Protecting His Forever(38)

Grabbing the sippy cup off of the coffee table, I hand it to her. She takes it from me and takes a dainty sip. Her eyes widen and looks down at the cup wondering what’s in it. She doesn’t even know what milk is!

Clearing my throat, I try to control my emotions. More than anything I just want to curl into a ball and sob. I want to take the pain away from this child. Make her feel safe and have her forget everything that happened to her.

She finishes the food and climbs off Kane’s lap.

“Pee,” she says quietly.

Shocked that she said something, I stand up slowly. Offering my hand for her to take, she wearily looks at it before slipping her hand into mine. Leading her to the bathroom she goes straight to the toilet and does her business.

“Let’s wash our hands.” Pulling out a little stool I lift her onto it.

Putting some soap in her palm, I turn on the water and help her scrub her hands. Bending down, I blow bubbles from her hands. She giggles. It’s barely noticeable, but it’s something. Smiling proudly, I rinse her hands and dry them with a towel.

“Want to show her to her room?” Kane asks from behind us. Turning around, I lift her down from the stool. She stares at Kane and then back at me.

Taking her hand, I lead her to the steps. She looks up at them before putting her foot on the first one. Kane walks ahead of us. We spent the last few hours putting everything up. Don’t ask me how we did it, but we did.

Kane pushes her door open and walks inside, flipping on the lights as he goes. Turning the corner, she sees her room. Her eyes light up and her mouth opens slightly. She lets go of my hand and walks toward a doll laying on her bed.

She stops before she can touch it. She looks at me nervously. “It’s yours, baby.” She grabs the doll and hugs it to her. Backing out of the door, I pull Kane with me. We move out of the sight of the door. I wrap my arms around him and hug him tightly to me as I let go of the emotions that have been threatening to break free from the moment I met this little girl. His hand shakes as he rubs my back, trying to comfort me.

I can hear her inside of the bedroom playing with her toys.

“Kane,” I start, but he shushes me.

“I know.” He kisses my forehead before pulling me tighter against him.

“I love you,” I say against his chest.

“I love you, too, baby. So much.” He kisses the top of my head.

Closing my eyes, I take in the comfort of Kane’s arms. Pulling back, I peek around the corner at Arabella. She’s sitting on the floor brushing the doll’s hair.

“I need to give her a bath,” I tell him.

“Give her a bath, and I’ll fix her bed for the night.

“Okay.”

Walking back into her bedroom, I tell her, “Okay, sweetheart, it's time for a bath. Let’s pick out your pajamas.” I go to her little white dresser and pick out two princess gowns and hold them up for her to pick one. “You choose the one you want to wear.”

Her little eyes light up again and she points to the purple gown.

“Good choice.” I give her a wink and head to the bathtub. Pulling back the curtains, I run her bath. I can feel her watching me.

Turning around, I tell her, “Come here, sweetheart.”

She slowly walks toward me, and I take her little hand. “I promise you that everything will be okay. Okay?” Smiling at her, she stares at me confused. Pulling her dirty clothes off her, dirt hits the floor as the shirt hits the ground.

A brown and yellow bruise streaks across her belly up to her ribs. It happened a while ago. Anger sweeps through me. Composing myself, I lift her into the tub. Pulling some bath paint out of the cabinet, I help her paint the tub—she draws little swirls.

After getting her bathed, she grabs her doll and we walk downstairs. She lets go of my hand and heads straight for Kane. She lifts her arms up, and he instantly picks her up. He sits on the couch with her, and I move to cuddle up to his other side.

“Look at her belly,” I whisper into his ear.

“Can I see your tummy, angel?” He smiles at her. She nods her little head and moves so he can pull up the gown.

His eyes are instantly full of anger. The kind of anger that’s ready to detonate. I feel the same way. I want to hurt the person who did this ten times worse. What could a child have done to deserve something like this? Nothing. No child ever deserves this no matter what they do.

Tucking my head against Kane’s shoulder, he wraps his arms around us both. It doesn’t take long before she falls asleep. Sitting up, Kane gets up and carries her to bed. Following behind him, I watch from the doorway as he lifts the child bar and tucks the blanket around her.

Walking into our bedroom, I take off my clothes as I go. His hand goes to my hips, turning me around. He gently lays me down onto the bed. Our eyes show the same emotion: we need this. He covers his body with mine as he slowly makes love to me, our eyes never leaving each other.