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She ignored the sickness and moved toward the window. She put all of her weight on one foot. The shoe helped a lot.
Opening the window, she wanted to sing with happiness. Luck had to finally be on her side. She was on the ground floor and all it took was her sliding one leg out, and then the other for her to be free.
Freedom was within her grasp, and now, all she had to do was keep on running. To keep on fighting for her life.
****
Present day
Robin finished her story, knees pressed against her chest, resting her chin on top of them, and paused as the words stopped. She looked at Preacher, waiting for him to say or do something.
“Then you got hit by the car.”
“I got hit
by the car.”
“Robin, you don’t have to keep Reaper around because he’s the father of your baby,” Preacher said.
“I … cared about him.”
“Do you want to know what it sounds like to me?” he asked.
“What?”
“You made the best of a bad situation. That’s not love.”
“I don’t know what to do anymore,” she said, admitting the truth. “Haven’t you noticed everything I touch turns to crap?” She gritted her teeth. “I shouldn’t be cussing in front of my daughter.”
Preacher smiled. “I doubt she’ll remember it.”
“How can you even look at me right now, knowing everything I’ve told you before? I willingly went to his bed. I made love to him. We did a lot of things, Preacher.” She averted her gaze, no longer wanting him to see.
“Do you love him now?”
She gritted her teeth again but shook her head. There went the guilt again and she looked at Bethany. “Shouldn’t I love him?” she asked. “I have a baby with him.”
“I know, but just because you have a baby doesn’t mean you have to give up your whole life to be with him. That’s not how a marriage works, or a relationship.”
“Look at Anne. She’s staying with a man she doesn’t love who cheats on her for the sake of the kids.”
“You’re not Anne.”
“I’m married to him, Preacher.”
“And you can get a divorce or become a widow. I can kill him.”
“He’s been a good father to Bethany even when I wasn’t there.”
“With all due respect, Robin, you haven’t been there for a long time and he’s supposed to be a good dad. You don’t know what kind of man he is. Who he is with all the bullshit aside.”
“Does it surprise you?” she asked. “Him treating me nice, kind, or at all like a human being.”
“I have my thoughts with Reaper. I know what he’s capable of, and I know deep down there’s something I’m missing, but I’ll find it. Will you be willing to go to the station? The guy is waiting for us.”
She looked at Bethany, and her mind drifted to that time. Whoever those men are, they had to be dealt with. There was no way another woman or any man should have to go through what she did. She’d never been a runner before, but after they shattered her foot, there were times the pain was unimaginable. She’d have to rub it in the dead of night to ease the ache it caused.
Then of course there was her wrist. She never felt confident enough to hold Bethany with just one arm, and she always had to hold her with two. The pain and brokenness of her body aside, they had also interfered with her ability to take care of Bethany. For an entire year, she didn’t see her or know she existed. She had thought those men would have been taken care of.
