Dom

 

 

 

Between McDonalds, and our road trip, there’d been a lot of awkward silences between me and Ruby. Fortunately, with patience and persistence I was able to get her to open up and even talk a little. I knew we had a long ride ahead of us, but with every mile, I felt more hopeful. Fortunately, I learned that Jimmy hadn’t touched her, although he’d said some fucked-up things, and even threatened to hurt her if she didn’t keep quiet about it.

“Ruby, I want you to tell me if anyone ever tries doing something that makes you feel… frightened or uncomfortable,” I said, resisting an urge to turn the car back around and beat the fuck out of Jimmy. “And, if anyone threatens you, make sure you tell me right away. I’ll take care of it. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“He’s lucky I didn’t beat him to a bloody pulp,” I mumbled, my knuckles aching to connect with his face. He’d gotten off too easily. Although, I hadn’t wanted to scare Ruby any more than she’d already been.

“Jimmy said that he would hurt Aunt Hannah if I tried waking her,” said Ruby softly.

“I’m going to tell you something—he was lying to you,” I answered. “That’s what bad people do sometimes. Scare you so that you keep quiet. The truth is they’re cowards themselves and that’s why they go after people they think they can scare.”

She stared down at her hands. “So, he wouldn’t have hurt her?”

“No, because he would have been thrown in jail and he knows it,” I said, not sure myself, but wanting her to believe it. The only defense a child had against perverts like that was to ask for help. And if she thought someone else was going to be hurt if she told, it wouldn’t help her one bit. “Like I said before, Ruby, if anyone threatens you or someone you care about, let me know. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again. I promise.”

“Okay.”

“And if they try threatening me, you definitely let me know.” I knew it was another technique that pedophiles sometimes used to scare kids. Threaten to harm their parents. “I’m not going to lie—I will fuck them up more than they could ever hurt me.”

She nodded.

I didn’t know if telling a kid that I would fuck someone up was the best thing, but I wanted her to know that I wasn’t going to stand for any shit. And I definitely wanted her to have faith in me and my ability to protect the both of us.

We drove for a several miles in silence. After a while, I asked her if she had any questions.

Ruby shook her head.

I knew she was nervous and probably had a lot of things that she was wondering about. Especially about me. I knew I had to be patient and let her ask when she was ready, though.

“So, have you ever been to Minnesota?” I asked, a few minutes later.

“No.”

“You ever seen snow?”

“Yes. I love it,” she said, her eyes lighting up.

I chuckled. “Well, you’re going to see a lot of it next winter. Have you ever been sledding?”

She told me she hadn’t.

I smiled. “You’re in for a real treat, baby girl.”

Ruby scowled. “I’m not a baby.”

“I know you’re not.” I rubbed my jaw and looked at her again. “It’s a nickname. One that my grandfather used to call my mother, your grandmother, even when she was a grown woman.”

Ruby didn’t say anything.

“I, um, I have a nickname. It’s Tarot.”

She gave me a puzzled look.

I told her what it meant and then explained that I sometimes knew things that I shouldn’t.

Her eyes widened. “Like a psychic?”

“You know about psychics?”

Ruby nodded. “I saw one on TV.”

“Ah.”

“I dreamed that you were going to come for me,” she replied, her voice hesitant.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Before even Hannah told me.”

So, she also had the gift?

“Do you ever know things before they happen?” I asked casually.

She nodded. “Mommy always said it was just a coincidence.”

Jenna hadn’t known about my abilities, so it made sense. We talked more about some of the ‘coincidences’ in her life.

“It’s frightening sometimes, but with a gift,” I told her, realizing that she was also a budding clairvoyant. “Some people won’t believe you and some will not understand. It’s kind of why I don’t talk about it too much. You can always come to me with questions though, okay?”

She nodded.

We drove in silence again, and after a while, I told her more about Minnesota and of the house we were going to live in. “You can pick out your own bedroom, and if you’d like, we can paint it any color you want.”

Ruby gave me a shy smile. “Okay.”

I talked some more, telling her a little about the Gold Vipers. She looked intrigued and asked me if I had a motorcycle.

“I sure do,” I replied, grinning. “Would you like to get a ride on it?”

“Yeah,” she said, sitting up straighter. “My daddy bought one, but he never gave me a ride.”

“Paul?” I asked.

I didn’t like her calling him ‘daddy’, but that’s what he’d been. It was just shitty that he was now avoiding her.

“Yes,” she said, her smile fading.

“Was he good to you?” I asked softly, knowing that she was thinking about him because her eyes were glossy again.

She nodded.

I reached over and touched her shoulder gently. “Don’t worry. He’s just struggling to make sense of everything. He loves you.”

“He doesn’t,” she said, crying softly.

I knew she was too young to understand.

“Yes, he does. I’m sure of it. Look, I’ve never met him but, if you’d like, I can send Paul a letter with our new address. We’ll write to him and I’m sure that in time, he’ll come around.”

It took Ruby awhile to answer. “Okay,” she finally said, wiping her tears.

Seeing her upset was painful. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through. She’d lost her mother and the only father she’d ever known. As far as Paul, I had nothing against him, although he probably hated me. If he was any kind of a man, he’d stop taking his anger out on her, though. He may not be her biological father, but that didn’t mean she saw him as anything less than ‘daddy’.

“Hey.”

She looked at me.

“If you want, you can change Chilly’s name. She’s your pup, you know. The pet store named her, but that’s your job.”

Ruby sniffled. “I like her name.”

I grabbed one of the extra McDonald’s napkins and handed it to her. “I do, too. I just want you to be happy.”

The look she gave me tore at my heart-strings. It was one that said she’d never be happy again. In that moment, I vowed that whatever it took, I’d prove my baby girl wrong.