across and places one small kiss on my lips, and it’s as though my body lights up like a Christmas tree. It wants more. More kisses. More touches. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay.” Climbing out of the car, I’m left breathless. I watch him drive away. Last night, I really kissed him again, and we slept in the same bed. Oh my goodness, my father would be rolling over in his grave. A shiver stabs down my spine as his words punch me in the chest. “If you kiss a boy, you’re a slut. If I find out you have ever done that, there will be hell to pay. You’re a good girl, Charity. Good girls don’t let boys kiss them or touch them. Rules are rules, and one is NO BOYS.”
Slut. Is that what I am? Surely not. My father was a liar. Of course I can’t believe anything he told me. My stomach twists and knots. Anxiety creeps over me like a hundred ants on my skin. My breaths get short and thick, like I can’t pull in enough air. Crouching down on the sidewalk, I’m sure I must look crazy to anyone looking.
“Charity? Are you okay?” Mom’s panicked voice comes from our house. Within seconds, her arms are around me, pulling me up. “Come on, honey. Let’s get you inside.” She’s such a caring person. Why did she let that man take me? She should have fought for me. I am her daughter as well. He told me she didn’t want me.
Mom rushes me past Grace, Beau, and Paul, up the stairs and into my bedroom. She sits me down on the edge of the bed. “Charity, what’s wrong?”
My eyes meet hers. “Why didn’t you fight for me? Why did you let him take me?” Tears well again and cascade down my face.
“Oh, honey. It’s nothing like that.” Mom sits beside me and wraps me in her motherly arms. Sobs slam into me like tidal waves crashing against the shore. Mom lets me cry until I’m sure there’s no more left in my tear ducts.
Mom leans back. “Charity, I love you. Why don’t you tell me what happened? How can I help you?”
I want to be angry with her. I can’t, though. “First, I want you to tell me what happened and how I ended up living with Dad instead of you.”
She sighs. “I knew this was coming; I just didn’t know when. Your father was an abusive man. Not only physically, but emotionally. He tore me down until I was a shadow of myself. I’d admitted myself to a hospital of sorts that helped me sort through everything he’d filled my head with. Charity, there came times where I didn’t want to live anymore. You were my reason for living, but the more he ripped me to shreds, the more I felt worthless as your mother. I wasn’t strong enough to fight him for you. So, while I was in this place, getting the help I needed, he packed his and your stuff and left. It was Jase that came over with your new address.”
Pain claws at my chest as she speaks. “So he hurt you too?”
Her eyes fill with tears as she nods. “He did. Is that what he did to you?”
“Yes. I wasn’t allowed friends, and if I did something wrong, he’d hurt me.”
“Just know that whatever he told you is wrong. I came to take you back with me not long after you left, and he beat me too bad and said that you would receive the same treatment if I ever came back. I thought I was doing the right thing by you; I guess I was wrong. I should have done more, fought harder. Tell me what happened outside,” she says, lifting one of her legs to rest on the bed. I do the same.
I rub my face. She’s been through so much, and she let me go to try to save me. If only she knew the truth. “Jase kissed me last night,” I say, my words low.
“Oh, honey, that’s exciting.”
I shake my head. “No, Dad always said if I kissed someone, it would make me a slut. That it’d make me dirty and that no one would ever want me. Please tell me he’s wrong. I’m not a bad person, am I?”
Mom rests her hands on my shoulders. “Now you listen to me. That man was poison. He infected everything he touched and hurt those he was supposed to