Chapter 5 Nancy
FIVE
NANCY
‘If you stop feeding them, they won’t bite you.’
Larry hissed as I applied the antiseptic-soaked gauze to the rat bites that covered his hands.
‘They’re going to make you sick. They carry diseases,’ I admonished, like he was a child, despite him towering over me in both height and girth.
Not for the first time, I thanked the stars he was a gentle giant, because even half a dozen grown men would have struggled to hold him back if he lost his temper.
As far as I knew, he’d only lost his temper once. That loss of temper had resulted in the gruesome deaths of three children in his class. Three children who thought pushing the odd big kid would be fun.
They were deadly wrong.
And Larry had grown up here at Wellard, with only the rats as his friends.
‘Larry,’ I sighed, applying band-aids to his various wounds. ‘You must be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.’
Tension halted me as Larry gripped my wrist in one gargantuan hand. I exhaled only when he smiled softly and let go, patting me instead.
‘It’s kind of you to worry about me. I’ll be okay, my friends don’t mean to hurt me. Same as I don’t mean to hurt my friends. Accidents happen.’
‘They do.’
Larry’s eyes unfocused for a moment, and I knew he was no longer thinking about rats.
‘Nurse Nancy?’ Ginny broke through my half-trance and I dropped my hands from Larry’s.
‘Yes?’ Packing away my nursing kit, I turned to face her. ‘Can I help you?’
In the weeks since I’d known her, I hadn’t gleaned any more insight into why she was incarcerated at Wellard.
‘Has Elijah tried to visit again?’
Elijah?
‘Who’s Elijah?’ I asked.
‘Well, he’s my boyfriend. The daddy of my little one. He said he tried to visit me and couldn’t because he isn’t family.’
Confusion knitted my brows. As far as I knew, no one had attempted to visit Ginny.
‘Wait…he spoke to you? How?’
Ginny dropped her voice, a rare smile lifting the corner of her mouth. ‘You can’t tell anyone, but he snuck in to visit me.’
Impossible.
‘Ginny…’
‘You promise not to tell? I don’t want him to get into any trouble.’ Excitement tinged the torrent of harried words.
‘Visitors are allowed. Restricted, but he can certainly apply to see you. Especially with him being the father of your child. Do you want me to try to reach him for you?’
Her head bobbed with glee. ‘Please.’
‘I’ll need a name and a phone number.’
A frown tugged at her lips. ‘Well…his name’s Elijah. I don’t know if he has a phone.’
Damn. I hoped that he might be a key to finding out what Ginny had done to land herself amongst these foreboding walls.
‘How do you get in touch with him?’
‘He comes to me. He always has. On the farm.’ Ginny talked like it was perfectly natural that the man who impregnated her would be found just wandering around.
I’d have said that perhaps he was a figment of her imagination, but given her swollen stomach, evidence would have said otherwise.
Assuming, of course, that she was really pregnant.
Had anyone checked?
‘I’ll ask in the office for you, to see if there’s a way we can track him down for you.’
Ginny sat heavily on a chair, her face serene. My answer must have proven satisfactory.
‘Can I just have a quick check of your stomach, Ginny?’
She tipped her head. ‘Whatever for?’
‘To see how the baby is growing.’
Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. ‘I don’t see how you’ll see in there, but as long as you aren’t entering where Elijah does, I suppose it’s all right.’
Placing a hand on the upper portion of her abdomen, I pressed my fingers into her skin, gently but firmly.
I was met with a wriggling from within that set my heart aflame. Would this be how it felt to caress a child inside me? Bitterness filled my throat. Why did she so easily catch a babe while I struggled year after year?
It wasn’t fair.
She had everything I wanted without even trying. Some farm boy had fucked her and she grew a child without a care.
I hated her.
Looking up into her face, I saw how openly she returned my gaze. ‘Do you feel her?’
I couldn’t help but soften my ire. I didn’t hate Ginny. I envied her. Which was crazy seeing as she was locked in hell.
Her hand covered mine, pressing it flat over her stomach. Warmth filled me. It emanated from her hand and slithered through me, capturing me. For a minute, I was lost in those deep pools of blue, feeling her child dancing beneath her skin.
‘How do you know it’s a girl?’ I asked.
‘A mama always knows.’
I was trapped between admiration and cloying jealousy.