Page 98 of Fierce-Dane

Shiloh ran over to a box in the corner. Just a cardboard one that looked like one of those banker boxes that stored papers. Her little sister opened the lid and pulled out a few toys. Some were probably older than Shiloh.

“Do you want to take them with you?” Dane asked.

Sloane looked at Dane and frowned. “I can buy her new,” she said quietly. “Matter of fact I will be. Everything tomorrow.”

This morning had been more depressing when she went through the two bags of clothing her sister had with her. Most of it was worn out or stained and looked to be too big or too small.

She found a pair of jean shorts that would pass and an aqua T-shirt with rainbows and unicorns on it. She figured they needed something happy to look at.

The bathroom routine hadn’t been fun either.

Shiloh had no idea how to take a shower or have her hair washed that way. She’d said her mother dumped buckets over her head.

With the length of Shiloh’s hair, she was shocked her mother hadn’t cut it off to help with that chore.

She didn’t have a bucket to wash Shiloh’s hair, but it desperately needed it.

She and Dane coaxed the little girl into the shower after Dane decided to wash Snow. That was what Shiloh named her lamb.

Sloane had her work cut out for her, she knew, but was thankful for Dane’s assistance.

As much as she didn’t want to stand in the bathroom with Shiloh and help wash her, it was the only way she would know it was done. The little girl needed help with her hair anyway.

She’d left the door open and had to actually call Dane for assistance at one point because her fingers were stuck in Shiloh’s hair trying to get the soap out.

They used almost half her bottle of conditioner on top of it and finally could get not only their fingers but also a comb through it to dry some and then braid it.

“She needs some comforts of home,” he said quietly back.

Sloane nodded, thinking of the room she, Sabrina and two other girls had stayed in before she’d left the cult. There was no comfort there.

Her mother stayed in another room with other mothers. It was almost like what she’d assumed dorm living would be.

“Okay,” she said. “It’s not like there is a lot. That whole box can go in the back.”

“Can I take this?” Shiloh asked of one thing. An old Barbie doll with cheap clothing on it.

“We can take the whole box,” she said. “It will fit. Then you’ve got them when we get back home. Your new home,” she clarified.

“Really?” Shiloh asked. “I couldn’t take anything but clothes when I left before.”

“You can take what you want,” Dane said. “We’ll make room for it and if it doesn’t fit we’ll arrange to have it shipped.”

“Yes,” Sloane said. “Anything you want.”

Shiloh put the lid back on the box and then ran into aroom. Sloane assumed it was her mother’s room and had been avoiding going in there but knew she had to.

When she got to the doorway, Shiloh had a big picture frame in her hand and turned it. “It’s Mom and you and me. Mom said this was your friend.”

She reached for the frame that had a collage of photos in it. Old ones for sure. There was nothing of her as a child. Just some that were taken and printed over the years by other people.

There was one photo in the center of her mother with her and Sabrina on each side. It was right before she left and Sabrina was frowning like she normally did.

“You haven’t changed,” he said.

“I was nineteen here,” she said. “I remember this. Right before I moved. That’s Sabrina. Things must have been really bad for Mom to say it was a friend.”

“Don’t think of that now,” he said.

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