Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“Tell me what’s wrong, honey.” I said softly.
Instead of talking, she started to type on her phone in a furious burst of motion. Moments later, my phone buzzed.
Shiloh: I scared that I’m going to be a bad mother.
I read the message, and then looked up into her eyes. “You’re kidding me, right? Just four days ago, you kept my own daughter safe from a man that broke your jaw, leg, and arm. How do you think Janie would’ve faired if you hadn’t been there, made sure that she was all right?”
I waited for her to reply, but she didn’t, only staying silent.
“What about when Lyle and his mother died. I distinctly remembered you being so upset, so outraged, that you wrote a letter to the editor. Which, might I add, everyone and their brother cut out and framed.” I stated.
Shiloh: What if I don’t love that baby as much as he or she deserves?
At that absurd statement, I burst out laughing. Her scowl only making me laugh all the harder.
“You’ll love the baby as much as our own, as much as Janie, when we finally have it.” I managed to wheeze.
She threw her empty water pitcher at me, and I caught it reflexively.
Painfully, I stood, and walked to the edge of her bed, clutching my discharge papers in my hand.
Thankfully, she was propped up into a seated position, enabling me to reach her mouth, which I captured with my own.
“Ewww,” Janie squealed from the doorway, making my lips lift into a grin before I pulled my lips away.
Shiloh’s eyes were dancing with mirth at being caught by my six year old, but she looked excited, too.
She hadn’t seen Janie since the day she was taken. Both of us felt that it’d be better until some of the bruises faded from her face, and she was able to take a full shower to wash away the blood from her hair. We’d felt that Janie would be better off if Shiloh looked better, and was dealing with her pain level better.
Because, let’s face it, Janie was a very active six year old, and she wasn’t easy on injured people. She didn’t know how to be. Which was why when she launched herself at me, Silas caught her in midair and twirled her around his head.
“Easy there, midget. Your daddy just had a hole put through his body. He hurts. You’ll have to be gentle with him for a few days.” Silas explained patiently.
Janie looked at me, and then over to Shiloh. “What’s with that cast color? Who picks white?” She finally asked.
Shiloh snickered, and then looked over to me, waiting for me to explain. “Shiloh didn’t get to pick it. Guess you’ll have to decorate it for her to make it pretty.”
“I can do that. I’ll need my Sharpie’s.” She said with a determined expression. “Daddy said you broke your arm again. I told him he should buy you a horse so you didn’t have to walk and fall anymore.”
I closed my eyes, thinking how nice it would be to have the innocence of a child, and the ability to recover from a traumatizing event only days after it happened.
Sadly, I knew I would remember this for a while. Maybe even the rest of my lifetime.
Although I knew I could bear it. Having Shiloh and Janie would make anybody question their sanity, but that was my life. I looked forward to hearing what new cuss words Janie learned while helping the guys at the shop. Or what would come out of Shiloh’s mouth next. I only had one thing I had to make sure to do. That was to embrace the crazy.
***
Later that night
My door opened.
Thinking it was only the nurse, I didn’t react to the intrusion. I was used to it. Frankly, I didn’t think it was even possible to ‘recover’ well in the hospital. How does one get better when they don’t even let you sleep and eat properly?
Turning my head, I was startled to see a frightened, tiny form slipping into the room, and doing her best to close it behind her, despite the little mechanism at the top that kept you from closing it except at the speed it wanted.
“Jolie?” I rasped with sleep still clinging to my voice.
She turned sharply, gasping. Why would she be surprised when she was the one to enter my room?
“Are you okay?” I finally asked as she stood there like a frightened rabbit.
“I’m sorry. I’m just not used to not being afraid all the time. You startled me. I thought you’d be asleep.” She finally answered.
“Can you explain that?” I asked.
She walked slowly over to the chair that was beside my bed and sat.
“I don’t know if James ever told you about the bullying I’d received in high school...” She asked, looking over to me for confirmation. At the shake of my head she continued.
“I was bullied quite badly after the accident with James’ best friend. After a while, I just couldn’t take it anymore and left. There was a small incident of an older senior nearly raping me, and I just broke. I left, ran. Lived on the streets in Austin for over eight months before a man found me.”
She swallowed hard.
“I was young and impressionable. I thought the man loved me. Then the man loaned me out, bet me like a fucking stack of chips at a poker game to pay, I guess you could say. Glen Larson was one of the ones at the table, and once that bet was made, he made it a mission to win. And win he did. I wasn’t too in the know, to be honest, of what kind of person the man I’d been living with for about four months was, but I learned quickly in that week I had to spend with Glen Larson. Stole some money from Glen to get away, and left. I’ve been running for about six years now. I thought that after five years of no one even looking for me, that it would be safe to come home when my Aunt died and left me her house. I couldn’t have been more wrong.”