My Vows Are Sealed (Sealed With a Kiss)

by Carmen Richter

  “Brendan?” I heard a familiar voice say.

  I looked up and saw Alex’s father, Saul, walking toward me.

  “Mr.—I-I mean, Sergeant Gleason,” I stammered.

  I wasn’t sure why I was surprised to see him. I mean, he was a sergeant here, after all. It was probably just the relief of seeing a friendly face in the middle of this godawful situation.

  “What’s going on here, Harris?” Saul asked.

  “Picked this punk up on a domestic disturbance call, and the father confirmed he’d assaulted the young woman,” the jackass officer grunted.

  If there was a chance to speak up, this was it. Of all the people in this station, Saul Gleason was the most likely to believe me.

  “Mr. Gleason, you know I’d die before I laid a finger on Darla,” I pleaded quietly.

  His eyes widened in shock for a moment, then narrowed as he turned his attention to Officer Harris.

  “I’ll join you in the interrogation,” he growled.

  “I’ve got this, Sarge. Pretty black-and-white case, you ask me,” Officer Harris grumbled.

  Black-and-white case? Was he fucking joking? I’d been restraining the monster from causing any more harm to Darla. Yeah, I’d thrown a few punches and gotten in a knee to his gonads, but if I was really the violent one in that situation, why wasn’t I wailing on him? I’d had him pinned beneath me, for God’s sake. I could have rearranged his entire face – hell, I should have done much worse than that after the hell he’d put my girl through for years – but I hadn’t. I’d just used enough force to stop him from killing his daughter.

  “Harris, you can either join me or watch from outside, but I will be going into that interrogation room,” Saul spat.

  “Fine. You want this piece of scum that bad, you can have him,” Officer Harris bit out.

  Saul turned to me. “Come on, son. Come with me.”

  He led me into an interrogation room, then pulled a keyring out and unlocked my handcuffs. I sat down in the hard, steel chair and buried my head in my hands, unable to stop a few more tears from leaking out.

  “I’m sorry, Brendan, but I’m going to need your personal effects,” he sighed, holding a manila envelope open in front of me. “Just until we get this straightened out.”

  I dug my keys, wallet, and cell phone out of my pockets and dropped them in the envelope, and he folded it shut.

  How was this protecting and serving? I was sitting here in a fucking police interrogation room for the crime of stopping my fiancée’s father from killing her, while they were probably taking him to the goddamn hospital with her and letting him run interference so she couldn’t get anyone alone to tell them the truth. That dickwad officer, Harris, just automatically assumed that Abraham was being honest, and I hadn’t heard his partner utter a single word the entire time. Then again, he looked like he was fresh out of the police academy, so he’d probably been in a little over his head.

  “Did Officer Harris read you your rights, Brendan?” Saul asked.

  I nodded, but didn’t say anything.

  “So you know you’re entitled to have an attorney present while you’re being questioned?”

  “I don’t need an attorney, because I didn’t do anything,” I choked out. “All I care about is helping Darla.”

  Then a lightbulb turned on over my head. A way to get someone else to the hospital while I couldn’t be there. Someone to back up Darla’s story and maybe get the cops who were with them to separate them, at the very least.

  “I’ll tell you everything, but can you please do something for me first?” I rasped, wiping my cheeks.

  “Phone call?” he asked.

  “No. Well, sort of. Could you call your son for me and ask him to meet Darla at the hospital?”

  His brow furrowed. “Why do you want Alex at the hospital with Darla?”

  “Because I’m in a goddamn police interrogation room while she’s in the hospital with her psycho father, who would have fucking killed her if I hadn’t stopped him! And that asshat officer just cuffed me and shoved me out of the room the second her father cried rape!” I exclaimed. “I know you need the whole story before you can let me go, but I want someone there with her while I can’t be. Is that too much to fucking ask?”

  His eyes went wide again. I guessed he was shocked to hear me using that kind of language since he only ever saw me at church, but I didn’t give a damn right now. I was hanging onto my control by a thread. I wanted to cry and scream and throw things and punch something all at once, but none of that would get me what I wanted most, which was to have Darla in my arms and the animal who called himself her father behind bars.

  “Did Darla say anything at the scene?” he asked me.

  I nodded as more tears slipped out of my eyes. “She tried to tell Officer Harris and his partner that I didn’t do this, but they didn’t listen. I begged them to help her, and they just told me not to worry and that they were going to take care of her and then cuffed me and forced me out the door. Please…God, please just get Alex to go to the hospital for me. She was hurt. Badly. And we just found out yesterday that she’s pregnant.”

  Yeah, I was telling my best friend’s father, who I went to church with, that I’d knocked up my seventeen-year-old fiancée. I didn’t give a flying fuck what he thought of me – or of her – as long as he got someone Darla knew and was comfortable with to go stay with her in the hospital while I couldn’t be there.

  Saul sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to call Alex for you.”

  He walked out the door, and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I just broke down in sobs. I couldn’t stop thinking about how terrified the girl I loved had to be right now. Her father had traumatized her in every possible way before I got there and I knew without a doubt that if I hadn’t shown up, he would have killed her. And now he’d managed to succeed in keeping me from her by accusing me of the very thing he’d tried to do to her before she ran out of his house without looking back. God only knew what he’d do as soon as she was released from the hospital and he forced her to go back to that house.

  I didn’t even notice the door opening or anyone coming back into the room until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped as I picked my head up and looked at Saul, whose face was full of nothing but compassion.

  “I know you didn’t do this, Brendan,” he said softly. “I’ve known you since you were Nathan’s age, and you’ve been in love with Darla for the entire time. But Officer Harris logged your arrest in the system, so there’s paperwork that has to be done before I can let you go.”

  I nodded.

  “Alex answered his cell right away, and he’s on his way to the hospital right now,” he told me.

  “Thank you,” I sighed in relief, a fresh round of tears leaking out of my eyes.

  He smiled. “You’re welcome. But now I need you to do something for me. I need to hear it in your own words, son. Tell me what happened.”

  I took a shaky breath and scrubbed my hand over my face, wiping away some of my tears. “Darla’s father…he’s not who you think he is. He’s not who anyone thinks he is. He’s been abusing her ever since she was a little girl.”

  “I had a feeling. But she and Gloria never said anything, so I couldn’t do anything,” he sighed. “When he made a big deal about her leaving home a couple of months ago…she left because of the abuse?”

  “Yeah,” I sniffled, my eyes stinging with more tears. “He almost…if Gloria hadn’t stopped him, he would have raped her. She didn’t go to the police because he didn’t physically hurt her that day, so she didn’t think anyone would believe her. She’s been living with a friend of ours that he doesn’t know, but she stayed at my place last night. She’d just taken a pregnancy test, and she came over to talk to me. I didn’t want her to be alone after that, so I asked her to stay. Nate was with me last night, and when my mom picked him up, I guess she saw Darla’s car in the parking lot at my apartment complex and called Abr
aham. Darla wasn’t feeling well this morning, so she stayed at my apartment and slept in instead of going back to her friend’s house, and I left some cash on the coffee table for her and called for some food to be delivered so she didn’t have to cook. I called her right after that and told her to text me when they got there and after they left.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “We sort of have an unwritten rule that she won’t answer the door while I’m not there unless she knows who’s on the other side,” I explained. “I always knew he’d end up coming to my place looking for her eventually. He didn’t know where my apartment was, but my mom does, and she thinks he hung the moon, so I knew all he’d have to do was ask and she’d give him the address. Anyway, Darla texted me like five minutes after we hung up saying the delivery was there, but I knew it was way too soon. I called her and told her not to open the door, but I guess she’d already unlocked it, and I heard him forcing the door open and yelling at her that he was going to take her back home. She screamed for me to call the police, and I just ran off the job site I was at and called 911 on my way back home. When I got there, she was curled up in a ball on the floor and she looked…”

  I broke down in tears again, and Saul squeezed my shoulder.

  “Take your time,” he murmured.

  “I don’t have time,” I insisted. “Every second I’m here is another second she’s with him.”

  “I know. And I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I’m doing my best to get you out of here. But before I can do that, I need your statement to put in my report. Can you tell me what happened once you got back home?”

  “She was curled up on the floor with her knees against her chest and trying to roll away from him, and he was trying to kick her in the stomach. I guess she’d tried to get him to stop hurting her by telling him about the baby because he was yelling about it being the Devil’s child because we’re not married yet. I pulled him off of her and punched him in the face, then kneed him in the groin and used the distraction to wrestle him to the floor and pin his arms to his sides. I’ll admit I threw another punch after that because he was still struggling and I was trying to make sure he didn’t get free. But then I heard the sirens and stopped, because all I’d wanted to do was make sure he didn’t hurt her again. Next thing I knew, he was playing the doting father and telling them that I’d kidnapped and raped her. She kept screaming that I didn’t do it, but it was like they weren’t even listening to her. I guess because I was the only one without a mark on me, they just automatically believed him. Officer Harris cuffed me and forced me out the door and I tried to tell him he had the wrong guy, but he just told me to tell it to the judge and shoved me in the car.”

  Saul nodded and took a deep breath. “Is that everything?”

  “Yep,” I clipped out.

  “Okay. Just sit tight, Brendan. I’m going to get started on the paperwork so I can let you get out of here and get to your girl. I’m sorry Harris jumped the gun and brought you in like this.”

  “I just wish he would have listened to her. I appreciate that he was doing his job, but when the victim is screaming that the person who’s being put in handcuffs didn’t do anything, I’d think that counts for something.”

  He sighed. “Did you see that news story a few months ago about the girl who was killed by her boyfriend?”

  “Yeah?”

  “That was his daughter. He’s just getting back out on the streets and I think he’s still a little raw,” he told me. “But you don’t know that.”

  Damn. I couldn’t even imagine having to do a police officer’s job after having something like that happen to my family. I felt for the guy, but I was still upset. He had to understand that not every boyfriend out there was an abuser and not every father was a hero. And I would have assumed that a licensed therapist had to sign an officer off as fit for active duty after they went through something that traumatic. Lying and saying what that therapist wanted to hear didn’t help anyone, especially when saying what they wanted to hear just so they could get back out on the streets resulted in him misreading situations like this one because he was projecting his own personal experiences on it.

  “I’m sorry for what he went through,” I murmured. “But right now, I really just want to get to the hospital and try to tell someone the truth so they can arrest Darla’s father.”

  “I know,” he assured me. “I’ll get this paperwork done and get you out of here as fast as I can, and I’ll call the detectives at the hospital and let them know what’s going on. I promise.”

  I just nodded and buried my head in my hands again, trying to hold back more tears.

  I felt like I wanted to crawl out of my own skin or climb up the walls, because I couldn’t stand just sitting still. The woman I loved was in the hospital and the man who had almost killed her was still a free man, able to terrorize her and throw sand in the officers’ and doctors’ eyes so they wouldn’t figure out what was really happening. He’d been kicking her in the stomach when I walked in the door, and it was still so early…God, what if the trauma had made her lose the baby? What if we had to mourn the loss of our child before we ever even got to meet it?

  And here I was, stuck sitting in this police interrogation room because some asshole cop had projected his personal experiences onto the call he’d responded to and come to all the wrong conclusions. She was going through all of this completely alone, and she might have been grieving the loss of our child on her own too, while I was stuck here and couldn’t leave until Saul cleaned up the mess that the other officer had made.

  God, if You’re listening, please protect Darla, I prayed. Keep her and our baby safe. Or if You can’t save the baby, at least save her. Please. Give her comfort and peace. Let someone at that hospital see the truth and care enough to help her. And please, Lord, help me get out of here so I can get back where I belong: right by her side.

  Chapter 32

  Darla

  Open Wounds

  “Hi, Darla. I’m Dr. Leonardo,” a woman who looked like she’d just started her residency said as she walked into the room. “Sir, can I please ask you to leave the room so I can examine her?”

  “Like hell I will! I want my daughter’s pregnancy terminated! She was raped!” my father exclaimed before I even had a chance to open my mouth.

  “No!” I sobbed in spite of my fear. “I’m not killing my baby!”

  Jesus, please don’t let them kill my baby, I prayed. Please.

  “She’s a minor! You have to do as I say!” He shot me an ice-cold glare that promised pain as soon as we were alone again.

  A shiver of terror went up my spine, making a jolt of pain go through my body as it jarred my probably-broken ribs. I knew I’d just made things worse for myself by saying anything to contradict what he was telling the doctor, but I didn’t have a choice. My unborn child didn’t have a voice yet, so I had to be the voice for her.

  But the fact remained: my father and I would be alone again, because the police would let him go. He was my father, and they wouldn’t be able to believe that a father could do such awful, horrible things to his own daughter. Especially not when he’d handed them a much more convenient suspect and was keeping up this Father of the Year act. I didn’t understand how anyone could fall for it, because he was obviously completely unhinged, but not a single person other than the paramedic, Allie, seemed to see through his lies and faux concern.

  “We can talk about that in a little bit,” the doctor said calmly. “Darla, can you tell me what hurts?”

  How in the world could she stay calm at a time like this? Couldn’t she see what I saw? Couldn’t she tell that he was completely unhinged? Or was she as blinded by his power and his position as everyone else was? Was I doomed to a life of pain, and was my child doomed to die before she even had a chance to live?

  “She’s exaggerating,” my dad bit out, his face turning dark red with his fury. “She’s fucking fine, other than carrying that cretin’s spawn!”

&
nbsp; Right. And that was why my arm was in a splint and I was literally shaking and sweating from the sheer agony.

  “Sir, I’m going to need you to let your daughter answer my questions,” she insisted. “What’s hurting you, Darla?”

  “My arm,” I sniffled. “And my left side. I know my arm’s broken, and I think at least one rib is too.”

  “Okay, we’ll get you in for some x-rays. Anything else?”

  “My baby,” I choked out. “Is my baby okay?”

  “It doesn’t matter, young lady! You’re not fucking allowed to be pregnant!” my father spat, then looked at the doctor. “She’s a minor. I’m her guardian, and I’m telling you that I want this pregnancy terminated!”

  No. Please, Jesus, no. Don’t let them kill her, I begged silently.

  I knew it was way too early to know for sure, but ever since Brendan had said “her,” I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. I just had this feeling he was right. It was a girl. And I knew we were young, but I had faith that God would provide a way for me and Brendan to care for her. I couldn’t let anything happen to her.

  “We’ll check on your baby, Darla,” the doctor said. “Can you tell me how you got hurt?”

  God, I wanted to tell them the truth. It was right on the tip of my tongue. But I knew what would happen if I said anything more in front of my father. It would only be worse for me when he got me alone again. He’d kill me, or at the very least, kill my baby.

  “I told you, that fucking animal they arrested did this to her!” my father screamed as a vein popped up on the side of his neck.

  “Sir, if you don’t let your daughter speak freely, I’ll have to have you removed from this room,” Dr. Leonardo warned.

  “I didn’t fucking do anything!” my father ranted. “Why are you acting like I’m the criminal here when that lowlife violated my little girl?! She’s traumatized and terrified! I’ll be answering the questions!”

  She picked up the call light and pushed it, and not even thirty seconds later, a disembodied voice spoke over the intercom.