“He’s a real life superhero,” he whispered. I would have thought he was just saying the words to ease Natalie’s uneasiness, but when he glanced up at me, I saw something I hadn’t expected.
Not fear, not confusion as to why I was there. Just…happiness. No, that couldn’t be right. He couldn’t be glad to see me. He didn’t even like me.
“Do you want to ask Ronan to help us hang your artwork?”
Natalie gave him a nod and I held my breath as she came right up to me and took my hand in hers. The feel of her tiny hand in mine, the cautious trust in her eyes, had a whole host of emotions churning through me.
I let Natalie lead me from the studio and followed her around one of the brick walls in the middle of the room. We ended up on the far side of the gallery near the window. There was an empty spot on the wall with a waiting nail. I expected Natalie to release me but she held on to me and when Jonas handed her the picture, she finally let go of my hand. But then she held both her arms up expectantly and even I knew what she wanted. I lifted her up and settled her on my hip and then stepped closer to the wall and helped her position the picture above the nail. She slowly lowered it until the string behind it caught and the picture stayed put.
“Good?” I asked.
Natalie studied the picture for a moment and then reached out to straighten it just the tiniest bit. She finally nodded and I set her back on her feet. I hadn’t missed the fact that she hadn’t said a word from the time I’d walked into the studio.
“Oh, Jonas, I am so sorry I’m late,” I heard a woman say as she hurried through the front door. She had the same mousy brown hair as Natalie and she was wearing what looked like some kind of waitressing uniform.
“It’s no problem, Sara,” Jonas said as he accepted a hug from the woman. “We were just hanging up Natalie’s art from today.”
“Oh, honey, did you do that?” the woman gushed as she leaned down and hugged the little girl and then picked her up and moved closer to the painting so she could get a better look. To my surprise, tears welled up in the woman’s eyes as she cast a glance at Jonas. “Oh, baby, it is so beautiful,” Sara whispered as she hugged the little girl to her. The picture itself looked like many of the others and from what I could tell, it was a little girl’s bedroom. There were two people on the bed, the larger one sitting on top of the covers, the smaller one beneath them. Both had lots of brown hair and the larger one was holding open a book.
“Natalie has already promised to let me keep this one on permanent display right here,” Jonas said as he motioned to the picture. He focused his attention on Natalie. “You’re going to make another one for your Aunt Sara next week, right?”
Natalie nodded and that earned her another hug from the emotional woman. “Okay, we should get going so we can stop at the store and get something for dinner. You ready?” Sara asked the little girl.
Natalie nodded and Sara put her down. The little girl immediately went to Jonas who dropped down and wrapped his arms around her. “See you next week, okay?”
Natalie nodded. To my surprise, she came up to me next and waited expectantly. I knelt down and tried not to react as she put her skinny arms around my shoulders. But I couldn’t stop myself from putting my arms around her. Her thin body felt tiny and I released her the second she loosened her hold on me.
“It’s a really good picture, Natalie,” I said. The smile she gave me was like a punch to the gut and I was glad when she finally took her aunt’s hand and followed her from the gallery.
“Thanks for that,” Jonas said as he waved to the little girl as she walked past the window. “It’s not easy for her to trust new people,” he said sadly.
“What happened to her?”
“Her parents abused her pretty badly. Kept her locked in a basement for almost a year. They…they made her sleep in a fucking dog cage,” Jonas muttered. The hatred in his voice was as unexpected as the swear word that crossed his lips. I’d known the instant I’d met Jonas in person that he was a gentle soul…luckily, something Mace had seen before he’d pulled the trigger.
“That’s all she used to paint,” he added.
“What?” I asked, not understanding what he meant.
“The dog cage. I give the kids a subject to paint about each week. You know, your family, your pet, your house…Natalie always painted a dog cage. Until today.”
It took a lot to get a physical reaction out of me, but just the thought of the suffering the little girl had gone through…
“What was today’s topic?”
“Your favorite part of the day.”
Jonas gave the picture another glance and then began walking back towards the studio. “Her parents?” I asked.
“In prison. Turns out she wasn’t their only kid…the other one wasn’t so lucky. Sara had no idea her sister and brother-in-law had even had kids until the cops contacted her.”
Once we reached the studio, Jonas began cleaning up all the various supplies. “We’ve been worried about you,” he said, sending me a quick glance.
My first reaction was to ask why, but then I remembered Mace’s comment about them seeing me as family.
“Mace tried to call you a couple times over the past few months just to make sure you were okay.”
I actually felt guilty at that. “I thought he’d want a clean break…I thought you’d all want that.”
