Baby Doll(60)

“We aren’t perfect. Bert works so hard and so do I. But we love our girl. The last few months, she was so darn moody. I thought the terrible twos was hard, but the teenage years are something else.”

Bert choked up when he spoke about the last night they’d seen their daughter.

“She’d wanted to go to a homecoming party, and we said no. Her grades were slipping, and I wasn’t going to let her wind up like me, driving some damn bus for peanuts for the rest of her life. I thought she was okay with it. We had dinner and Tina’s homemade strudel. We all went to bed, and the next morning, she was gone. Vanished.”

Their daughter had been gone for forty-seven days. Forty-seven days since they’d seen her, and now here she was, alive. Tina’s mother was emphatic. “Tell me, what can we do for you? Please tell us.”

“I’d like to see her. Would that be okay?”

Tina hesitated but Bob insisted that it was fine as long as Lily went in alone.

Lily agreed, asking Abby and Wes to wait in the hallway. She followed Shaina’s parents. Shaina couldn’t understand now, but two months with Rick was nothing. She’d still have a childhood. She’d still fall in love. She could still be a normal person. She wanted to tell Shaina all of that. She also wanted her to know that she was sorry. She thought she’d been enough for Rick. She’d tried so hard. She couldn’t have known he’d take someone else.

Lily stood at the entrance of the room, taking in the young girl’s battered face. Shaina was fourteen but could have passed for twelve, a child really. Lily couldn’t stop staring at the girl’s heart-shaped face and the dark bruises covering her cheeks. Both eyes were blackened. She had a busted lip. One of her arms was in a sling, and the other was covered with scrapes and burns. Rick’s training period, Lily thought. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

Tina leaned in closer to Shaina, who lay staring up at the ceiling with hollow, pale eyes. “Shaina, honey, this is Lily. She’s the girl who saved your life. The one who made sure that horrible man wouldn’t hurt you again.”

Shaina’s eyes darted toward Lily, then her parents, then the door. She was scanning the room, Lily realized. Waiting for Rick to arrive. Waiting for whatever punishment he might inflict next.

Lily moved over to Shaina’s bedside, reaching out to console her. “He’s not here, Shaina. He can’t hurt you. I know what he did to you, and I’m so sorry, but you’re going to get through this.”

Lily reached for Shaina’s hand, and the girl slapped Lily’s hand away, letting out a guttural yell.

“No! No! No!” Shaina sat up straight and began screaming, grabbing at Lily, pulling her hair, tearing at her clothes. “He’s going to punish me. He’s going to punish me. Please tell him I’m so sorry. Tell him I love him and I’m so sorry.” Her cries turned to sobs as she flailed at Lily like some wild animal, unused to human interaction.

Lily accepted the blows, ignoring the pain as Shaina’s nails dug into her cheek. She understood the girl’s rage and terror. Nurses stepped in, struggling to restrain Shaina as her parents tried to help. Lily was ushered out into the hallway. She watched the medical team descend, sedating Shaina until she finally grew still and drifted off.

Lily knew what Shaina had endured; she could never forget those early months when the brutality was at its worst. Abby reached for Lily again, a tissue in her hand as she attempted to dab at Lily’s bleeding face.

“We’re done. That’s enough,” Abby demanded.

But Lily couldn’t leave. She ignored Abby and moved back down the hall toward the waiting room. Sheriff Rogers and Wes were watching her, but Lily ignored them. She sank down onto one of the waiting room chairs, and then she spoke, mostly to herself.

“I’ll see her again when she’s calmer. Once she’s had a good night’s sleep.”

“She doesn’t want to see you, Lily. Let’s go,” Abby said, her voice louder and more demanding than before. She took Lily’s arm, and Lily instinctively jerked away.

“Don’t touch me.”

“I’m sorry, Lil. But you can’t—”

“I said I’m not going anywhere.”

Abby took a deep, angry breath. Lily always knew when Abby was angry. Her face got red, and her cheeks puffed out. With her weight gain, she resembled a sunburned seagull.

“What are you going to do here, Lily? You think you can fix that girl? Well, you can’t. You have to fix your own life.”

Lily absorbed Abby’s words. She took them in, thinking about her own life, the fragments of her life. She leapt to her feet, tired of being rational.

“What life, Abby? What life? My father is dead. He died, and I never got to say good-bye. My mother is sleeping with God knows who. The entire world knows I’m having a monster’s baby. And if I don’t have the baby, they’re ready to label me a murderer. A monster. Me!”

Abby was backing away from Lily, as if driven by the force of her stinging words. But Lily couldn’t stop herself. She kept getting closer to Abby until they were almost nose to nose. “But you know what the worst thing is? You know what that is, Abby, don’t you? Tell me that you see it. Tell me you understand why I can’t go home with you and fix my life.”

Abby was crying. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”