Kids on the Doorstep / Cop on Loan. Kimberly Van Meter

avoiding her, she focused on the joy at having her little girls flocked around her. As she accepted a small plate with a pastry from Gladys, she started casual conversation.

      “Are you excited about starting school, Taylor?”

      Taylor’s expression dissolved into a mutinous scowl even as she chewed on her turnover. “I hate school.”

      “How do you know that, sweetheart? You’ve never been to school yet. Besides, it’s only kindergarten. I bet you’ll have a wonderful time and make lots of new friends.”

      “I don’t want friends. I want to work with the horses and Mr. John.”

      “Well, I’m sure Mr. John loves your help with the horses but he wouldn’t want you to miss out on school. He knows how important it is.”

      “Yeah, I guess. Daddy never made us go to school. He said school never did him any good so why should he make us go?”

      Renee burned inside at Jason’s stupid statement and wondered how in the hell she ever considered him the love of her life. Struggling with her answer, she smiled and said in the nicest way she could muster, “Uh, sometimes Daddy didn’t know what he was talking about. School is very important and I think you’re going to love it.”

      “Why?” Taylor’s bell-like voice tinkled softly as she suddenly looked intrigued. “Do they have horses at school?”

      “Not that I’m aware but they have libraries with lots of books that they will let you check out for free and then you can read all about horses.”

      Taylor seemed to consider this but suddenly her face screwed into a frown. “I don’t know how to read,” she said.

      “All the more reason to go to school. Your teacher will teach you how to read and then you can read anything you like. But in the meantime, before you learn to read, they have what’s called picture books and I’ll bet there are picture books devoted completely to horses. Would you like to see pictures of pretty horses?”

      “There’s no prettier horse than Mr. John’s Cisco. He’s very pretty but you can’t get too close to him because he’s been spooked by a bad person.”

      “Spooked?” Renee asked.

      “Yeah, Mr. John works with horses that are sad or mean ’cuz someone wasn’t nice to them. And Cisco is my favorite.”

      Renee was mildly impressed in spite of herself. She had to admit she had a soft spot for abused animals, as well. “What does Cisco look like?”

      Taylor flung her arms as wide as they would go. “He’s bigger than this and real tall. Mr. John said he’s seventeen hands but I don’t know what that means. I think it means he’s like a giant ’cuz he is.”

      “He sounds very big,” Renee agreed, returning to the subject of school. “So, you think you might be willing to check out school then, if we can find some horse picture books?”

      Taylor nodded. “Maybe I’ll go just to check out this library thing. But I’m not making promises that I’ll like school.”

      “Absolutely. No promises.” Renee smiled and suddenly remembered something. Opening her purse, she pulled out Mr. BunBun. The moment Taylor saw what was in Renee’s hand, her eyes widened and she clasped her hands tightly as her voice hit a high-pitched squeal of delight that felt like heaven against Renee’s ears despite its ear-drum shattering quality.

      “Mr. BunBun!” Taylor hugged the bedraggled stuffed animal to her small chest and nearly squeezed the stuffing out of it in her excitement. “How’d you find him?”

      “When I was looking for you girls I found the house you were living in with your dad and Mr. BunBun was all by himself. I knew you would miss him so I grabbed him before leaving.”

      “Thank you so much!” Taylor said and impulsively kissed Renee’s cheek.

      Chloe, watching her sister, copied the gesture and Renee received a sloppy kiss from her youngest daughter. Unable to help herself, Renee scooped both girls into a tight embrace, her heart cracking from the unparalleled joy cascading through her body. The girls giggled and Renee smiled through her tears. The moment was nearly perfect. She only wished Alexis were there in the cuddle. Seconds later, Renee’s unspoken wish was granted—albeit not in the way she’d been hoping.

      “What are you doing?” Alexis’s imperious tone cut through the happy moment as easily as a hot knife through butter and the girls scattered.

      Taylor held up her rabbit. “Renee brought me Mr. BunBun,” she said, though her chastised tone scraped on Renee’s nerves. Alexis shouldn’t make her sisters feel bad for showing affection to their mother. Taylor moved farther away from Renee and Chloe followed.

      Renee caught Gladys’s watchful stare as the scene unfolded. Standing, Renee met her daughter’s hot gaze and knew the moment was now or never to remind her daughter that she was still their mother. “Alexis Janelle Dolling, you will not speak to your sisters that way,” Renee said, knowing she was likely digging the hole even deeper between the two of them but she couldn’t stand by and watch as Alexis bullied the girls. “We were having a lovely moment until you came in and started glaring at the girls for even being near me. That will stop right now.”

      “You can’t tell me what to do.” Alexis sneered, but her eyes welled with moisture. “And you’re not our mother anymore. You stopped being our mother the day you walked out on us.”

      “I made a terrible mistake. I admit that. I will gladly spend the rest of my life making up for it but that doesn’t mean that you can talk to me or your sisters so disrespectfully.”

      “We don’t want to hear your excuses,” Alexis said. “And Taylor left behind that dumb stuffed animal for a reason. It’s trash. Isn’t it, Taylor?” She looked pointedly at Taylor until Taylor’s bottom lip trembled as she struggled to let her precious bunny go a second time. Renee was shocked at the level of Alexis’s anger that she’d be willing to sacrifice Taylor’s feelings for her own spite.

      Renee stopped Taylor from dropping the bunny to the table, and ignoring Alexis for a moment, tucked a wayward strand of white-blond hair behind Taylor’s ear as she said softly, “Sweetheart, you don’t have to give up Mr. BunBun. He’s your special bunny and only you can decide when it’s time to let him go. Okay?”

      Taylor nodded slowly and clutched the bunny tightly. Looking to Alexis she said, “He’s not trash!” and ran from the room.

      Sensing the tension, Chloe started to cry and out of instinct Renee scooped the toddler into her arms. Alexis reacted violently, running to Renee and trying to jerk Chloe out of her arms. Renee twisted so that Chloe wasn’t accidentally hurt in the process and suddenly John was there, plucking Alexis up as if she weighed nothing and placing her firmly away from Renee.

      Renee realized as she soothed Chloe that John must’ve been watching the scene from the hallway.

      “Alexis,” he said, commanding her daughter’s attention as angry tears streamed down her face. “Never attack your mother like that. That’s not okay in this house. You could’ve hurt someone, especially your sister. Do you understand?”

      She nodded jerkily but Renee caught a nasty look just the same.

      “Can you apologize?” he asked and she shook her head. As if understanding, he patted her on the shoulder and said, “All right then, go on to your room and think about what you’re so riled up about and maybe we can talk about it later.”

      “I don’t want her here,” Alexis said in a low tone. “Please make her leave.”

      At that Renee felt a section of her heart splinter and fall to pieces. Her daughter hated her and that would probably never change. Tears blinded her as she pressed a kiss to Chloe’s head and handed her to John. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” she said, then added to Alexis, “I’m not leaving you girls ever again. That’s a promise. You can be mad for