Page 1 of Always My Love

Prologue

Eight-year-old Harper Lee Davis held onto her little sister Hailey Leslie Davis as if her life depended on it. Because it did. Hailey was only six, which meant it was Harper’s responsibility to look out for her.

Once more, they were in the back of her mother’s old clunker of a car, driving down the road that led, well, Harper didn’t know. She was too afraid to look anywhere but at her sister.

When the car swerved again, Hailey let out a low squeal.

“Shush,” Harper said softly.

If their mama heard them complain about her driving, Harper doubted she’d be able to hide the marks from her teacher tomorrow. If there was a tomorrow.

The car jerked again, and they heard the gravel spit up under the tires as their mother yanked the wheel and returned the car to the country road. Hopefully it was the road that led to their home.

Harper had never wished so badly to be in the small run-down building as she did now. At least it was safer than a speeding car driven by a madwoman who was high. Again.

Heidi Davis had never been a good mama to Harper or Hailey. She wasn’t even a good person. Most of the time she was high on something.

One time, Harper had seen her smelling paint. At first, she thought her mother was going to finally fix up the small shed-like home they lived in. But a few minutes later, she’d started dancing around and trying to chase butterflies that weren’t there, and Harper understood what was going on.

Harper had done what she could to stop her mama from doing drugs. She’d used up all the paint on the walls in her and Hailey’s bedrooms, but when she got home from school the next day, there was more paint.

She didn’t know what all the drugs were her mother took, but over time she learned what happened to her after. Each drug made her act differently.

When their mother drank liquor, she got angry and hit them or yelled and broke things. There wasn’t much in the house that wasn’t broken.

The paint caused their mama to dance around and act like a kid, which wasn’t all that bad.

One kind of drug that she put up her nose or in her arm caused her to just lie around and not move for days. Another kind of drug that she swallowed had caused her to scream at shadows.

Whatever their mother had taken this time before she’d picked them up from school had turned her mean. Which meant Harper had to keep her little sister as quiet as possible. No complaints. No crying. No questions.

When the car finally came to a skidding stop, throwing both of them into the back of the front seat, Harper relaxed.

Their mother jumped out of the car, slammed the door behind her, and marched into their home.

“She’s mad this time,” Hailey said softly.

“Yeah, we’d best stay clear. How about we walk over to the creek for a while until she falls asleep?” Harper asked.

Hailey nodded, and they quietly got out of the car and headed across the field.

Halfway to the creek, Hailey tugged on her hand. Harper stopped and looked over at her little sister.

Both of the girls took after their mama. They had long dark straight hair. The only real difference was their mama had lost most of her teeth a while back. Now, she only had three teeth on the bottom and two on the top.

Because of this, both of the girls spent extra time each day brushing their own teeth for fear that they’d end up losing all of theirs as well.

“Harp?” Hailey asked.

“Yeah?” Harper glanced back across the field towards the little house.

“Why does she act like that? Why take something that’ll make you angry?” Hailey asked.

Harper shrugged. “Don’t know. I guess…” She tilted her head and thought about it. “Maybe she doesn’t know how it’ll make her act.”

Hailey thought about it for a moment then said, “I’m hungry.”

Harper sighed and nodded. Both of them had missed lunch since there hadn’t been any money today. The school had given them each a milk but they hadn’t had any breakfast either, so it hadn’t sated their hunger.

“Me too,” Harper admitted. “Maybe there’ll be a few apples left on the tree by the water.”

Hailey smiled, and the girls walked faster across the field.

The only thing they had that was worth anything was each other. They certainly didn’t have any toys, books, or nice clothes. Half the time they went to school wearing the same clothes all week long. They were given only so many credits at the beginning of the week so they could eat school lunches for free, but when they ran out, they went hungry.

Harper was at the age where she had started to feel shame about it all, while Hailey was still happily oblivious and just enjoyed the few hours away from their mama that she got each day.

One thing was clear in Harper’s mind. Whatever happened to them in the future, there was no way anyone would ever separate her from Hailey. She was all Harper had. All that either of them would ever have. Each other.

Nothing and no one could tear them apart. Even their mama.