Bob continued to heap praise and affection on her and tell her how pretty she was and how much he loved her, and saw this as fulfilling his responsibility as a loving parent. When it came time to deal with the hard stuff, however, Britta had to deal with it. But she was the mother. Weren’t mothers supposed to be the ones who dealt with the day-to-day raising of a child? As a result, Britta grew into an anxious, shrewish woman who always resembled a fragile twig about to snap and who rarely spoke in a kind voice to Bedelia. This only made Bob more affectionate when he was with his daughter, but, though he would never admit it to himself, he made sure he wasn’t with her much. As a result, she hated her mother and adored her father, and this only made the whole problem worse.
Once Bedelia became old enough for kindergarten, Bob and Britta knew they had to send her, no matter how bad her tantrums were. To their surprise, her tantrums eventually subsided but no sooner did this problem end then another problem arose. Bedelia started coming home and crying about everyone in her class hating her.
Her teacher called her parents in for a meeting and told them of her concerns about Bedelia. She was learning ahead of her peers and, of course, was an absolutely gorgeous child, but she couldn’t seem to gain the acceptance of her fellow classmates. In fact, she seemed to be producing hostility in them. She would snatch toys away from other children and if they complained, she would tell them that she was a beautiful princess and beautiful princesses were supposed to always get what they wanted when they wanted it. When she would lose games she would throw fits. When kids subsequently started excluding her, she would tell them that they were just jealous of her because she was so pretty and they were ugly.
When they spoke to Bedelia about the meeting, Britta was so nasty and demeaning to her that she broke into tears, and all Bob had the heart to do was to hug her and tell her it would be okay and that she should just show her classmates “the sweet, lovable girl†he knew she was.
Over the next few years, she continued to go to school with academic but no social success. Though the school-avoiding tantrums had subsided, they were replaced by constant complaints of illness. Britta was learning to get tougher with her so even tantrums often didn’t work with her anymore. Eventually, however, she seemed to be getting legitimately ill, often getting these stomach viruses with intense vomiting. One day, however, Britta caught her drinking ipecac syrup. When the school started complaining about her absences, Bob brought up the idea of having her homeschooled, to which Britta replied, “What, so I can deal with her all day long while you’re out playing cowboy?!†before storming off.
One day when Bedelia was eight, he came into the house after a day’s work to find a note in Britta’s handwriting that read she had had to take Bedelia to the emergency room of the nearest hospital because she had fallen while sliding down the banister. When Bob got to the hospital, it turned out Bedelia had a broken nose, a broken arm, and a concussion and her doctor wanted to keep her in the hospital overnight. He also began questioning him in a way that suggested he didn’t necessarily buy the banister story. Fortunately, Bob was able to convince him she wasn’t being physically abused. When he questioned Bedelia alone, however, he eventually got the truth out of her.
Britta had been trying to get her to take a bath, which she had refused to do for three days because the water “felt weird.†She was refusing to bathe once again and when Britta kept barking at her to do so, she started throwing one of her tantrums. Bedelia then tried to run to her bedroom, which she was planning to lock herself in, a common tactic of hers, but Britta chased her. Just as Bedelia was reaching for the door knob, Britta twisted her arm behind her back hard and slammed her face against the door before she abruptly stopped. Dissolving into a fit of tears, she said to Bedelia, “Now look at what you made me do!†She subsequently told her that if she let anyone at the hospital know what had happened, they would take her to an orphanage or a foster home. People would think her father beat her too. If she told her father the truth, he would leave her and her mother, because he would know she was the kind of bad child who would drive her mother to badly beat her.
Bob ended up getting a quickie divorce from Britta, sending her off with a big enough check that she would obey his instructions to quietly exit his and Bedelia’s lives for good.
The first night she was home from the hospital, he was awoken by a hysterical Bedelia banging on his door. She had had a terrible nightmare and asked if she could sleep in his bed. He allowed her. The second night, she asked to do the same as well as the third. Soon she didn’t need to ask anymore. He also decided to homeschool her, at least for the time being.
One Sunday morning, once she was fully healed, he told her he had a surprise for her. He brought her to the barn and led out a brown-speckled, white Paint horse. He told her she could name it whatever she wanted. She chose the name Unicorn.
Unicorn turned out to be a blessing for the both of them. Bedelia became an extraordinary rider and Bob was with her every step of the way. Nearly all of their free time was spent roaming the ranch on horseback, often until the darkest night.
What time she didn’t spend riding Unicorn she still spent involved with his species in some way. If there was a book or a movie that had a horse in it, Bedelia was drawn to it like a fly to a light bulb. She became interested in learning all about horse breeds and developed an uncanny ability for memorization regarding the topic. Sometimes Bob would become concerned that her interest was really an obsession, but then he decided it was irrelevant. Wasn’t any passion an obsession? And wasn’t it passion that made life worthwhile? And since she was still being homeschooled, didn’t she need something to fill the void of not being around kids her own age?
At the age of ten, she began competing in the horse show circuit, where she excelled. Over the next few years, she would go on to win three American Paint Horse Association Reserve World Championships for her age group.
When she was thirteen, she woke up in their bed one morning moaning in pain. She ran into the bathroom and when she returned, she asked if he could cancel her tutors for that day. She felt really sick.
Later he found blood on the sheets.
