Holly rushes toward and tries to tug Deacon off me, but Rowan pulls her away. I’m starting to get lightheaded, but now that Holly’s free, I lean forward and flip Deacon onto his back. His back hits the wood floor hard, and he groans.
I stand, trying to catch my breath, and turn toward the Labelles, daring them to send the next person to come at me.
“Jane,” Holly says from next to the door. It has deep gouges near the hinges and the doorknob, as though they tried to pry it off. “Your dad and I are here to get you. You can come out now.”
I watch the door, my stomach in knots. Logic tells me she’s likely perfectly safe. She called me after she locked the door, and they’ve clearly failed to open it, but reason isn’t my friend right now.
With my attention on the door, I don’t notice the man rush out of the crowd of Labelles. He punches me in the side of my jaw, making me see stars.
“What the fuck?” Rowan shouts, then grabs the guy and gives him a one-two punch in the nose and his stomach.
Someone in the Labelle crowd screams, “Alister!” Calliope, I think.
Deacon has gotten to his feet and comes at me again, but he’s staggering. Even though I’m still fuzzy headed, I react in time to block a punch to my gut and get one in on his nose. I feel an all-too-satisfying crunch of bone beneath my knuckles, and I’m not surprised when his nose starts gushing blood.
“You killed him!” Simone screams, running forward to her husband. But Alister is hauling his arm back to punch Rowan, and his elbow connects with Simone’s face. Her nose instantly starts gushing blood.
“Oh shit,” Holly says.
Alister must have registered what happened, but he doesn’t give her a second thought as his punch grazes the side of Rowan’s face.
Deacon seems to have lost his will to fight, and Rowan’s eyes turns murderous as he plants his fist into Alister’s solar plexus.
“I’ve been holding back,” Rowan grunts, glaring at Alister as the man falls to his knees. “So if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay down.”
Satisfied the threat is over, I take a step back and turn toward the doll room door. Jane is standing in the open doorway next to Holly, her arms wrapped around Holly’s waist. Holly has her arm around Jane’s back, holding her close as the two of them watch me with pride. The sight hits me in my solar plexus, just as powerful as Rowan’s punch.
The two of them together look so right. Any lingering doubts I’ve had evaporate, and I know deep in my gut that Holly belongs with us. Millie loved her daughter so much that she would have been happy to know Jane has someone in her life who encourages her to dream big and live up to her full potential.
I drop to my knees in front of my daughter, who is wearing a pink frilly dress with a petticoat that looks straight out of the 1950s, along with bobby socks and black patent leather shoes. Her short hair has been teased so it has twice as much volume, and the sides are held back by sparkly clips. This is even worse than the outfit they forced on her a couple of weeks back. I’ve never seen her look less like herself.
I cup her face. “Are you okay?”
She nods, then releases Holly and throws her arms around my neck.
I’m overcome with emotion. Jane’s been so cold to me the past few days, and I’ve missed her. I’m also acutely aware that this kid is my entire world. And that fucker Deacon threatened to beat her. It makes me furious all over again.
I stand, putting Jane slightly behind me, then turn to face the Labelles. Bertie looks a lot older than he did the last time I saw him. He looks like he’d rather be in his office, smoking cigars or whatever he does in there, but he’s clearly rattled. Evelyn is furious.
“You can’t just walk in here and start beating people up, you hooligan!” she shouts. “You probably broke Deacon’s nose.”
This woman just won’t quit. “And if I find out he hurt a single hair on top of my daughter’s head, I’ll do more than break his nose.”
“Neither one of them touched me,” Jane says, her voice strong. “I was too fast for them to catch me.”
“What in the fuck were you doing chasing an eight-year-old girl?” I demand of Bertie. Deacon’s sitting on the floor, holding his nose and rocking back and forth, while Simone is lying on the floor, whimpering like she’s dying. I find it interesting that no one in her family is paying any attention to her, not even Apple, who looks bored by the whole situation.
The only person who seems concerned is Rory’s mother, Ellen, who’s just arrived with Bryn and Rory. She keeps taking a step toward Simone, but Bryn, who has a hand wrapped around her arm, keeps pulling her back.
“Heavens to Betsy,” Rory’s dad says, tugging on the hem of his sweater vest as he stands straighter. “Are you saying these men chased a helpless little girl and threatened to hurt her?”
A wry grin twists Holly’s mouth. “I wouldn’t exactly call her helpless.”
Rory pats his father’s shoulder. “We missed a good part of this.” He shoots a dark look at the Labelles. “I think you’d better start explaining what’s going on.”
Bertie puffs up his chest. “I’ll tell you what’s going on. You all are trespassing in our home and have interrupted a family matter. You have no business being here.”
“Wrong,” I growl. “I love Holly, which makes her and her family my family too.”
