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“They took them both to jail to sort it out.” John’s voice. I smiled, and that was painful too, but I didn’t care, holding out my hand. I felt his touch, soft and warm, his hand patting mine gently. “They’d both been fighting, and Sara and her mother were passed out cold by then.”
The stepbeast had knocked her out too—that had been her punishment for making the 911 call.
“But Dale’s out now?”
“They kept them overnight and arraigned them, but by that time, Sara’s mom was awake and I had her file a restraining order and make a report with the police, so they let Dale go.”
“Thank God,” Aimee breathed a sigh of relief. “And your dad? They’re keeping him?”
“Until the trial,” John confirmed and I gave a thumbs up with the hand he wasn’t holding. “The prosecutor decided on assault and battery against Sara’s mother, but…”
John’s voice trailed off. I heard him whispering to Aimee, but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. I tried to wave, to get their attention, but my limbs felt so heavy.
“In Sara’s case, they’re looking at attempted murder, since he stabbed her,” John explained.
“He stabbed you?” Aimee gasped.
I just nodded. I couldn’t move the blankets to show her the wound, but I’d had a six inch splintered piece of wood buried in my side. He’d driven it into me, using his fist as a hammer, like a railroad spike.
“Oh Sara. Oh my God. Are you okay? Is she okay?” It was Matt.
“She’s gonna be just fine now, aren’t you, sweetheart?” John, patting my hand again.
I nodded. “Water?”
Someone put the straw to my lips and I sucked gratefully, even if it was painful.
“Listen, I’ll bring your homework from the academy,” Aimee said from the other side of me. She sniffed, like she’d been crying. “We’re not messing up again this year. We’re both going to graduate, you got it?”
I gave her a thumbs up, trying to smile.
“You just get better, okay?” Matt again. Jeez, it sounded like he was crying too. “Too many people spending time in this damned hospital lately.”
“Tired,” I said. The pain was getting better, the morphine the nurse had put into my I.V. line a few minutes ago finally beginning to work.
“Go to sleep, sweetheart.” I felt John’s lips brush the top of my head.
I tried to give him another thumbs up but I was gone again before I could even lift my hand.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I woke up screaming and Dale was there, wrapping his arms around me in the suffocating darkness and whispering in my ear. The words didn’t matter, it was his voice, soft and soothing, the feel of his hand on my forehead, stroking my hair.
“Is she okay?” John, stumbling sleepily down the hall, peeking into Dale’s room.
“Fine, Dad, just another bad dream,” he murmured, kissing my cheek, still bruised as a Canadian sunrise, fading to yellow, orange and the lightest of blues.
“G’nite, John,” I called as he closed the door.
“Goodnight, hon. Sweet dreams.”
As long as Dale had his arms around me, as long as he was touching me, I could sleep peacefully, but the moment he was gone, my body slipped into a panic.
“Will you sing to me?” I whispered, pulling his arm around me. “Sing me to sleep.”
Dale did, singing a song he wrote for me, the words meaning even more now that he’d broken down the door and come to my rescue like a knight in shining armor, and I closed my eyes, no longer afraid of the darkness or my dreams. He always made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
“There’s nothin’ more that I can do
