After setting the doll on the mattress, I take his hand, and he pulls me to my feet.
I look back at the mattress. “We can put it back on the bed if you want.”
“The mattress? It’s fine where it is. Whatever makes you comfortable. I can understand why the bed feels high and scary after all the time you’ve spent sleeping closer to the floor. Plus, the windows make you feel less claustrophobic.”
I rush into his embrace and wrap my arms around him. I’ve never met anyone who understood me so well or even tried to get to know me. Cannon is one of the good guys. I’m reminded of this every time he speaks. I may not have had much contact with good guys, but I did know a few growing up. There was always the occasional sympathetic teacher or father figure in a foster family. Not often, but sometimes.
Cannon holds my hand and leads me to the bathroom. I’m confused until he takes the pink bows from this morning out of my hair, picks up my brush, and carefully works through the waves.
I’m choked up as I watch our reflection in the mirror. He takes his time, never snagging my locks, and when he’s done, he opens the drawer, finds lavender bows that match my second outfit of the day, and clips sections of my hair back from my face.
He meets my gaze in the mirror, smiling, proud of himself. “There. How’d I do?”
I hold his gaze for a long time. “Is this one of those Daddy jobs?”
“Definitely.”
“No one’s ever fixed my hair before.”
“Not even when you were young?”
“I can’t remember, but usually they cut it short. Often, there were several kids in the home. No one had time to fix all of our hair.”
“Well, there’s only one Little girl in this house, so there will always be plenty of time for this Daddy to fix your hair every day.” He leans forward and kisses the top of my head. God, I love it when he does that. I hope he always does.
I try to remain calm when there’s a knock at the door thirty minutes later. As much as I want to meet June, I’m nervous. I’m not used to socializing. I haven’t done anything like this since I was very young. I must have laughed and played with other kids in elementary school, but by the time I got to middle school, most of the laughter had left me.
I clutch Cannon’s hand tightly as he opens the door.
The couple standing in the hallway surprises me. I don’t know what I pictured, but for sure, the man is older than I expected. Or, on second thought, maybe he’s not that old. He’s just got a prematurely white beard. I bet he’s under fifty.
I guess Cannon is about six feet tall. This man is taller. Probably six-three. He’s a brick, like Cannon. All the guys who work for Black Blade Protection are probably buff. I’m aware he was one of the people who rescued me yesterday, but I didn’t get a good look at him. I hardly even saw Cannon before he had me safely in his SUV.
The woman next to Blade would be June. I know from Cannon that she’s thirty. That’s a bit intimidating since I’m only twenty-two, but I feel much calmer seeing that she’s dressed very similarly to me. She’s wearing a dark pink dress and matching tennis shoes. Her brown hair is pulled up in a ponytail with a pink bow.
“Come on in,” Cannon says, stepping back. “Eloise, this is June and Blade.”
June has one arm behind Blade, but when she steps forward and releases him, I see she has a brace on.
June smiles warmly at me before wrapping her good arm around me.
I’m kind of surprised, but I hug her back. Mostly, I’m just not used to people…caring about me.
When she releases me, she clasps my hand with her good one. “I’m so sorry about what Pete did to you.”
“I’m sorry for what he did to you, too,” I reply. “Thank you for coming to rescue me. No one’s ever done anything so selfless for me.” I try not to choke up.
She hugs me again.
Cannon clears his throat. “How about Blade and I go into the kitchen and make you girls some snacks. Maybe you two would like to go into the pink room and talk for a while?”
My nerves creep up again. I don’t have a clue what to say to June, but I want to be normal. I want to learn how to interact with other people.
She’s still holding my hand as I lead her toward the bedroom I’ve been using. As soon as we step inside, heat crawls up my neck. I forgot about my mattress being in the corner and all the dolls and books surrounding it.
“That’s so cool,” June says excitedly. She lets me go to skip over to my odd corner. “I love this idea. How fun. Maybe I can talk Daddy into fixing me a reading space like this.”
I’m taken aback as my worries evaporate.
