Angel of Redemption (70 page)

Dean finally loses it. “Look, asshole,” he
growls, stepping so close to Richard that he stumbles back a little. “This has
gone far enough. Shut your fucking face and listen.” I’ve never seen Dean this
angry. I’ve never seen him look so terrifying. Richard’s face loses a bit of
color, but he doesn’t stand down.

“How dare you!” he yells. “You have the balls to
come into my house and tell me what to do?”

Dean backs up again. By the way he’s clenching
his fists, I’m pretty sure he’s attempting to keep himself under control. I’m
not sure if it’s working, though.

“I’m pregnant!” Claire shouts, interrupting what
I’m afraid is about to become a very violent encounter. My mother gasps.
Richard stops moving and turns his head toward her slowly, his mouth completely
agape.

“You’re what?” he asks, making a sound that I’m
not sure I’ve ever heard come from a human being before.

“I’m pregnant,” she says again. This time her
voice is much weaker. “Logan and I
… We’re pregnant.” She’s visibly
shaking. I look at Richard.

If I’d thought things were tense when Logan told
me… That was nothing compared to this moment. Richard’s face is red and
furious. I suddenly become aware that Claire is standing too close to him.

“You stupid little cunt!” he bellows.

“Dean!” I screech. But it’s too late. I watch
helplessly as Richard backhands Claire across the face with a closed fist. The
force of the blow is so intense that she’s knocked to the ground. I don
’t
see what happens next. All I can focus on is my sister, lying on the ground
gasping for air and wailing in pain. I run to her and cradle her in my arms.

“Oh my God.” I rock her back and forth as she
cries.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you, you bastard!” Logan
roars. I look up to see Dean standing with his arms around an absolutely rabid
Logan. The sheer amount of strength he must be using to keep Logan away from
Richard is staggering. I have no doubt in my mind, though, that if he lets go,
Richard will be beaten within an inch of his life. But if I weren’t already
worried about the repercussions of this night, I’d probably be encouraging Dean
to release him.

Richard is on the other side of Dean, swearing
and threatening, but not getting too close. Logan’s size and fury are more than
a match for him at the moment.

“Why aren’t you doing anything?” I scream at my
mother. She’s just standing there
like she’s checked out entirely.
Claire curls her body into a sitting position, clutching her hands over her
stomach.

“Are you okay?”

“I think so,” she hiccoughs. “Logan!” The moment
he hears her calling, his focus changes. He shoves past Dean, and she’s in his
arms.

“Get the fuck away from her before I call the
police,” Richard shouts. “You!” He points a finger at Claire. “Get your ass to
your room. You’ll come to work with me tomorrow and we’ll get this taken care
of.” Claire’s widens her blue eyes and shakes her head furiously, tears welling
up.

“No,” she whimpers.

“Fuck you, asshole!” Logan shouts. “You’re not
touching her.”

I stand up to face my stepfather. I can see Dean
out of the corner of my eye watching me like a hawk, preparing to jump if
Richard tries something.

“I’m taking her with me,” I announce. Richard
looks at me like I’m insane.

“She’s not going anywhere with you. You have no
right to come into my home and fuck up my family.”

“I have every right,” I retort. “The second you
put your hands on her, it became not only my right, but my responsibility to
intervene. You’re lucky I don’t call the cops myself and have you arrested on
the spot.”

“Yeah,” he laughs. “Go ahead. The word of a
world-class surgeon against that of a bunch of lowlife punks? It’ll never
hold.” He says it, but I can see the twitch in the corner of his eye that tells
me he’s not so sure.

“Richard, just let them go,” my mother finally
speaks up. He turns to face her. I’ve never seen such a hateful look on his
face.

“Did you just tell me what to do?”

She shakes her head. “No. I just
… Everyone
needs time to calm down.”

“He knocked up our fucking daughter, Celia! And
she
let it happen,
” he screams,
jamming his finger at me. “You want me to calm the fuck down?”

My mother cowers at his fury.

“Is he hitting you, too?” I ask angrily. This is
un-fucking-believable. Richard turns on me.

“You need to mind your own fucking business and
get out of my house!”

“Mother!” For the first time in my adult life, I
feel sorry for the woman, and I fear what will happen if I leave her here with
this monster.

“Just go, Kayla,” she says icily. “You’re not
welcome here anymore.”

Logan scoops Claire up in his arms. “Whatever.
Let’s get the hell outta here. Do you need to get your stuff, baby?”

“Everything you have belongs to me,” Richard
snaps. “You want to play this game? Have fun
having nothing. Get out!”

I shake my head as I struggle to hold my ground.
Fucking prick. What’s the worst that can happen if I hit him? I know I won’t be
able to do much damage, but I can at least get a good punch in there, right?
Maybe break his nose and fuck up that perfect face.

“Kayla,” Dean’s voice is in my ear, his hand on
my hip. “Let’s go. He’s not worth it.”

Richard smirks. I turn away and begin to follow
Dean out when I feel the grip of icy fingers on my upper arm. “You’re going to
pay for this,” he threatens quietly. Meeting his gaze, I pry his fingers from
my skin and push them back.

“Not before you do.”

Just as we’re heading out the door, Claire
panics. “My backpack. I need my backpack. It’s in the closet.” I reach into the
coat closet and grab her school bag along with a coat and a pair of shoes.

“Logan, I can walk. I feel stupid,
” Claire
complains once we’re in the elevator. He sets her down, but barely. His arm is
still around her, holding her up.

“We’ll get you what you need, sweetie, okay?” I
assure. “You don’t need anything from them. Trust me.”

“I don’t care,” she sighs. “I just want to get
out of here and go back to your house.
”

“We’re not going to my house.”

“Where are we going?” Logan asks.

“The hospital.”

Kayla

Dean follows me to the
hospital in Logan’s car. Claire is sobbing in the backseat. Logan’s holding
her, trying to calm her down, but he’s not exactly the picture of ease himself.
They were both fine until about five minutes into the drive, when Claire
suddenly lost it, the realization of what just happened hitting her full force.

She
’s still crying when I pull into the
parking lot of the hospital. I don’t know what to do to help her. I’m not sure
there’s anything I can do. I feel useless. I try to push Richard’s words out of
my head as we meet up with Dean. He threads his fingers with mine and we follow
Logan, who is carrying Claire again, inside through the emergency entrance.

It’s relatively quiet, so the admitting nurse
puts us in a room immediately in order to give us some privacy. Dean comes in
with us. He doesn’t say much, but he holds my hand and strokes my back. I feel
bad he had to see that and be a part of it, but I’m so fucking thankful he was
there. If he hadn’t been, I don’t know what would have happened.

“We have to report him, Kayla,” Dean whispers
while the nurse is talking to Claire and taking her vitals.

“I know,” I respond. The door opens, and a tall
woman with dark hair and glasses comes in.

“Hi, I’m Cindy. I’m a physician assistant on
staff here,” she greets. “You’re Claire?” Claire nods. “And you are?” she asks,
looking at me.

“Sister,” I confirm. “Kayla Brooks.
”

“And you?” she asks looking at Logan.

“Logan,” he answers, meeting her inquisitive
stare before looking back down at Claire.

“He’s my boyfriend,” Claire adds. Cindy looks at
Dean.

“Uh, I’m a
… I’m just gonna go wait out
there.” He kisses the side of my head and leaves.

“Hmm. Okay. Claire, before we start, I need to
ask you if it’s okay to discuss any and all medical information openly.”

“Yes. It’s okay,” Claire says quietly.

“Well, then let’s start out with the basics. What
happened?”

I let Claire recall the incident. Logan chimes in
with a few profanities, and I level him with a disapproving stare more than
once. Cindy examines Claire’s face. Her cheek is slightly swollen and looks
like it’s beginning to bruise, but there’s no serious damage.

“All right. Go ahead and lie back, honey. I’m
going to check everything out for you.”

“Is it going to hurt?”

“It shouldn’t, no. If something hurts, you tell
me right away, okay?”

Claire nods and lies down. Cindy lifts her shirt
to her rib cage and pulls her yoga pants down to just above her pubic bone.
Claire blushes. I’m not sure she’s ever been to the gynecologist before. Cindy
examines Claire’s abdomen. She winces a few times, but reports that it’s more
tender than painful.

“Do you know how far along you are?” Cindy asks,
reaching into a drawer.

“No.”

“When was the first day of your last period?”

“I don’t know. In March, I think.” Cindy glances
up at me, and I shrug.
I’ve honestly never really talked about this kind
of stuff with my sister, and I certainly don’t know her cycle schedule.

“Okay, this might be a little cold.” She squirts
some blue gel onto Claire’s lower abdomen and presses a Doppler against her
skin. Claire inhales deeply. “Does that hurt?”

“No, it’s cold,” Claire hisses. Cindy smiles and
moves the Doppler wand around. I wait. I’m not sure what we’re listening for,
but all I hear is static.

“What’s it supposed to be doing?” Logan asks,
looking worried.

“I’m listening for the heartbeat,” Cindy
whispers.

“The what?”

Cindy holds up her finger, frowning.

“What’s wrong?” Claire asks.

“Just relax, hon,” she says, lifting the Doppler
and wiping the gel off of Claire’s belly. “The baby might be too small to hear.
It’s not uncommon, so don’t worry. I’d like to do a trans-vaginal ultrasound.
That will give us a good indication of how far along you are and make sure the
baby is doing okay.”

“A trans-what?” Logan asks, wrinkling his nose. I
laugh unintentionally. Cindy pulls out a long wand with a rounded tip.

“This is called a transducer,” she says, rolling
a condom over it. “I’m going to insert this into Claire’s vagina, and it will
send out sound waves that reflect back off of the different bodily structures,
including the fetus. We’ll be able to see what it’s seeing on this monitor.”
She pulls up a small television screen and turns it on. Logan looks horrified.

“We’re gonna see inside her?”

“Yep.” Cindy looks over at me, and I press my
lips together, trying not to smile. “Here,” she says, pulling a gown out of a
drawer. “I need you to completely undress from the waist down and put this on.
I’ll be back in just a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay,” Claire says quietly, reaching for the
gown. Once Cindy has left, I turn to Logan.

“Out.”

“No way!”

“You can come back in when she’s changed.”

“It’s not like I haven’t seen her naked before.”

I scowl at him.

“Logan,” Claire sighs. “Please?”

“Fine,” he huffs, leaving the room.

“I need to ask you a question,” I say seriously
once he’s left. “How long has this shit been going on with your dad?”

Claire keeps undressing without looking at me.
“What shit?”

“Don’t, Claire. Just don’t. Please? I’ve had
enough of the lies and the half-truths. I knew something was going on. I should’ve
asked a long time ago.
” I get a lump in my throat as I try not to cry.
She doesn’t need me to cry right now. She needs me to be her big sister. It’s
time I started protecting her.

“He’s never hit me before.” She sniffs. “Just
pushes and shoves. He’s grabbed me before
—really hard. He left
bruises.”

“Jesus, Claire,” I gasp. “When did this start
happening? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It started last year, I guess. I didn’t want you
to know.”

I hate the thoughts in my head. Maybe I’ve been
in my job too long, but I’m done avoiding the tough questions. I need to know.

“Has he ever done anything else? Touched you?”

She shakes her head furiously. “No. Never. He
…”
She screws up her face. “Gross.”

“Good.” I breathe out in relief. “What about Mom?
Has he hit her?”

She nods. “He started a few years ago. It’s been
getting worse. They fight a lot. I think he got in trouble at work for something.
They fight over money. And there’s a nurse
…”

“He’s cheating on her?”

“I don’t know. She thinks he is, but he says he’s
not. He says she’s being pathetic and clingy.” Claire pulls on the gown over
her bra and slips off her panties before sitting back down. There’s a knock on
the door.

“Are you done yet?” Logan asks, sticking his head
through. I wave him in. Behind him is Cindy.

“Scoot on down here, Claire. I need your bottom
at the edge of the table. Put your feet up here.” Claire does as she’s told. I
can tell she’s embarrassed. I brush her hair away from her forehead and try to
smile comfortingly. Logan tries to peek between her legs. I slap his arm.

“Really?” I growl.

“Okay. Here we go.”

The screen lights up, and I have no idea what I’m
looking at. My sister’s uterus, I guess.

“There you are,” Cindy says, smiling. “You see
that?” she points at the screen. Logan and I lean forward trying to get a
better look. “That little fluttering. Do you see it?” We all nod. “That’s your
baby. Nice, strong heartbeat. Let me get a few measurements, and we’ll see how
far along you are.”

While Cindy begins tapping at her screen, I look
at Logan. His eyes are stuck to the screen. His mouth is open, but he’s
smiling. He reaches for Claire’s hand.

“All right. Your baby is measuring eight weeks,
three days.” Logan looks surprised.

“Dude, so she got pregnant, like, the first time?
We used
…” He stops and looks at me sheepishly.

“She conceived about six weeks ago,” Cindy
explains. “The baby is measured from the first day of her last period. And
condoms are not 100 percent effective. They break, they leak, and if you don’t
use them right, they can fail.”

“I know how to use a condom,” Logan snorts. We
all leave that comment alone, but I think he realizes how dumb he sounds making
that claim while we’re staring at the ultrasound of the baby he created.

“Relax, hon. I’m going to remove the wand. The
baby looks good. You need to get set up with an OB-GYN. I can give you some
recommendations if you need them. If you have any bleeding or cramping that
lasts more than a couple of hours, you need to get in to see a doctor right
away.” Claire listens and nods, but she looks overwhelmed. I’m overwhelmed,
too. “You can go ahead and get dressed, but don’t leave just yet. Is it okay
for me to talk to your sister out in the hall?”

“Yes, it’s okay,” Claire assures.

“I’ll be back.” I smile at her and follow Cindy
out of the room, ushering Logan out as well. “Go sit with Dean,” I order.

“Why can’t I listen?”

“Because I said so. Just go sit down.” I can’t
believe I just used those words. I used to hate it when my parents said that to
me as a child. And yet they slipped out so easily.

At the nurse’s station, Cindy is writing
something down. She looks up from her chart as I approach.

“I’m going to send the social worker down, Kayla.
We have no choice but to report the incident.”

“I know. It saves me from having to do it.”

“She’ll probably need to talk to all of you.”

“I figured. I work for DHS in foster care.
”

“Oh! Well, I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this
in your own family.”

I don’t respond. I just offer her a half smile
and turn to go sit down.

“You and I are going to have a serious discussion
about consequences,” I say to Logan as I collapse into a chair next to Dean.

“I get it, Kayla. Shit.”

“You have no idea how your poor choices have
affected everyone else. This is not just about you and Claire. I was worried
about losing my job, Logan.”

“Did you?” He narrows his eyes.

“No. But a couple of things have to change. One
being that you
’ll have to leave care now instead of being able to take
your time and go when you’re ready.”

“What’s the other thing?” he asks suspiciously. I
look at Dean. He shakes his head ever so slightly. He’s right. Logan doesn’t
deserve to find out before Matty does.

“Kinda sucks not knowing what’s going on, doesn’t
it?” I say. Logan
’s jaw drops in disbelief. “We’ll talk about it later.”
I’m still mad at him, but I can’t quite get the image of him cradling Claire in
his arms as she sobbed out of my head. I’ve got to give the kid some credit.
Yes, he fucked up—they fucked up—but at least he’s here. He’s got
to be terrified.

The hospital social worker, Jennifer, talks to
Claire first, then to me, Logan, and Dean. She takes our report and calls CPS.
They’re going to open the case tonight and talk to us tomorrow. After Claire’s
initial blood tests results are back, I’m allowed to take her home. She’s
anemic, but otherwise healthy. I’m supposed to keep her home from school for
the rest of the week.

I finally call Andy to let him know what
happened. It’s late, but he’s still awake
—waiting for us.

“I’ll be home soon,” I assure.

“Okay. Be careful, buttercup.”

“I will.
”

“I’m going to take Logan home,” Dean tells me
when we’re ready to go. “I need to brief Aiden on what’s happening. I told my
dad I’d call him, too. He knows a lot of powerful people. Just in case Richard,
um, I don’t know. Just in case.”

I know he has to focus on Logan and Wyatt House
and I need to focus on Claire, but I can’t hide my disappointment that he’s
leaving me.

“I’d come back, but it might be late. I don’t
want to wake you up.”

“Then don’t.” Dean tilts his head, looking at me
questioningly. I reach into my purse and grab my keys. If I think about this
too much, I’ll chicken out. He’s already practically living in our house, so it
shouldn’t be a big deal, right? I know Andy won’t care. He’s admitted that he
thinks Dean is good for me. Pulling my house key off the ring, I place it in
his hand and close his palm. “Come back,” I whisper.

He opens his hand again, looking at what I’ve
given him. I shove my thumbnail into my mouth nervously. After a brief second,
a cheeky grin appears on his face and he looks back up at me. He pulls my hand
away from my mouth, and leaning in, brushes his lips against mine softly.

“Always.”