye got home from school, Donna Leigh was desperate for a fix. She had scratched sores on her arm already. Leigh Anne locked Rye in a closet after Donna Leigh attacked her. By Friday, Rye was scared to go to the apartment. She sat outside reading her Ray Bradbury book for English until she saw the moving truck and SUV pull up.
After watching Donna Leigh go after Rye and Leigh Anne protect her, Anthony sent the two girls and his sons to the hotel for dinner.
Rye remembered those two nights with fond memories. She slept in a bed by herself, not curled up in a closet. There was a pool, and no one leered at her making her uncomfortable. Meals were filling, not just peanut butter on white bread. She even got to make her own waffles.
Ever since, waffles had been her secret obsession. If Donna Leigh found out what made her happy, she would use it against Rye. Even as an adult, it was a secret that she kept close to her heart and told no one. But years later, when she got married, her oldest cousin gave her a waffle iron as a wedding present.
However great the nights and mornings at the hotel were, the days around her mother were horrible. Donna Leigh had to be kept away from Rye. The beatings were worse than usual. But one of her cousins was always there to stop it. By the time they reached Tampa, bruises had formed around her neck and her larynx was swollen.
Even as an adult, there would be times that her larynx would easily get irritated, and her voice would be hoarse. Sometimes for a few hours. Other times for a day or more.
Saturday afternoon, Anthony and Tony ended up in the emergency room to get stitches. When the doctor looked at the two men curiously, Anthony spoke the truth.
“I can’t go into detail because she is a patient of mine. She is being sent to rehab and therapy by her family and she’s not happy about it.”
“Is she being forced to go?” the emergency room doctor asked warily.
“She agreed for the sake of her daughters. She’s on day four of heroine withdrawal.”
The other doctor smirked in understanding and prepped the skin for stitches. “I think even if we get a cosmetic surgeon in here, you’ll still end up with a scar.”
“Might as well have one that makes it look like a good story.” Anthony grinned.
Monday morning, Donna Leigh was admitted to a rehab clinic. For the next thirty days, Donna Leigh suffered through withdrawal. Leigh Anne enjoyed being a teenager. Rye blossomed into a vibrant young woman.
It was not the first time that she got sober. But it was the first time after Michael had died. He was not there to keep her in check. All her anger was directed at Rye.
In her mind, all her problems were rooted with her youngest daughter. The child that had her father’s eyes and gray streak in her hair. The child that had her biological mother’s slim build. The child that was the proof of her husband’s one time of infidelity.
Donna Leigh had agreed to the story of Rye being the result of a surrogate in vitro fertilization. But any time that she looked at the girl, she saw the other woman a little more.
Growing up, Rye never heard the truth. But always felt her mother’s anger. Even as an adult, after Donna Leigh’s death, Rye still felt her mother’s anger.
For years, she always felt like she was not enough. No matter how well she succeeded, she always felt like she could have done better. When someone would tell her how well she was doing or had done, Rye found the flaw, the mistakes, the errors in everything.
Her insecurities in herself were only amplified when she was around people who reminded her of her mother.
