Page 61 of Holden’s Resurrection

“Teething?”

“Yup. Two bottom teeth coming in at the same time. She’s miserable.”

“Poor thing.”

Nixon jerked his chin in agreement then asked, “Faith okay this morning?”

No, she hadn’t been okay until Holden had talked to her. My normally sweet, people-pleasing daughter had turned into a scared, stubborn little girl. Another reason to hate the Towlers. They did that to her—made her so afraid she didn’t want me left alone. She’d seen me hurt and had been taken and drugged.

Faith had talked about what happened while I was in the hospital. I let her lead the conversation just like Beth, who Jonny had sent from victims assistance, instructed me to do. Holden and I were silent as she recounted what she remembered. Throughout this, Holden looked like he was going to go on a murder spree. Thankfully, Faith was too young to feel the anger coming from him. I, however, felt every spark of fury.

“She was worried about Charleigh being left alone,” Holden responded before I could. “We’re following Beth’s orders and not pushing her to talk about what she saw. I get we have to give her time, but she has to start processing what she went through, how she feels, and what happened to her. Right now, Faith’s all about Charleigh and I don’t think that’s healthy.”

Holden was right. I thought about that while Faith was getting dressed.

“The way Beth explained it is, what Faith’s dealing with is two-fold,” Jonny interjected. “What happened to her and what happened to her mom. Faith has to feel safe before she can deal with her trauma. Charleigh is what makes her feel safe. Once Faith knows her mom is okay, she’ll open up. But she can’t do that until she believes Charleigh is all right.”

Good Lord, that hurt my heart. I was the parent. It was my job to protect my child, not the other way around. I was supposed to be Faith’s safe harbor, her shelter, yet, she was so worried about me she was bottling up her emotions.

“Again, I get that. We’re working on Faith seeing that Charleigh is well taken care of and that there’s nothing to be afraid of so she’ll open up. What I’m saying is, I don’t like coming downstairs seeing Charleigh and Faith in a standoff, with Faith refusing to go to school because she doesn’t want her mom to be alone. That conversation should’ve been about how Faith didn’t want to go to school because she’s afraid she’ll get kidnapped again. So any other advice Beth has for us about how to move this process along would be appreciated.”

There were a lot of “we’s” in Holden’s statements along with an “us” thrown in there. The use of the pronouns made my heart thunder in my chest. I wasn’t used to “us” and “we”—it had always been “me” and “I”. I took care of Faith. It was I who would get her through the latest trauma the Towlers had inflicted on my child.

“I’ll ask her to call you and Charleigh.”

You and Charleigh.

Before I could protest or question or remind Jonny that Beth should call me, not Holden, his gaze went to me and he launched into what was going to happen.

“Chad Bullock and the Towlers are being brought back to Kent County. The State’s Attorney has set up a bail hearing for the day after tomorrow. Your attorney has been notified. He said he’ll be calling you this afternoon once he gets our report. At my request, there’s been a restraining order drawn up; you need to sign that before it can go in front of a judge. It will be granted. Once you have the RO, your attorney will need a copy.”

The kernel of fear that was still sloshing around in my belly expanded until I felt like I was going to pass out. I didn’t want those people in the same county as Faith. I didn’t want them near me. I didn’t want restraining orders or more court appearances. I wanted them gone. Just gone. Out of my daughter’s life for good.

“Baby, they’re not going to get near you or Faith,” Holden said.

But I didn’t believe him. They would. They’d get to us somehow. They always did.

“If they make bail…” I let my sentence hang, unable to think about what would happen if they were let out. “Can’t they stay in Virginia?”

“I’m sorry, Charleigh. The crime happened in Kent County so they have to face charges here. But Holden’s right, they won’t—”

“You don’t understand,” I cut Jonny off. “They will. They play games. They’ll call me. They’ll send me letters. Patty will email me. I wouldn’t put it past them to stay just outside of the restraining order but make sure I see them.”

God, I hated them.

“None of that will happen this time,” Holden promised. “You and Faith will always have someone with you. Micky will monitor your emails. I’ll check the mail and we’ll get you a new phone number.”

“I don’t want a new number. I want them to leave me alone,” I raged. “They want the money.” Holden stiffened next to me and I knew what I had to say next would probably piss him off but I was so over the Towlers I didn’t care. “Paul would roll over in his grave if I gave it to them. He hated them almost as much as I do. I don’t want the money, I never did. I just refused to give it to them because Paul made it known he didn’t want them to have it. It’s in an account at Navy Federal.”

I looked at Nix and his face had gone blank. He didn’t like to talk about Paul’s death. All these years later, he still blamed himself for Paul getting shot. “I don’t want the money, Nix. Can you arrange for it to be donated to the Navy SEAL Foundation? There’s a little over three-hundred thousand in the account.”

“Charleigh.” Nixon softened his voice and his eyes skidded to Holden before they came back to me. “He wanted you to have that money to help with Faith. Think about her future.”

“I am thinking about her future. One that doesn’t include the Towlers kidnapping her for ransom. One that doesn’t include them dragging my ass into court once a year using her as a pawn to get their hands on money that Paul never intended for them to have. I want it all gone.”

“Charleigh—”

I shook my head to stop Nixon from speaking. I didn’t want to hear it. Nixon didn’t understand but Holden did. I turned to look at the man at my side. His face was a blank mask, no emotion evident—by all accounts, he looked like we were discussing the weather.