"Alice Hoffman - Turtle Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hoffman Alice)

was the way he liked it. And the truth was, he seemed more relieved
than upset when Bethany began to talk about a separation during her
pregnancy.

He moved out five weeks after the baby was born, and he might have been
happy to be a weekend father if his parents hadn't put pressure on
him.

Rachel was their grandchild, their first and only, and they were
willing to pay any amount to a lawyer who could win her. Randy's
parents, and even his sister, had testified against Bethany, and her
medical records had been subpoenaed from the times when she was
depressed, especially right after the baby was born and the marnage was
already dead and she began taking Elavil. Right before God and her
lawyer and everyone, she was ripped apart until she herself was almost
convinced her child would be better off without her. While they waited
for the court's final decree, Bethany had to let Rachel go off to visit
her father every weekend. There had been strong words between them by
then, and Randy said he couldn't bear to see Bethany face to face.

Instead, his parents sent a driver. Every Friday night Bethany had to
stand and do nothing while Rachel screamed and the driver forced her
into her car seat. Often, Bethany had to turn away.

She just couldn't bear to see her baby cry, and afterward she'd be sick
to her stomach; she'd have the dry heaves for hours.
It might have continued that way Friday after Friday, until the final
decree, and Bethany might never have driven through that horrible storm
in New Jersey, if she hadn't turned at the instant when Rachel was
flailing her arms and screaming and seen the exasperated driver slap
the baby's face. And still, Bethany was so paralyzed she didn't run to
the car and grab her daughter.

She stood there, in shock, beside the automatic sprinklers that came on
each day at dusk, too horrified to weep. The next morning, Bethany
went to the bank to make her first withdrawal, and she went every day
that week, until the one joint account Randy had not closed was all but
drained. On the following Friday she refused to answer the door when
the driver came for Rachel.

She turned off all the lights and sat on the kitchen floor, holding
Rachel and rocking back and forth while the driver rang the bell for
what seemed like forever. An hour after the driver left, the phone
started ringing. Bethany ignored it. She fixed Rachel a bottle and
put her to sleep in her own big bed, with pillows all around her so she
wouldn't roll off. Finally the phone stopped ringing and Bethany's
heart no longer felt like it was going to burst. She actually thought
it was over and went to get herself a bowl of cornflakes and milk, but
at a little after nine Randy's car pulled into the driveway. Bethany
sat on the couch, watching the door shake as he knocked, harder and