Her suspicion was clear, but she didn’t respond right away. “What…what happens now?” she finally asked and I was reminded of how young she truly was.
“That depends on you,” I said truthfully.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“If you keep trying to do this on your own, you or Jamie or Nicole are going to end up hurt or worse. You almost died today, Willow. And since your heart actually stopped beating, technically you did die.”
Willow paled and then reached to touch the wound on her side, but stopped short when I put my hand over hers to stop her. She jerked her hand back and immediately moved as far away from me as she could.
Pain went through me, but not because she’d reacted tomethat way. But because she’d reacted that way at all.
“Was it just you or did he go after your sister and brother too?” I asked.
Willow stifled a gasp and her eyes shot to mine.
“Based on the way he grabbed your sister out in the waiting room, I’m guessing it was all of you. But I’m also guessing you took the brunt of it…maybe you made yourself a target?”
Willow dropped her eyes, but to my surprise, she nodded. “He’d get mad at Nicole all the time…he and Alana didn’t know sign language and didn’t want to learn it. But it’s not always easy for Nicole to use words…”
“What did your aunt do?” I asked.
She just shook her head. It was answer enough. The bitch had done absolutely nothing.
“They said you came up here because you believed your parents were still alive.”
Willow let out a huff and her mouth pulled into a frown. “Their car collided with a semi…I saw what was left of the car.”
“Then why did you come up here?”
“Our mother had an aunt up here that we were really close to before our parents…”
Her voice dropped off for a moment and she used the need to take a drink to cover her attempt to control her emotions.
“What happened?” I asked gently.
“A neighbor told us she’d died about a month after our parents had. Uncle Gene never told us that.”
“Why wasn’t she given custody of you?”
“She had some health issues so the judge said we had to go live with Gene and Alana. He didn’t give a shit that our father hadn’t spoken to Gene in years.”
“Gene is your father’s brother?”
Willow nodded.
“Willow,” I said softly and I waited until she looked at me. “Did he ever touch you or Jamie or Nicole in an inappropriate way?”
“No,” she responded and her eyes never left mine. “If I’d thought for even a second he was doing that to them, I would have killed him,” she said vehemently.
“Why not just call the cops and tell them about the physical abuse?” I asked.
Her eyes fell again. “I did. When they showed up and saw the bruise on my face, they questioned him. But he convinced them my boyfriend had done it and that I was accusing him because we’d gotten into a fight about me seeing him,” she responded. “I don’t even have a boyfriend. After they left, he put a knife to Jamie’s throat and told me if I ever opened my mouth again…we ran the next day.”
“Did he say something to you before he attacked you today?”
Her hand went to her throat again. “He just told me to keep my mouth shut. I couldn’t breathe…”
“You have asthma,” I said.
