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Maddy nodded but kept her head down.
I looked at Seraph, but she was just staring out the window.
“Can we leave? I’m scared,” Mila whined as more tears trailed down her cheeks.
Swallowing the thick lump in my throat, I nodded and turned around.
I drove around for a while, ensuring I wasn’t followed by anyone, and then I finally settled in front of Nora’s house.
Once we made it inside, I realized Nora was over at my brother’s, which was good. The girls were still shaken up. So, I put on a cartoon for them and made some hot cocoa. Once they settled and sipped their drink, and chewed on a few cookies, they seemed to settle down.
It was another fifteen minutes before Liam knocked on the door, and my nerves still felt raw.
Not wanting to upset the girls any further, I decided not to get into everything with him right away, but he did need to know what happened. I opened the door with a smile and stepped aside. I had on warm socks and skinny jeans that had cost me upward of one hundred dollars. For some reason the realization made my gut sink. What in the world was I doing watching three little kids? I had no idea what the hell I was doing…this wasn’t me.
“Hey, how did it go today?” Liam smiled, walking in toward the girls.
All the fear and terror from the past hour had finally caught up with me and forced my hand out, grabbing onto the back of his shirt. I tugged, not really knowing what I was doing.
He stopped briskly and turned his head. Those gray eyes landed on mine and narrowed in question. I gave him a quick head gesture toward the kitchen. He followed me with his dark brows drawn in close and his eyes full of concern.
Keeping my voice low, I crossed my arms tight.
“We can talk more about this later, but just so you know, there was a woman at the park today. Named Julie…”
Liam’s head snapped up. He was on high alert, his body coiled tight and his fists clenched at his sides.
“What happened?” His voice was low and slightly scary.
Shaking my head, I battled the emotions still surging back up. “They’re fine.”
It was the first thing I could think to tell him because I knew that was where his mind went.
“She started by suggesting they go see their mom a few blocks away, and she hugged Maddy. When I pulled Maddy away from her and started walking away, she got belligerent and started yelling ugly things at us.”
He stepped closer, his hand going to my elbow, I wasn’t even sure if he knew he was doing it, but his eyes had a warning in them. He didn’t like this news. He wasn’t happy at all.
“What ugly things?” he asked, deadly quiet.
I blinked back tears, hating how the adrenaline I had felt was like an oil spill inside my chest.
“Just stuff. I said I was their nanny, because I wasn’t sure what else to tell her. She said you must have money, and I told her it was a trade for classes. But then…” I trailed off.
I bit down on my bottom lip to hold off the strange emotions clogging my chest.
It was equal parts humiliation and fear swirling around like a tornado.
“What else. What did she say?” His voice softened, his torso brushing my elbows that I had like two bars of steel across my chest.
“She said we must be fucking––her words.”
He blew out a breath, muttering a curse.
“She said that in front of the girls, Liam. All right there. She called me a bitch, which I don’t care about, but the poor girls… Mila was crying by the time we got to the car.”
“Fuck!” Liam spat, finally turning from me and running a hand through his hair.
I wanted him to explain it to me, tell me what was going on, and why a woman claiming to be family would say such terrible things in front of such small girls. Right as I wished it though, Mila ran in with her arms out.
