Page 77 of Damaged

I briefly closed my eyes as the reality of what I’d done washed over me. I hadn’t even realized that there’d been a tiny part of me that hadn’t wanted to be right about all of this. I’d wanted Silver to see the house, tell me he didn’t recognize it, then we’d hurry back to my boat and that was it.

Silver flinched and grabbed my hand with his second one so that mine was completely enfolded by his. I turned away from the woman and reached for Silver’s cheek. He was shaking violently.

“I want to go now,” he blurted. “I want to go now.” He kept repeating the phrase over and over as his breathing ticked up. The words only stopped when he began to gasp for air.

“Sweetheart, I need you to focus on me now. Just me. My voice, my touch, my eyes. Nothing else exists but us,” I said. Thankfully, the dogs that had still been sniffing at us and Sadie had backed off, whether on their own or by command, I didn’t know or care. The woman remained silent as I focused on Silver. His hands had come up to grab a hold of my wrists.

“I want you to think about the other day when we were walking along the beach. We were throwing sticks for Sadie and watching her chase them into the water. There was no one around but you and me.” My heart was racing but I managed to keep the fear out of my voice.

“Do you remember?” I asked.

Silver nodded frantically.

“Okay, think about the steps we took. They were really slow, right? Can you look down and see our feet sinking into the wet sand? Every time they get sucked into the sand, I want you to breathe out.”

He shook his head.

“Just try for me. Breathe out when they get sucked in and breathe in when we manage to pull them out.” As Silver tried desperately to follow my instructions, I began saying the words “in” and “out.” At first, I matched the pace of his breathing, which meant I was repeating the words with next to no break in between. Once I started slowing the words, increment by increment, I was relieved to see that Silver was trying to follow along. It could have been minutes or hours until he was panting heavily but no longer struggling for air. At some point, he’d ended up in my arms. His head was facing away from the house. He was no longer asking to leave, but he wasn’t exactly asking to stay, either.

The woman, for her part, had called the dogs away so that they were all lying down several feet away. When Silver dropped one hand to reach for Sadie’s head, she was right there to lick his fingers and press her head against his hand and her body along his legs.

I kept my focus on Silver but there was no missing the two men who’d appeared at the woman’s side. They were among the several who’d been at the picnic table. Thankfully, they remained quiet and kept their distance just like the woman, Aggie, did.

“Can you get him some water?” I asked no one in particular. One of the men hesitated and then he was trotting up to the house. The other man looked stiff and stood between us and Aggie, so I couldn’t tell if she’d told him who Silver was or not. I did know he was related to the young man in my arms because he too had the same unique eye color.

“Nick, can you take Brutus to the barn?” Aggie asked, keeping her voice low.

“Aggie,” the man, Nick, responded uncertainly as he looked me over.

I didn’t blame him for seeing me as a potential threat, but when Aggie added, “Please,” Nick took the reins from her and led the horse toward the barn.

I doubted he’d figured out who Silver was based on his concern for Aggie instead of any kind of focus on Silver. Moments later, the other man who seemed to be closer to Aggie’s age returned with the bottle of water. He handed it to Aggie instead of me or Silver. I was grateful for that because I knew Silver was at his limit, and a strange man getting close to him would have sent him into full-on panic mode again.

I took the bottle from Aggie and sent her a grateful smile. She whispered something to the other man that I couldn’t hear, but based on his expression and the way he kept looking between her and Silver, it was easy to guess that she’d told him who Silver was. She shook her head when he went to open his mouth to say something. Aggie once again leaned in to whisper something and then the man nodded and let out a soft whistle that had the dogs jumping up.

Silver jumped at the whistle too, but he kept his face buried in my chest. The young man practically sprinted to the house, the dogs on his heels. I could see that several of the picnic goers were already walking toward us, but the man intercepted each one. Some of them shook their heads and I heard a few cry out in disbelief, but whatever the man said next had them hurrying into the house. Only one man remained. An older one with dark hair. I figured he was in his early fifties. Thankfully, he didn’t approach us. It wasn’t until a woman came out of the house carrying a tray of what looked like a pitcher of lemonade and several glasses that things changed.

She’d been looking over her shoulder at the house, probably wondering why everyone had rushed inside, so she didn’t notice us or the one remaining man standing outside until she nearly reached him. It was at that point that the man gently took hold of each one of her arms and said something to her. The tray slipped from her hands, shattering into pieces on the concrete at her feet. I could hear her nearly shouting and jerking our head in our direction as the man continued to speak to her. The second he stopped talking, she was trying to pull free of him. I faintly heard her call Silver’s real name and then the man was crushing her to his chest, holding her similarly to how I was holding Silver. Her whole body seemed to crumple like an imploding building, but the man was able to catch her before she landed in the glass at her feet.

Aggie was watching the scene too and when she turned her attention back to us, she was wiping at the tears that had pooled in her eyes.

“Um,” she began awkwardly. Her eyes met mine like she wanted me to tell her what to say next. There wasn’t anything I could say that would improve the situation. “Um, I’m sorry I didn’t catch either of your names,” she said, emphasizing the word either. I could have kissed her for not calling Silver by his given name again.

“I’m Dalton,” I began. “And this is Silver,” I added when Silver didn’t even look up.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you both. Do you guys like water?” she asked nervously. “Not the bottled kind, I mean. But obviously you might like that kind too.”

She fell silent. She began wringing her hands just like Silver did when he got nervous or overwhelmed. I gave her an encouraging smile. “Anyway, there’s this really pretty pond through the trees here. It’s quiet and there are lots of koi fish in it. I like to sit there when I need some me time,” Aggie continued.

“That sounds really good,” I responded.

“Would you mind if I joined you?” Aggie asked. “Even though the fish are supposed to feed themselves on the plants and stuff, I kind of spoil them and feed them treats every day.”

“Is that okay with you, sweetheart?” I asked softly as I ran a finger over the sensitive spot behind Silver’s ear.

It was a painfully long time before he nodded against my chest. I wanted to dance with joy at the small victory.

I had a feeling they were the only kinds of victories I’d see for the foreseeable future and even then might not happen often.

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