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“Did you have a bad day?” Sparrow asked her.
She took a deep breath and exhaled.
“I guess you could say that. It was a bit heartbreaking and upsetting to me, and now I’m down here letting my mind wander over all the things that have happened. I’m feeling different. I don’t know.” She leaned forward and Beck caressed her back under her sweater. When his warm hand caressed her bare shoulder underneath, she leaned against him and he held her to his side.
“What happened? Maybe if you talk about it we could help?” Jace asked her.
“Do you really want to know?” she asked.
“You’re upset, maybe we can help,” Sparrow said.
She explained about the case she was working on and about her visits the last week. She told them about her feelings and about what she learned about Roxie. When she got to today’s events, she stood up and looked at them. The four of them watched her, giving her their full attention, and she could tell they were getting upset, too.
“So I was holding her in my arms and she calmed down. I mean, if Roxie would just give her some loving and some comfort and hold her like she cared...” She shook her head and lowered her arms.
“It sounds like she doesn’t, though. Like maybe she stopped believing in loving and caring for another human being. Like maybe she’s obsessed with getting any attention from Samuel, even abusive, negative attention, it’s still attention,” Ridge said to her.
“You’re right, but they’re just babies. Scared, exhausted babies who need love and attention. I spoke to my boss and it seems like, since Roxie is resistant to changing and to putting her kids first, social services might take them from her. The social workers at the shelter can’t let her get away with being abusive physically and verbally to the kids. My God, the baby is only one year old. One,” she said and turned around and hugged herself. A moment later she felt strong arms wrap around her. Beck was there, placing his face next to her cheek.
“These things happen, Valentina. You know that as a cop and, sure, it gets to you. You wouldn’t be human or have a heart if it didn’t. You feel compelled to help her and there’s no reason you can’t keep trying to get through to Roxie, is there?”
She turned around to face him.
“She doesn’t want the help. She really doesn’t care. All I can do is wait and see what happens next.”
“Maybe if social services does take the kids it will be a wakeup call for her. They could try to work things out and get her counseling. They always try to keep the kids together and with their mother,” Ridge said to her.
“Getting abused changes a person. Makes them want to see things as they wish they could be, instead of the way they are,” she whispered and then ran her fingers along the top of her chest and the scar there. Beck covered her fingers with his.
“Is that what happened to you and Lois? Was your sister abused?” Beck asked, and she was caught off guard.
He pulled her back toward the table and bench and sat down. He lifted her up and she straddled his hips. Beck wrapped his arms around her waist and she held onto his shoulders. She looked at his dark blue eyes and his crew-cut hair as she felt the muscles under her fingertips as well as under her ass. Sparrow caressed her left thigh while Jace caressed her right thigh. Ridge slid down off the table and walked behind her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, under the sweater.
“Is that what happened?” Sparrow asked her and leaned forward to kiss her bare arm. Her sweater fell off her shoulders and she moved it off the rest of the way and placed it on her lap. Then she ran her palms up over Beck’s chest and the blue shirt he wore.
“Before Kenny was born, Caden was abusing Lois.” She heard their sighs of anger, maybe disgust, but she went on. Ridge continued to caress her shoulders. They were all touching her, and remaining close to her, and she pulled from their strength and presence.
“It’s a long story, but eventually my sister got out of the relationship. Caden was involved with selling illegal drugs and doing other stuff. He retired from the service and he lost his way. He had some close friends that were doing shit, and Lois got caught in the middle. I helped her to get out and to get away from Caden, but it didn’t last long.”
“The guy was a soldier?” Ridge asked.
“A Marine,” she told them.
“What happened in New York?” Sparrow asked.
She took a deep breath. She could do this.
“I was watching Kenny for Lois. He hadn’t been feeling well and she had to work. Caden showed up at the apartment, along with another thug friend. He forced his way inside and they both went after me. They knocked me around and Don dragged me kicking and screaming to the bathroom. He shoved me in there and he barricaded the door somehow. I tried getting it open. I kept kicking at it and hitting it. I could hear Kenny crying for help.”
She shook her head and felt the tears in her eyes.
“You must have been so scared. What happened next?” Beck asked her.
“I was desperate to get out o
f there. I grabbed the shower curtain rod and kept banging it against the door knob and the wooden door. Then I heard my sister screaming. I remember thinking, ‘Why is she home? She shouldn’t have been home for another hour. Maybe they let her off early because Kenny was sick?’ I didn’t know, but then Kenny was yelling to ‘stop hurting Mommy’ and he was crying and it sounded like they were hurting him. I could hear Lois screaming. God, it was so terrible and desperate sounding.”
She paused and ran her fingers through her hair. Even now, she could feel her heart racing talking about it. Sparrow and Jace caressed her thighs. Ridge kissed her shoulder as Beck held her gaze.
