“What did they do to you, Penny?”He spoke softly but I could hear his anger.He ran his hand up and down my back and I wasn’t sure if it was to soothe me or himself.
“They wouldn’t let me have an abortion, but they didn’t want me to keep the baby either.In fact, when I got there, and they got my lab work back, they insisted I sign away my rights and give the child up for adoption.”
“They wouldn’t let you have an abortion?”
“No.They tried to keep me on lockdown, knowing I was out of there the first chance I got.Unfortunately for them, I’d spent my entire life surviving on my own.I ran away the next day.Tried to get an abortion, but I was fifteen and the state required consent from a guardian.”
“Which was the state.”
“Yep.I tried to get what they called a judicial bypass, but that was only available when the minor didn’t have a guardian.I had one.But the state wouldn’t grant me an abortion.At the time, the judge actually told me he wasn’t going to allow abortion to be used as a form of birth control just because I got myself in trouble.”
“The fuck?”Tiny actually jerked back from me, looking down at my face in shock.
“My lawyer had pretty much the same reaction, but her hands were tied.The state simply didn’t have a provision for a minor in state custody to get an abortion, even if I could have proven I was raped by my foster father.By the time the whole mess was sorted out, the kids would have been a couple years old or better.”
“So you had the girls.Obviously you didn’t give them up for adoption.”
“Nope.Not for lack of trying on the part of the state.”
“I’m not going to like this part either, am I?”
“Likely not.They tried to make me stay in the group home.But I split.Left Memphis and came to Nashville.”
“Why Nashville?”
“I’m not really sure.It just… seemed like a place I could get a fresh start.I was also away from that bastard of a judge and the state’s attorney handling my case.Besides, it was the farthest bus trip I could take with the money I had.I put three hours between me and those bastards, hoping it would buy me enough time to get a job, have the baby, and show I could provide for both myself and my child.Except for the fact I had two babies instead of one.”
“Why do I get the feeling having twins made you even that much more determined to succeed?”
“I didn’t ask to get pregnant, Tiny.I’ve never told the girls that story and I never plan to.But once I realized I didn’t have a choice in the matter, when I knew I was going to have to pay for what someone else did to me regardless of what I wanted, I was all in.I wasn’t about to let someone use my body as a baby factory for some rich couple who could pay a couple hundred thousand dollars.Fancy lawyers would happily take my baby and be as falsely sympathetic as they could be as they cashed that big fat check and moved on to the next poor kid raped by a foster parent.”I took a deep breath.“I kept the twins I wasn’t expected to keep.I think the social worker assigned to my case left Memphis for Nashville the second the hospital notified the state of my arrival.”
“Because you were a minor.”
“Yes.I had the right to seek my own prenatal care and to do anything to get the babies care, but once I was the patient, I still had to have a guardian’s permission to treat me.Anyway, that doesn’t matter.I already had a job.I had my own studio apartment.I met Lana Thompson when I gave birth to the girls.She got my emancipation pushed through in record time.I have no idea how and I don’t really care.She told me then if I ever needed anything to call her.Anything at all.So when I needed to leave Andy, she’s the one who told me to come here.”
“Then I have Lana to thank for sending you my way.”He smiled down at me before sobering, giving me a tender look.“Honey, never again.No one is ever going to take advantage or hurt you again.Not without some serious repercussions they won’t like.From now on, I’ve got your back.Those girls?”He sighed and shook his head slightly.“I never thought I’d have a family, Penny.Not one of my own.I want you and the girls to be my family.I want the right to protect you all.”
The smile tugging at my lips came without hesitation.“I think we’d all like that.”
“Good.”He pulled the covers higher over us, turning so that my back was to his front.Those strong arms of his closed around me in a blanket of warmth.The feeling was so wonderful I just closed my eyes and rode on that peaceful current.
As sleep began to pull at me, I found myself thinking about his slip.Love.Such a small word for something so enormous.I’d been so careful with it, so protective of it after Andy had twisted and perverted its meaning.Yet here, in the protective circle of Tiny’s arms, it didn’t seem so frightening.
I felt his breathing deepen, his body going slack with approaching sleep.My own eyes grew heavy, my thoughts becoming hazier as exhaustion claimed me.In that space between wakefulness and dreams, I found the courage to whisper the words I’d been holding back.
“I love you,” I said, my voice soft but clear in the quiet room.
I felt him stir, his arm tightening around me for a moment.I wasn’t sure if he’d heard me, wasn’t sure if I wanted him to.But as I drifted off to sleep, I felt his lips press against my hair, and his whispered response followed me into my dreams.
“I love you too, Penny.You and those girls.More than I ever thought possible.”
Chapter Ten
Tiny
The Bronco’s heater fought against the December chill as I navigated the morning traffic, one hand on the wheel, the other resting protectively on the console between Penny and me.Her fingers occasionally brushed mine, those small touches still sending sparks through me even after several days together.In the rearview mirror, I could see Zelda and Kira huddled over Kira’s phone, giggling at something on the screen.The sight warmed me more than any heater could.Two days before Christmas, and for the first time in fifteen years, I had something to celebrate beyond just making it through another day.
“We need to hit at least three stores,” Zelda announced from the backseat, the self-appointed logistics coordinator of our Christmas shopping expedition.“I want to stop at that bookstore Kira likes, and then --” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.“You know, that place for Mom’s present.”
