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“Hey, there, Tonya. Man, you are getting tall. You must have grown like four inches since I last saw you.”
“You saw me last month, Uncle Wes.” She rolled her eyes as she stepped away and went to kiss her Mimi on the cheek.
I turned to hug my brother, slapping him on the back a few times, “Good to see you. Missed you last month.”
“Yeah, you too, but work is busy these days.”
“That’s good. Slow in the construction business is not a good thing.”
“No doubt.” He replied and turned to Charlotte, “So this is the beautiful woman you were telling me about.” He stuck his hand out to her, “I’m Brad, the oldest and wisest in the family.
“Wiseass is more like it,” I replied softly for only the three of us to hear.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Charlotte shook his hand, smiling widely.
“Brad, do you remember John Bennett? He used to work for me.”
“Yeah, he used to let me hang out on the site when you weren’t around.”
“This is his daughter,” David said happily; obviously he had been a good employee. I wonder why he left.
Brad turned surprised eyes toward Charlotte, “Well, I’ll be damned. I remember when you were kidnapped.” The room fell into silence, but Brad didn’t seem to notice. “I helped look for you. Did you know it was my father that found you?”
Charlotte’s face had gone chalk white, and her gaze skittered toward mine and then around the room. I was at her side instantly, “Let’s go outside for a moment.” I glared at my brother, although I was somewhat happy he’d spilled the beans.
I spun her around, and my mother quickly began to speak to Marisol to get her attention. I was pretty sure that Marisol had no idea something had happened to her mother. Kidnapped? Was that why she didn’t like strangers? Holy shit!
“What? Did I say something wrong?” Brad asked someone behind me, and I heard my father say something in a low voice, but I was too far away to hear the words.
I led her outside and felt her body shaking as I wrapped my arm around her. “Breath Charlotte, it’s okay. You’re safe.”
She stood on the back porch, staring out blankly at the pastures behind our house. What was going on inside her mind? I was dying to know, but she had to be the one to tell me.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked her softly.
She shook her head and then turned into my arms. “I’m sorry.”
I pulled back so I could cup her cheek, “You have nothing to be sorry for. Was my brother right? Were you kidnapped, Charlotte? I know you don’t want to talk about it, but can you tell me that?”
“I was. I was seven.” She replied.
“Come here, let’s sit down, your shaking.” I led her to the small porch swing, and we sank down. I kept my arm around her, and she leaned into me, her eyes still sightless as they stared out into the fields.
“I was in the park, and a man came up to me. Said my father sent him to get me because my mom was busy. I didn’t think anything of it, and I went with him. It wasn’t until we drove down a long dirt road and stopped in front of a small scary cabin that I started to get worried.”
At her mention of the dirt road, I clenched my eyes. Jesus, I had brought her right back to that horrible time.
“He drug me inside and threw me on an old mattress. There was barely any furniture in the place. I screamed, but he told me that no one would hear me.”
Did he hurt her? Rape her? Beat her? My mind was going a million miles away. “Charlotte, did he do anything to you? Physically, I mean?”
She shook her head, “No, after that, he didn’t touch me again. He stared at me a lot, but he didn’t touch me. He made me get undressed and took my clothes. I think he wanted to do something, but he didn’t. When I think back now, I remember him masturbating under a sheet on the other side of the room, but back then I didn’t know what it meant. I only knew that the sounds of his heavy breathing scared me.”
“Jesus.” I put my lips to her forehead and clenched my eyes. I had never wanted to hurt a person in my life, but right then, I did.
“How long did he have you?”
“Only a day. The next day, there was a lot of noise outside, and he ran out the back door. A big man came in through the front door, told me he was there to take me home. I remember now, it was your father. He looked almost exactly the way you do now, and there were other men there with him. All of them had guns. I think one or two of them were police officers. Your father wrapped me in his own jacket and carried me out to a police car.”
