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Seth leaned over to Kayla. “What the hell did you tell him?”
“Just watch.”
Dominic seemed very agitated and paced nervously while the little discussion went on. The officer kept taking notes. Then he looked around and pulled the blinds down over the window, putting the two of them out of sight. Dominic got even more tense.
A doctor walked out into the waiting area. “Seth Gaines? Mr. Seth Gaines?”
Rushing over to her he answered, “I’m Seth Gaines. How is she?”
“She’s fine. She hit her head pretty hard on the window and she’ll have a good bump and probably a headache, but there was no sign of any concussion or fractures on the x-rays. Kids are pretty resilient. She has been asking for cookies and milk a lot. Which is good because I think she’s trying to get extra perks from the staff.” The woman grinned. “She’s a cute kid. But as I said, she’s fine and will be out here in a few minutes. I want you to watch for the usual things, of course, and I’m going to give you a list along with a recommendation for a child’s pain reliever in case she has any other aches and pains from the crash. But right now all she wants is for our intern to give her a ride in the wheelchair.”
“Thank God.”
“Mr. Gaines.” The doctor put a hand on his arm, her tone suddenly serious. “You should know that your daughter had what we refer to as suspicious bruises on her arms. I’m telling you because she won’t tell us anything. I know her mother brought her in but she doesn’t want to see her and kept asking for you.” She took a breath. “As near as I can tell, they are very recent. And Hannah is, overall, a healthy and well-adjusted child. I see no need to report this as a case for investigation, but you need to know about it.” She gave him a stern gaze. “Fix this, Mr. Gaines. I don’t want Hannah back in my trauma unit.”
Kayla could almost hear the parental warning alarms going off in Seth’s head, and he had to fight to thank the doctor. It was up to Kayla to say all the right things, which she tried to do. The protective, caring and overwhelming desire to pummel someone was rising in Seth and she could see it clearly. He went to turn but Kayla hung on to his arm, holding him back.
“Not now Seth, not now.”
“Daddy?” A voice rang out in the waiting room and Seth melted.
“Hey Hannah. Oh my big girl.” She jumped into his arms and suddenly everything was better. “Thanks again, doc.”
The doctor shook his hand, tapped Hannah on the nose and turned away.
Kirsten walked out of the office and saw Hannah with Seth. Dominic walked up to her side and Kayla saw Hannah cling even tighter to her father, like she was afraid.
Her eyes filling with tears, Kirsten reached out for Hannah, “Baby, I am so sorry. It will never happen again. I’ve made damn sure of it, this time.”
Hannah turned her head away. “Daddy, D-D-Dominic shook me again. It hurts when he does it. Then Mommy was trying to get me away and we crashed the car.”
“I don’t know what she’s talking about. She must have hit her head. Tell them, Kirsten. You know I’d never hurt a kid.” Dominic slowly walked back stopping only when he hit a six-foot-three wall made of police officer.
“Dominic Melville, I am detaining you under the suspicion of abuse and child endangerment. You will be formally charged at the station.” The officer’s voice echoed in the room as he read Dominic his rights. Then Officer Washington forcefully grabbed his arms and ratcheted the handcuffs on him. He wasn’t gentle about it either.
“Here, hold Hannah.” Seth gave Kayla his daughter and rushed forward at Dominic.
“You mother-fuc...” Seth raised his fist to hit him.
“Sir, I can’t let you do that.” The officer calmly stepped in front of Seth.
They both spun around at the loud choked scream and thunk Dominic made as he fell to the floor. Kirsten had kneed him in the balls. “I put up with you hurting me for all these years, you piece of shit. Nobody hurts my daughter.” She quickly kicked him in the balls once again and started to cry.
Kayla felt for her. She knew the pain of being hurt like that, and the embarrassment of the bruises that one couldn’t always hide. She could understand Kirsten feeling humiliated and ashamed. So she walked to the other woman and put her arms around her. Even though they didn’t really know or like each other.
They both knew.
IN THE CAR HANNAH QUICKLY fell asleep in the back. Kayla held Seth’s hand as they drove.
“How did you know?” Seth asked.
“Does it matter? I saw Kirsten’s bruises. You don’t forget hiding those things.”
Seth sighed, “Well I’m sorry you went through that. But thank you.”
“You couldn’t know he shook Hannah. That’s scary and a child is afraid to tell. It doesn’t make Kirsten less of a bitch, but no woman deserves to be treated like that. Yes, it’s one of the reasons why I came back home. I got so tired of men.”
“Uhh...”
