“We think so,” Robert said. “She’s not only a good ob-gyn nurse and trained midwife she’s also worked in emergency medicine, as well.”
The fact that Robert had brought his medical bag with him told Rachel that someone, likely Brandon, had let him know that Libby had been hurt.
It was wonderful to have some good news. Rachel couldn’t stop shaking inside when she thought about that loser, as Libby called him, laying hands on their daughter. Nothing was better than the news of a new baby to reinforce that while scary stuff happened in life, so did miracles.
“Come to Grandpa, Libby,” Robert said to Libby. “Let me see what’s happened, here.” He sat on a chair at the dining room table, angled another in front of him, and pointed to it. “Tell me how this happened, sweetie.”
They’d had no extended family, she and her Libby. They’d been the poster pair for that old Helen Reddy hit, “You And Me Against The World.” But no more. Her sweet Libby was surrounded by family.
And so, thank God, was she.
“It really hurt when he hit me,” Libby said. “He slapped me hard—with his open hand, not his fist. It pushed me back a few inches, and I literally saw stars.”
“Did you lose consciousness?” Robert looked at her and flicked a look at Bonnie. He was gently probing the bruised area, appearing utterly focused on the moment. Then he used a flashlight to look into both eyes. Rachel could tell his touch was gentle. As gentle as that Dom voice of his.
“No,” Libby answered. Then she squared her shoulders. “I didn’t cry.”
“Of course, you didn’t. You’re my granddaughter.” Robert looked over at Bernice. “Do you have any frozen peas in the freezer, Aunt Bernice?”
“I’ll go get them.”
Robert looked at Rachel and her guys. “Our Libby is going to have a shiner, but nothing’s broken.”
That was a relief. Bernice came back into the room with a small bag of the frozen vegetable. Robert took it and showed Libby how to apply it. “Just for a few minutes then again in an hour. And a couple of more times tonight, if you can, especially if you feel it getting hot and tight.”
Bernice and Abigail set out snacks—cookies and cupcakes and sliced banana bread. There was sweet tea, hot tea, and an urn of coffee.
There were specially made strawberry milkshakes for the girls and a smaller one for Colleen. And there was a lot of pampering of both Libby and Bonnie of the great-aunt kind and soon-to-be-grandmothers kind.
Adam and Clint arrived, and after greeting everyone—apparently Clint Parrish was well known by most of the family—the business of taking the girls’ statements began.
All Rachel could think was thank God she had a Dom on either side of her so that her hands were held securely. She thought back to what Trace had said, in those first few glorious minutes when they held their girl again. He’d told Libby that he didn’t know who helped who. Rachel certainly felt that way now, as they were definitely a unit, holding on to each other while hearing what their daughter had endured.
“I…” Libby closed her mouth.
“Go ahead, Libby,” Adam said. “You say whatever it is you want to say.”
“As soon as he spoke to us, it was like a bubble popped. Stuff I hadn’t remembered came back to me. I knew something then that scared me but kind of set me free, too.”
“What did you know?” Clint asked.
“He hated me. I remembered how much he’d always hated me. I guess I forgot that when I got sick, when I was so scared…” She shook her head. “When he approached us today, he told us he was Elizabeth Cosgrove’s daddy, just back from overseas. Like we’d think he was a soldier. Like we would think he was a hero.”
Rachel heard the anger in her daughter’s voice, as did everyone in the room. And everyone stayed silent and let her get that anger out.
“I recognized him by his voice before I even saw him, but he didn’t recognize me at all. Not when I told him that Elizabeth Cosgrove didn’t have a father. I stood up then and faced him and told him the truth. I remember thinking that all he was, was a sperm donor. So I told him that I didn’t have a father,” Libby said. “Just some useless loser who doesn’t know how to be anything else but a useless loser.” She blinked away her tears. “That was when he hit me.”
And then she looked at Rachel and Brandon and Trace. “I told him that, and I meant it, as far as he was concerned. And I win, because he doesn’t know that, really, I have two fathers, and they’re the best dads any girl could ever have.”
Brandon and Trace beamed at Libby, and each kissed one of Rachel’s hands. She’d bet there’d be a lot of pampering ahead for Libby from these particular daddies when they got home.
“I have one more question,” Adam said. “Why did you go with him?”
“We had no choice,” Libby said.
“He had a gun,” Bonnie said.
“And he told us if we didn’t go with him, he’d shoot Bonnie and then as many other kids as he possibly could. We couldn’t let that happen. We really had no choice.”
Rachel felt the blood drain out of her face. The rest of the adults in the room were equally shocked. Adam looked around at everyone then returned his attention to Libby and Bonnie. He swallowed hard, clearly moved by that simple statement, that simple attitude that Libby and Bonnie exhibited as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Someday, maybe, they’d understand the significance of that way of thinking, of acting. Rachel knew if she told them the truth, what every adult in that room knew, they’d be reluctant to embrace it.
Those two girls were heroes.
Adam nodded. “You’re absolutely right. You had no choice.”
Chapter Twenty
Rachel lingered one more moment at the bedroom door.
