key to do its work, he opened the door to find the room a shambles. Every drawer was yanked out. The closet door stood open. Empty hangers littered the floor. Trissa's old record player lay smashed on the floor, her precious 45's dumped out of their case and into the waste can.
"Trissa!" The bathroom door was ajar, but no light was visible. The room was silent, too silent. He pushed the door open. Balanced on the closed toilet seat was her suitcase, filled with all her belongings, her brush and combs, her cosmetics and hair dryer all a jumble on the top layer. Otherwise, the room was empty, or seemed that way.
"Trissa?" The total silence that answered him nearly broke his heart. But just as he turned to leave the room he found her there, in the space below the bottom shelf, curled into that small space, kneeling on the tile floor. When he reached for her hand to pull her out, her face was puffy and red from crying.
"You weren't supposed to find me." Her voice was barely audible, as if she could hide herself inside it.
"Oh, Trissa, what's wrong?" He helped her to her feet and gathered her into his arms.
"Everything. Nothing." She cried and clung to him with a tangible desperation.
Nicholas freed one arm from her tenacious hug and led her out of the bathroom. "What were you doing? Why were you packing?" He sat on the bed and pulled her into his lap. "What is this?" A purplish-red bruise banded her left arm. Half moon gouges broke the skin where fingernails had dug in. "Who hurt you like this, Trissa?"
"He came to school. They called me down, and he was there," she said in a dull monotone, as if all hope had been stolen from her.
"Who? Your father?"
She nodded her head against his chest, and his grip tightened so suddenly, she gasped then relaxed, burrowing deeper. "He says I broke up the family. He wants me to come home. I can't. I won't."
"This is your home now. We are your family." Nicholas eased his hold on her, rocking her gently. He didn't want to frighten her with his growing rage. Left unchecked, it might boil out of him while the object of his anger was far out of his reach. He had to quell it with action. He stood and she slid from his lap to stand.
"Augusta is very worried about you. Should we go down after you change? The kitchen is warm and sunny. The teakettle's bubbling on the stove. The whole crew will be coming home soon."
He had to get her out of this gloom, away from the shadows that haunted her, back to life. He would find a way to deal with her father later. Trissa took a few tentative steps away from him.
"No," she whispered, her hand outstretched to keep him at a distance. "I can't. I'm leaving. I have to leave here. You. I have to leave you."
He met her eyes with a firm gaze. She set her chin and turned away.
"Don't look at me like that. It's the only way. He'll find us here. He won't leave us alone."
"He doesn't have any power over you anymore. You're protected here. I won't let him come in here. Augusta won't let him. No one here would. Come on. Come down to dinner. We can talk about this later. He frightened you but he can't hurt you anymore. Nicholas went to the bathroom door, looking back to her over his shoulder. "What do you want to wear?"
"Anything. It doesn't matter."
"Everything matters, Trissa. Everything." He brought her a blue sweater and a denim skirt with pearl buttons. Shrugging off her jeans and shirt so that she was clad only in her bra and panties, she shyly turned away from him and pulled the sweater on over her head. Her fingers trembled so badly, she couldn't manage the buttons on the skirt.
"Let me." Working from the bottom up, he quickly, efficiently buttoned her, straightened her collar, lifting her damp hair away from her neck, then he threaded her belt through the loops at her waist and buckled it.
When he reached the buttons at her cuffs, he halted, gently stroking the chilled skin from the heel of her palm to the bruised band that marked her father's grip. "He won't hurt you again, Trissa, I promise. But you have to promise me you will never think of leaving me again. Never." He bent down and kissed