He raked a hand through his thick hair, and more auburn highlights jumped out.“I took on two jobs while Allie stayed home to take care of you.”
Alexis chuckled, sharing a glance with her husband.“We didn’t get much sleep, but we were young.We could handle it, especially since we were happy and in love.The three of you were so cute together.”
She reached over to squeeze Lexie’s hand.“Now you’re so beautiful.”
“We held it together for a long time, but we couldn’t avoid the truth,” their father said flatly.“Food was scarce, and we weren’t living in the best neighborhood.It was all we could afford.Your grandparents had cut us off in an attempt to make your mom do as they wanted.They kept pushing her to give you up.They wanted her to come home, finish school, and start over.”
“I refused,” Alexis said.“We were doing all right.We would have continued to be all right if…”
She went silent.They both did.
Dex finally cleared his throat.“If one day we hadn’t made a mistake.”
A knot formed deep in Roxie’s gut.These were the answers she’d always wanted.These were the facts that she’d been demanding her entire life.Now, she didn’t want to know.
But she had to.
“What happened?”she breathed.
Her dad looked at her, his eyes so sad.“You got away from us.”
You.
Not you, as in all of them, but you as in her.
A tremor went through her.No.Billy’s arms came around her, strong and warm, but it gave her little comfort.Please, no.
Her mom caught her hands.“Don’t.Don’t you dare go there.It wasn’t your fault, honey.”
“Damn it.”The curse burst from Dexter’s lips.He stood and rounded his chair.He stared at the floor, hands on his hips, before coming back.His fingers turned white against the back of his chair when he bent over it.“If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine.One moment you were there, and the next you were gone.”
“I… I ran away?”Roxie tried to understand.“You couldn’t find me?”
He shook his head.“I knew immediately where you were.You were only two, but you were fast and you were curious.There was a puppy next door that you’d been dying to pet.The problem was that that puppy was a short-tempered, ill-treated, full-grown German shepherd.”
Maxie gasped.“Oh, no.”
Her dad smiled at her concern.“Oh, yes.Fortunately, the snaggletoothed thing took a liking to the baby who wandered within the reach of its chain.”
“Took a liking?”Alexis scoffed.She rubbed Roxie’s hands, feeling how cold they were.“That thing adored you.He let you pet him and hug him and kiss him.We nearly had heart attacks.”
Dex pointed at Maxie.“I barely caught you before you tagged along right after her.”
Maxie bit her lip, and Zac wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
None of it made Roxie feel any better.Billy murmured something to her, but she didn’t hear what it was.
“We couldn’t get you away from him,” Alexis said, her mood darkening.“He’d snarl and snap at anyone who came near.Dex knows; he got a piece of him.”
Their dad pulled back his sleeve to show a scar near his wrist.“I would have gone back in, but I was upsetting him, and I didn’t want him to turn on my kid.”
His kid.Roxie felt tears clog her throat and her eyes.
“The police were called out and then Animal Control,” Dex said, his voice going rough.“And then Social Services.”
He went quiet, and the pain on his face made Roxie look away.
“They deemed us negligent.”Alexis clenched her hands in her lap, and her foot cocked back on its heel.“They saw the way we were living, hand-to-mouth.Our inattention had put you in danger.They didn’t want it to happen again, so they took you away from us.They took you all away.”
