Chapter 3
THAT WEIGHT LIFTED
“Mom,” Abigail said. “I’m sorry. They asked.”
“Stop talking. I told you not to say anything.” The woman had no soul. Arden wanted to ask how any mother could be that way, but unfortunately, she’d witnessed it way too much in her career already.
“Mrs. Oliver,” she said as patiently as she could. “Why don’t we go to another room and have this conversation? Abigail will be safe here. Dr. Ridgeway is going to close her wound now, isn’t that right?”
“I will,” he said. “With my wonder glue.” He pulled it out of his pocket. “It’s so cool, Abigail.”
She felt a smile tugging at her lips over the playful sound of the handsome doctor in front of her.
Nope, look away. Not one man had made her think along those lines and the fact it was happening during her job was a big no-no for her.
Staying focused and putting the needs of her clients would always come first.
Seeing this wounded little girl, both physically and mentally, tore her heart to shreds with memories of Gracie shrinking back from Billy raising his voice in one of his drunken rages. Throwing things around the house, screaming at her to understand him.
She should have protected her daughter better and had to live with that.
“Follow me, Mrs. Oliver. We’ll stay on this floor, just a conference room down the hall. Abigail will remain here with security.”
She turned to see the little girl’s eyes fill with tears.
No way she’d want to leave her daughter with strangers, but she knew the rules and followed them to the letter.
“Can’t I call my boyfriend to come stay with her?”
“You can,” she said. “We can wait while you do it and meet when he gets here if that makes it easier.”
She could and would be flexible.
Mrs. Oliver pulled her phone out, called some guy named Tony, then hung up. “He will be here in ten minutes.”
“Is Abigail’s father in the picture?”
“No. He lives a few hours away.”
Arden nodded and stayed in the room watching Dr. Ridgeway make Abigail giggle while he joked he’d glued his own fingers together by mistake.
She held her smile in place when he pulled them apart and let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, then shook them off.
Talk about super sweet and the perfect tension breaker.
But she knew the sexy doctor couldn’t stay. He had other patients to see.
He stood, walked closer, towering over her five-foot-four frame by close to a foot.
In his baggy scrubs she couldn’t see much of his body, but she remembered it from yesterday when he climbed out of his SUV.
Long legs in tan shorts, thighs flexing with muscles that spent some time in a gym.
His biceps weren’t meant to stand out, but they had with his right arm bent carrying a bag into his house.
Standing next to him, she’d noticed his blue eyes were kind and questioning. Yesterday, they seemed more dark and ready to fight. Two different men.
She’d been married to one of them before and learned her lesson.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine,” she lied. “Thank you.”
He nodded his head and left. “Leave this door open.”
She knew the rules but appreciated it more when he went to the nurse’s station and talked to the charge nurse. They both looked over and she saw the older woman nod. As if he were lining up the troops to be on alert.
“When can we leave, Mom?”
“Soon,” Arden said before Mrs. Oliver could answer. The woman was on her phone texting as if her fingers had nitro in them rather than consoling her daughter.
“What grade are you in, Abigail?” she asked.
“I’m going into third grade.”
“Do you like school?”
“I do,” Abigail said.
“What’s your favorite subject?”
“Abigail, stop talking,” Mrs. Oliver said, not even lifting her eyes to make contact with her child.
That was fine. Arden could sit here quietly if that was the way they wanted to play.
The minute a man walked in, she knew right away, this wasn’t going to be quiet.
“What the fuck is going on?” Tony said.
Yep. She jumped.
Like she did when a man raised their voice now.
She hated herself for that.
Hated she couldn’t control her reactions like she used to.
But staying composed was better for everyone.
“I need to talk with Mrs. Oliver, if you can stay with Abigail. Security will show you to a private room and then I’ll return for her.”
“No, we are getting an attorney,” Tony said.
“That is your right, but he will also inform you that the hospital is within their rights to ask questions as mandated reporters. We can have this discussion here or we can take it somewhere else private.” She was holding firm and security moved in closer now, flanking her.
She thought for sure that being a social worker in the hospital would be milder than for the county. Guess not.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Mrs. Oliver said. “They can’t keep us here.”
She wouldn’t be so sure of that, but it was highly unlikely at this moment.
She and Abigail’s mother moved through the corridors to a private room and took a seat, the door shutting, her laptop out. “I’ll be recording this for both of our protection. Abigail stated that her younger brother Corey is physically and emotionally abusing her.”
“She doesn’t even know the meaning of those words to say them. You’re making shit up.”
“Let’s see here,” she said, typing into her computer. “Abigail spoke with both a nurse and the doctor, same stories. Her younger brother Corey often kicks her legs, leaving multiple bruises which will be photographed and recorded before she is discharged.”
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“I’m telling you now,” she said. “She also said that Corey killed her fish at Christmas by pulling it out of the water and stepping on it. Is that correct?”
“Abigail is exaggerating. Corey took it out of the water and it fell on the floor, then he accidentally stepped on it.”
“Those are conflicting stories,” she said, but they were noted. “Can you explain the bruises on your daughter?”
“She and Corey were wrestling and he gets a little more excited. He’s high energy and not always easy to control. All accidents.”
“The broken glass this morning. Abigail stated Corey threw it at her and she rushed to pick it up so that she didn’t get in trouble and that is how she cut herself. Your explanation was that Abigail dropped it. You were also overheard stating it serves her right and getting cut was her punishment.”
Mrs. Oliver’s face turned crimson. “That was taken out of context.”
“And we are trying to clear it up. I see some bruises on your wrist. Do you feel unsafe in your house?”
Maybe she had this all wrong and it was the boyfriend? She’d seen enough abused women in her life, but this woman didn’t come off that way.
“I’m safe. Tony would never hurt me.”
“What about Corey?” she asked. Mrs. Oliver tugged her sleeves down to cover the faded yellowing bruises.
“I told you, he has excess energy. Maybe some behavioral issues. But Tony said he was like that as a kid too and he’s fine.”
“So Corey is Tony’s son?” she said.
“Yes. He’s able to control Corey more, but he works a lot. This morning was an accident, the same with everything else. Corey doesn’t mean it; he just can’t control himself.”
They talked for another thirty minutes. Arden told Mrs. Oliver that they had to report the incident to social services and to expect a call, but she knew there was so much on the caseloads that it might take time.
She also knew that, unfortunately, not much could happen either. Not without something more serious than bruises.
What she felt was sympathy for the little girl having to live in that home.
After she left Mrs. Oliver, she found Abigail sitting at a children’s table hugging her teddy bear next to her while she flipped through books.
Sometimes the system failed, and her hands were tied.
“Hi, sweetie.”
“Can I go back to my mother?”
“I just need to ask you a few more questions. I have her permission to record us, is that okay?”
“Yes,” Abigail said, dropping her head. “Am I in trouble?”
“No, you’re not. Can you explain to me what you said earlier about the bruises that your younger brother Corey left on your legs and what your mother’s response was to it?”
She listened to the little girl chatting while she drew pictures. She found it easier for the kids to talk when they were occupied with something else.
“Will Corey leave me alone now? He scares me.”
And those were the words that needed to be said and they came unprompted.
She turned toward the window knowing there was an officer there listening in.
“I don’t want you to be scared, but you need to tell someone if you are. Or if he hurts you.”
“I tell my mother, but she doesn’t believe me. She said Tony will take care of it, but it happened again.”
There was another ten minutes of conversation, then she got up and left, the officer coming toward her. “We’ll take it from here.”
“Thanks,” she said, feeling defeated.
It was the best she could do. There was a good chance that Abigail could find shelter with another family member until an investigation was done, but it was out of her hands.
It wasn’t even lunchtime and she was already drained.
On her way back through, she detoured to the ER hoping to see Dr. Ridgeway and fill him in. Just to keep him informed, not to get another look at him.
He was busy after all.
After swiveling her head a few times and not catching sight of him, she went to leave.
“Arden.”
She turned and there he was. “Hi. I was looking for you.”
He held his arm out and moved her to a corner out of the way. The sounds of monitors, moans of pain, high-pitched voices, tearful explanations and nurses asking questions were all background noises.
“How did it go?”
She filled him in. “All in a day's work,” she said. “I hope for Abigail’s sake that they can at least separate her from her brother for now. Or at least the parents are scared enough knowing there are eyes on them.”
“It’s hard with siblings,” he said. “I’ve got four of them and my brothers and I beat on each other enough but nothing like that. Nothing was tolerated to that extent and if one of us left a mark on our sister... yeah, best not to say what happened then.”
It was the charming smirk on his face, his lips lifting, a tiny dimple appearing, his blue eyes dancing as if they both needed that weight lifted if for only a moment.
“I feel as if the mother is cornered or she’s blind. Could be both. I hoped working here would be easier, but thought wrong.”
“Where were you before?”
“The county. And I think you need to return to work.”
“Yeah. Hey, the other day. Are you okay?”
She laughed. “I’m fine. Just a pesky ex. Not sure how much you heard.”
Though the doctor wasn’t out there for the entire conversation, she was betting the guy got the gist of it. His eyes and ears had been everywhere that she could see today.
“Enough. If you need me, I’m only a few down. Don’t hesitate.”
“Thanks, Dr. Ridgeway. Good to know, but I should be fine.”
“I mean it, Arden. And it’s Blaze.”
“Blaze?”
“Yeah. Blaze Ridgeway.”
Somehow that name fit. Intensity in motion. Steady, focused and impossible to ignore.
Scary for a woman who had closed her mind and body off to any man for years.
Yet, this doctor set off a dangerous calm inside of her with the threat of fire simmering beneath the surface.
She had to get out of here.
“Nice to meet you, Blaze. See you around.”
He put his hand out for her to shake and the spark shot up her arm ready to consume every nerve ending in her body. By the look in his eyes, he wasn’t immune to it.