Page 62 of Burned

“I had no idea.”

She shrugged. “Why would you? It’s not something I advertise. Do you expect me to walk around with a t-shirt that says I had a shitty childhood?”

“I wish you wouldn’t talk like that, Sadie. That isn’t you. Don’t let what happened make you bitter. You’re sweet, loving—”

“Stop talking as if you understand what I went through. You lost that privilege.” She squeezed the bridge of her nose as if she was fighting off the beginning of a headache. “Rhys, just go. Please. I can’t deal with this or you right now.”

He should have honored her wishes, particularly in her heightened emotional state. The stress couldn’t be good for their child. But he had to know more. Needed to know. “I’ll go, but I need to know about your childhood.”

She turned her back to him and walked toward the living room. “There’s nothing to tell.”

“You can’t just drop a bombshell about abuse and expect me to just forget about it. Whether you believe it or not I care about you very much and if this is a burden you’ve been carrying around since your childhood, don’t you think it’s better to talk about it?”

Sadie took a seat on the couch, leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “And exactly what do you think telling you would accomplish?”

“It may make you feel better. I’m pushing, I know, but please tell me. About your mother and your father. You don’t talk about either of them much.”

Sadie popped one eye open. “I still don’t understand what difference my telling you makes.”

“It would make a difference to me. Look, tell me and I’ll be out of your hair.”

She opened the other eye. “For good?”

“Not a chance.”

“God, you’re a pain in the ass, but if it gets you to leave me alone so I can have some me time, then fine. Here it goes. Jackie and my father had one drunken night together which resulted in my sister Lily. I guess my Dad felt like he had to marry her. He died when I was little, but I always got the sense, she didn’t like the attention he lavished on me and my sisters and brother, especially me. She’s wasn’t particularly maternal with any of us, but she had a special hatred for me. For as long as I can remember she’d make no secret of how ugly, fat and worthless she thought I was. I honestly thought my name was stupid when I was a child because that’s all she called me.” She paused getting a faraway look in her eyes.

Rhys was horrified that any mother could treat her own child so abominably. It was no wonder he’d disliked Sadie’s mother on sight. If he ever saw that woman again, he wouldn’t bite his tongue. “Sadie?” he prompted.

Her gaze snapped to his direction. She continued as if she hasn’t paused. “I wasn’t the only one to get it though. My sisters had it pretty bad as well. We tried to protect each other, but it only seemed to make her even madder. We never invited friends over because she’d go out of her way to humiliate us. She had these little nicknames for us. Let’s see, Lily was the whore, Daisy was mental, Rose was boy, because Jackie said she looked like one, and she called Thorn a retard. And me, I was stupid. I’m not going to bore you with the details, but for years we lived with that monster. If something was accidentally broken, I’d take the blame even if it wasn’t me, because I couldn’t stand to see what she did to them.”

He narrowed his eyes. “And they let you take the blame?”

“Not really. Most of the time they tried to speak up, but Jackie wanted to believe the worst in me so I just took the punishment anyway. I remember Jackie beat me with one of her four-inch stilettos, and Lily threw herself on top of me to stop her….she still has that scar on the side of her head. I just knew the next time she beat me, I wouldn’t cry or scream so no one else would get hurt.”

Rhys covered his mouth with his hand, astonished. He’d heard about abused children, but to know his Sadie had been one of them tore his heart to shreds. “How often were you beaten?”

“Honestly, the physical abuse wasn’t as often as the verbal.”

“But I can imagine the verbal was worse.”

She nodded. “Much worse. But anyway, as each of my sisters were old enough to leave, they did. They each tried to take me with them, but I couldn’t leave Thorn behind and there was no way Jackie was letting him go, especially since she received a monthly check for his care. They knew it and I knew it. Each of them even tried to fight for custody, but Jackie was cleaver. No one could find any reason why Thorn should be removed from her care. And Thorn, God rest his soul loved her, even when she called him mongoloid and a blight on humanity. He didn’t understand these things. He just loved everyone and everything. So I stayed and made sure she didn’t hurt him. By this time I was big enough to defend myself, she never laid a hand on me, but the hurtful words never stopped.”

“And Thorn?”

“He died in his sleep. Congenital heart failure. He’d had it since he was a baby. The doctors say it was a miracle he’d lasted so long. I didn’t mind giving up going to school to make his last years happy. It made me happy to do it.”

“I’m sorry if this sounds harsh, Sadie, but you mother deserves to rot in hell for what she’s done to you and your siblings. I don’t understand why you continued to be in her life.”

“Because I stupidly told myself that she’s my mother and I had a misguided sense of loyalty in name of family. Well, fortunately for me, I learned she’s not actually my mother. But that’s another story I’d rather not get into right now. I told you what you wanted to know. So now are you ready to leave?”

She said it so matter-of-factly, he knew there had to be more to it.

“Not quite. Tell me about the bastard who hurt you?”

Sadie laughed without humor. “Besides, you?”

Rhys flinched. “Okay, I deserved that. But this other man. What did he do?”

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