My Name Is Venus Black(56)

Tony’s first instinct had been to immediately call the police. The only reason he hesitated—his first mistake—was because Tessa would be home from school in fifteen minutes. He didn’t want her to panic at the sight of police cars, especially if they took Leo away in one.

When Tessa got home and saw Leo on their couch watching TV, she acted more guilty than surprised. Then Tony took her into his den and gently explained what had happened with Phil. “We have to call the police right away, honey.”

He knew she wouldn’t like it, but he hadn’t anticipated how upset she’d become. “Daddy, you can’t call the police!” she wailed. Then she barraged him with questions about what would happen to Leo. Tony admitted he’d most likely get put in foster care, at least until they could locate Phil.

“But Phil didn’t abandon him,” Tessa argued. “He asked us to babysit! And his mother was a drug addict and didn’t even want him. So Leo has no one!” she screeched. “You know it’s true, because why else would Phil leave him here? He said he would call. I’m sure he’ll come back like he said. Just a few weeks.”



Tony pointed out that parents aren’t allowed to do what Phil had done and that authorities have people who know how to handle kids like Leo who have special problems.

“But they’ll be strangers! And Leo will start having a tantrum and hitting his head…and they won’t know what to feed him or what he likes to play! I know what he needs even better than Phil….” Tessa trailed off, realizing she’d given herself away.

“What do you mean? How could that be?”

Tessa confessed she’d been secretly visiting Leo for months. Tony could tell she thought she was going to be in big trouble for using the master key to trespass. But of course that didn’t matter now. “If you found a way to help Leo and figure out what he likes, so would the professionals,” he had argued. “Plus, they may even let you pass on key information.”

But Tessa wouldn’t see it. “I promise I’ll take care of him, Dad!” she pleaded. “You won’t have to do anything. I’ll do everything.”

“He’s not a stray dog, Tessa! He’s a little boy.”

“If he’s not a dog,” she yelled, “then why do you want to treat him like one and call the pound?”

Tony had never been in this kind of fight with his daughter before—and he saw flashes of her mother Maria’s stubbornness. Which made him weaken. Made him say what he should have never said. “He can stay two weeks maximum, and then we call the police if there’s no word from Phil.”

Tessa was jubilant and set about turning their large laundry room into a small bedroom for Leo. She decorated it and used her allowance to buy things she knew he liked. Tony could see her becoming more and more attached to Leo.

After fourteen days, Tony sat her down, planning to be firm. Two weeks ago he had told Tessa it was non-negotiable. They would call the police and she had agreed. How could she argue with him now?

Easily, it turned out. Having heard nothing from Phil, they’d agreed it was hard to believe he was ever coming back for Leo. Now Tessa’s case was simple. They should make Leo part of the family.



She pointed out that no one else was even aware of Leo’s existence, other than Tony’s brother, Marco, and his fiancée, Maureen. “And you know M and M would think it was the right thing to do, too!” she insisted. “You know they would. And we could get Leo in school and just say that he’s my cousin and his parents died and he’s come to live with us.”

This was the moment when Tony should have laid down the law. Remembered that he was the adult, the parent. Explained to Tessa that her idea was madness. He should have let Tessa go ahead and hate him for an evening, or a week, or whatever it would have been.

But something kept Tony from acting. At the time, he thought he simply couldn’t bear to watch Tessa suffer such a big loss when she was already growing up without a mother.

Now he realizes it was also guilt that drove him. Tessa had already been deprived of a normal family life, and he’d made things worse by letting Tessa do too much for him around the house so he could work insane hours at his tat shop, all so they could afford this whole setup.

Taking on Leo would only double the pressure on Tessa. But she deserved to have something she wanted so deeply, and Tony had never seen her as happy as she was with Leo.

And so he said the stupidest words of his life: “Okay, Tessa. We’ll give it a try.”

Tessa threw her arms around him like he’d handed her the moon.

If he could have, he would have handed her the stars, too.

But now—sitting outside Sye’s Market in his truck—he realizes the sky is about to fall on all of them. It’s started to rain. Enormous splats of water slap his filthy windshield, then slide down the pane in rivulets.



Leo would like watching that, he thinks. He looks again at the information under Leo’s picture:

Missing: Leo Miller

From: Everett, Washington, February 9, 1980

DOB: August 7, 1972

Hair: blond

Eyes: gray

Estimated Height: 5'0"

Note: mentally handicapped

He can’t believe this is happening. What will Tessa do if he goes to prison and Leo is taken away? She could lose her entire family in one fell swoop. The realization is too terrible to take in.