by Ciara Shayee
“Marcus, you mean? He heard?”
Indie nodded in answer to Megan’s question. “Yeah. All the other guys had gone back to their rooms, but he must’ve hung around. I didn’t know why until he came into the kitchen and started trying to touch me. Just my arms or my hands at first, but when I told him to get off he, um, he grabbed at me and pushed me against the cupboards.”
Choked, she paused, swallowing convulsively. Remembering that day, that night, made her feel sick to her stomach. “He made me go with him to one of the outbuildings, and I had to drink from his flask to stop him threatening to hurt Grace or me. It was disgusting and I have no idea what it was, but it completely wiped me out. Whiskey, maybe? It smelled strong. I woke up a while later; I don’t know what time because it was really dark outside and freezing cold, but Marcus was gone, and I hurt so bad…um, you know. I knew what he’d done to me, but I don’t remember anything after he made me drink about half his alcohol. I went back to our room and cleaned myself up as quietly as I could, but Grace was out cold, and I didn’t want to scare her, so I just didn’t say anything.”
Megan’s eyes flicked over towards Laker when a quiet groan escaped him. If there’d been any doubt before, it was abruptly obvious that Marley’s father was a degenerate pig.
A rapist.
With a squeal of the chair against the floor, Laker motioned over his shoulder towards the door. He made a beeline straight for the restrooms down the hall where he emptied his stomach of his breakfast. Then and there, he vowed to protect Indie from any other horrors that may come her way. Nobody would hurt her again.
Of course, if he’d stayed, he would have heard Indie say that there was no point giving a description of Marcus, of the FBI looking for him.
He was dead. Buried somewhere near the ranch, she guessed.
Garrett had shot him in front of all the ranch hands as a lesson to them not to touch Indie or Grace. Sometimes at night, she could still see him slumped in a pool of his own blood right outside the house.
She still saw his sightless grey eyes and the dark hair her daughter had inherited hanging over his face, matted with sticky crimson blood.
In the end, Indie surprised everybody with her cool recollection of a horrific ordeal. Grace explained that she’d been the same way when she explained it to her, six weeks after it happened when it became obvious something wasn’t right, when her period didn’t come.
“She does this thing,” Grace explained. “She just kind of...disappears for a while. Like her mind is somewhere away from her body just telling it the information she has to say. It’s creepy, but I think…I think it’s how she’s managed to cope, you know?”
Megan had surmised it was Indie’s defence mechanism, and they’d left the discussion at that, not wanting to ruminate on why Indie needed one in the first place—although obviously Grace knew, but wouldn’t say without her best friend’s permission. It wasn’t her story to tell, in Grace’s eyes.
All Grace was willing to share were the things she’d witnessed, the things she’d experienced, although she hadn’t gone into great detail. It was hard enough to remember without having to look into her dad’s heartbroken face as she relived it. Megan had told her that, at some point, she and Indie would need to give statements, but it could wait.
And Grace could wait forever. The idea of having to detail the past twelve years of their lives for their families and police to hear was a terrifying one.
A small hand tapping at his leg pulled Laker from his thoughts.
He peered down at Marley as she twisted in his lap to look up at him. She had a small curl to her lips as she pointed across the room. It took him a moment to realise what she was pointing at.
Grinning, Laker stroked the crown of her head and murmured, “You can watch more TV later, Little Sweet. The doctor will be here soon.”
Marley’s almost-smile transformed into a fully-fledged one at the mention of the doctor. Dr. Cairns had become a firm favourite with the little girl, which Laker attributed to his gentle nature, soft voice, and pocketful of sweets. It both did and didn’t surprise him that Marley had never experienced the joys of sweets. The first time the doctor had offered her an apple lolly—or sucker, as he called them—she’d been confused about what she needed to do with it. Indie had demonstrated, a look of euphoria on her face as she tasted the sweet treat before handing it to Marley. The little girl had been sold there and then, and always beamed when Dr. Cairns did his rounds and offered her a new taste sensation to ease the sting of an unfamiliar face.
“Mommy?”
“Yes, she’ll be back in a minute, too. She’s just gone to the bathroom. Don’t worry, I’m sure she won’t stop you.”
“Stop her from doing what?” Indie asked, appearing in the doorway.
At the sound of her mother’s voice, Marley bounced off the bed and charged towards Indie, wrapping her arms around her legs with a hopeful expression on her angelic face.
“She wants a lolly when Dr. Cairns gets here,” Laker supplied.
Indie smiled, bending to scoop her daughter into her arms. Laker bit back his concern that she shouldn’t be lifting in her condition, choosing instead to enjoy the sight of Indie and Marley’s sweet bond.
“If Dr. Cairns offers you a lolly you can have one, okay? But no asking for one; that’s rude.”
Marley nodded, ponytail whipping behind her head, as the door opened behind Indie.
Dr. Cairns strolled in with Reagan, Peter, and Megan right behind him, Grace entering a few seconds later with a nurse they’d all grown to like. Lily was a sweet, kind young woman and she adored Marley, which made her popular in everyone’s eyes.
“Good morning, Indie, Marley,” Dr. Cairns grinned, gently tapping the underside of Marley’s chin to garner a smile before facing Laker. “Good morning, Laker.”
“Morning, Doc.”
“All right, so…shall we get started? Lots to talk about today.”
Everyone made themselves comfortable on the various seats around the room. Indie and Grace sat side-by-side on one of the beds with Marley still wrapped around her mother, while Laker took a chair. Reagan and Peter perched on the side of the free bed, Megan on another free chair while Dr. Cairns rolled stools over for himself and Lily, the nurse.
“Okay. Grace, if you keep taking your vitamins like you have been and keep your fluid and food intake up, you’ll be right as rain in no time. Your oxygen checks have come back clear, so no lasting effects of the smoke inhalation for you.”
Grace smiled, nodding and joining hands with Indie. She wasn’t really interested in her own results. It was Indie’s she was waiting for.
Truthfully, they were all waiting to see what he’d say about Indie. About the baby she carried, whose origin even Grace didn’t know. She felt worried and was hurt that Indie hadn’t confided in her, and she had no idea who the father might be, which made her even more nervous.
Had she spent her days and nights sharing space with not one, but two, rapists?
“Indie, we’re going to do a scan in a moment and check what’s going on with the baby, but I’ll cover everything else first, is that okay?”
With Indie’s nod of acquiescence, he continued, ignoring the way Reagan gulped hard as Laker’s hands clenched in and out of fists with his every breath.
“So, you’ll be pleased to hear you have no lasting issues from the smoke inhalation, either. Laker here did a good job getting you out as quickly as he did. Your head wound is looking great, and the dressing can probably come off after another day or so, now that it’s all closed up. As with Grace, you need to continue with the vitamins and fluids, and I’m going to prescribe some prenatal supplements as well as anti-sickness meds so you can eat without being sick every time. If you don’t start eating soon, we’ll have no choice but to intervene, and I really don’t want to have to do that. Ideally, we need to get some good food and nutrients into you, as soon as possible.”
The mere mention of food had Indi
e feeling nauseated, but she swallowed back the taste of bile and nodded, knowing she needed to start eating more. For one, it was worrying the hell out of her dad; she could tell. And now she needed to start thinking about the other person relying on her diet—the baby. The baby couldn’t eat if she didn’t, and as it was, she could barely manage to be in the same room as food before having to run to a toilet or nearby sink.
“I’ll try, Doctor.”
He nodded. “Good. Now, I wanted to ask you…did you experience this severe sickness with your first pregnancy?”
“Not at first, no. I didn’t have any symptoms at all really until quite near the end. I didn’t even feel Marley kick for the first time until exactly a week before she was born. I did get really sick, though, a few weeks before that, I just thought it was the persistent stomach bug everyone else had.”
“She didn’t even have a bump, not really, and you can see how thin she is. Marley barely showed at all,” Grace added, her half-smile tinged with both sadness and nostalgia. “You don’t have a bump now either, so it’s pretty much the same all over again.”
Dr. Cairns jotted notes down in the clipboard Lily handed him, smiling once he was done. “Okay, now for the exciting part. Do you want everyone to stay while we do the scan, or would you rather I kick these yahoos out?”
Megan excused herself to answer an incoming call. Lily left the room and returned wheeling an ultrasound machine while Indie looked around at the faces of her family members. They were trying to hide it, but each one wore hope in their expressions so blatant that Indie could never exclude them from this. They missed this experience the first time around, with Marley, just as she had. And besides, she was absolutely petrified anyway, so there was no real reason not to have her loved ones surrounding her for support.
“They can stay. Please stay,” she added, meeting each of their eyes in turn, ending with Laker. She waved him over, belatedly noticing the rigid set of his broad shoulders and the narrowing of his eyes. He shook it off when he saw the nerves in her eyes and her hand extended in a plea for support.
It took a few minutes to set the machine up; then it was time. Lily smiled gently at Indie as Dr. Cairns squirted the cool jelly onto her exposed, flat stomach, then reached for the Doppler. He smiled a little as he met her eyes, murmuring a warning seconds before he touched the device to her skin. The room was suddenly filled with a rhythmic thrumming sound that brought tears to the eyes of every adult present. Marley frowned, scooting along the bed until she was just inches from the ultrasound screen.
In a way, nose-to-nose with her sibling.
Confused, she tapped the screen with a fingertip, looking back at her mother with a knot between her brows. She was used to cartoons, not this odd, grainy ultrasound imaging.
Indie sniffled, brushing a few loose tears from her cheeks with the back of her free hand—the one not squeezing the hell out of Laker’s fingers. “Come here, baby girl.”
Marley scampered back after one last glance at the image on the screen, leaving enough room for Dr. Cairns to see what he needed to as he moved the Doppler around, looking at all angles of Indie’s uterus and the baby within.
“You know how you came from my belly? You grew in there, and then you came out to give me and Auntie Gracie cuddles and kisses?”
Reagan chuckled, remembering that was how he’d explained to Archie and Indie about their births. Indie shot him a small, sad, half-smile before returning her attention to Marley, who was nodding slowly.
“You see that wiggly shape on the screen over there? That’s a baby, like you were. It’s in my belly.”
Awed, Marley twisted again to face the screen where Dr. Cairns had paused on a perfectly clear profile shot of the baby. Indie, Grace, Reagan, Peter, Laker, and the medical staff watched as she crawled towards the screen, reaching out to stroke the top of her baby brother’s or sister’s head, his or her legs, arms, nose. Her eyes were bright with wonder, her smile wide and adorable.
“Marley, Little Sweet, that’s your brother or sister,” Laker told her when she scampered to him, grabbing his hand and pointing at the screen to make sure he was looking.
“I can actually tell you, brother or sister, if you want to know, Indie?” Dr. Cairns interjected gently.
All eyes turned to Indie. Wide-eyed and looking just like her daughter, Indie opened and closed her mouth like a fish several times before clamping it shut.
“I don’t, um…I don’t know?”
Laker chuckled, crouching to perch on the edge of the bed beside Indie. Tucking an arm around her shoulder, he whispered, “Did you want to know with Marley? If you’d had the chance, would you have found out?”
She thought about it for a second, realising that no, she hadn’t wanted to know. Not once had she wished to be able to know if she was lying awake at night while Grace slept talking to a boy or a girl. It didn’t make a difference; she’d just wanted a healthy baby.
“I don’t want to know, but thank you,” Indie finally murmured. She looked up at Laker, “Thank you. I was a bit, caught off guard, I think. I didn’t expect to be able to know.”
“I’d say you’re around thirteen, fourteen weeks. Does that sound about right? Around three months?”
Ignoring Grace’s eyes on the side of her face, Indie swallowed hard, trying to think back. Frowning, she realised her dates didn’t add up. “I think more like four months? Um, it could only be one particular date, and that was over four months ago.”
Dr. Cairns nodded, his expression blank, as though he’d expected her answer. “Okay, so I’m not a specialist so don’t take everything I say as gospel. Your baby measures a little on the smaller side. At four months, I’d expect him or her to be between four and five inches long from his head to his bottom; your little one is just a touch smaller at the moment. That could change, though, and it’s probably due to your lack of a good diet, which can be fixed easily, so don’t worry. I don’t suppose you know roughly how much Marley weighed at birth, do you?”
“Actually, yes. We had some scales, and we held her while we stood on them to see what the difference was. She was about five pounds, maybe, give or take a couple of ounces.”
“God, she was tiny!” Peter exclaimed, looking a bit sheepish when everyone turned to look at him after his outburst.
“My twins each weighed more. Six pounds seven, each.”
Dr. Cairns smiled. “Great weights for twins. Gestation?”
“Thirty-seven weeks. How my wife held onto them that long I’ll never know.”
“Do you know how far along with Marley you were? That might give us some indication as to whether this baby will just be on the smaller side,” Dr. Cairns asked Indie, laughing when Marley moved back to the screen showing the image of her brother or sister to take another look.
Indie was watching her, too, as she answered. “She was born on my birthday, and I got pregnant near the end of July.”
Dr. Cairns did some quick math, then said, “So a few weeks early, then. This one will most likely be on the smaller side as well, but we’ll keep a close eye.”
He did a few more quick checks, reminding everybody that he wasn’t a specialist before offering the services of an OB/GYN and leaving the family to regroup. It was clear they were all overwhelmed, tears streaming over Reagan’s cheeks as he stared at the image of his grandchild on the screen, then at the living, breathing proof of Indie’s ability to nurture even in horrific circumstances. Marley was beaming as she moved from person to person, making sure they’d seen her sibling.
They didn’t need him and Lily standing over them while they got to grips with it all, so they made their exit quietly.
~ oOo ~
Throughout the next few days, the misfortune that had followed the girls like a bad smell for the past twelve years began to fall away.
Slowly, with the support of her dad and Megan, Grace began to feel more herself. She found comfort in good food she didn’t have to slave over, though she missed the r
outine of a set schedule. She took the vitamins prescribed, and kept her fluid intake up, as requested. Bit by bit, Grace pieced herself back together, and it was noticeable. The nurses—kept to a team of four on rotation—commented daily on how well she was looking, how her hair had a healthy sheen now, her skin clearer, weight creeping back on. Even within a few days, there was something different about her shape, something healthy looking. The gaunt edge was gone from her features, replaced with her late mother’s classic beauty.
Indie was doing only marginally better, but finally, her head dressing was removed, so she didn’t look quite so poorly. A raised, pink line marked the spot where her head had hit the long-gone floor of the study, but it was fading fast as it healed over. With the anti-sickness medicine doing its thing, she’d managed to start eating again; little and often. Her stomach wasn’t used to being fed after days of expunging itself every few hours, so she needed to gradually stretch it back to a normal size. With Laker, Reagan, and Grace on her case, she never forgot to drink, eat, or take her meds, and she too began to look healthier.
As for Marley…her grandfather and uncles took great delight in feeding her and finding every sweet treat available to let her try. She’d missed out on a lot and had the men pandering to her every whim.
The first time she tried chocolate would be burned into Laker’s mind for the rest of his life.
The look of pure euphoria on her face…nothing beat it. She’d been a bit of a raving addict ever since, and they’d all been present to witness her first ever tantrum when Indie told her ‘no’ after she’d eaten an entire bar of chocolate before asking for more. Indie had been too shocked to do much of anything at first, having never witnessed her well-behaved baby acting out, so Laker had scooped Marley up and set her on a chair in the corner, as he’d seen Archie do with Carl-Roman countless times when he misbehaved. Later, he’d apologised for taking over, but Indie had brushed him off with a flustered flush of her cheeks. She’d never had to deal with the discipline side of things. Marley had never given her cause to, up until then. Megan had explained that, like Indie and Grace were slowly grasping, Marley was realising she was safe now, and as such, was confident enough to act out without fear. This had brought on a discussion about Indie’s initial behavior when she’d been rescued, about why her mind and body had closed her off even from the loved ones she’d missed so much.