Page 69 of All for her Forgiveness

"You just didn't expect her to turn into one."

"Yeah." I close my eyes for several seconds. The cold rain falls on me, bringing relief. "The day I arrived at the house in Cape Cod . . . I forgot the promise I made to Pam. I only cared about making sure Kennedy was okay. I searched the whole house for her, and that's how I found Pam and saw what they’d done to my ward. I didn't even try to resuscitate her. I knew she was dead, and even as I saw the police arriving, I was still desperate to find Kennedy. When they finally brought the street footage and confirmed that Kennedy was alive, that she’d walked out of the house and a car had picked her up, I refocused on the young woman I’d promised to take care of. A movie played in my head."

"You remembered when she was a child and everything she went through in her childhood."

"Yeah. Pam died as she was born, Ernest. Being physically and sexually violated."

I see him grow pale, and maybe now he sees some of the pain I felt.

"Let's go inside, my son."

"How are they? Is King okay? Is Kennedy managing to sleep?"

"The boy is great, and Kennedy has been sleeping, but she's restless and also vigilant about King, afraid they'll be separated. That someone will come for him."

Damn!

"That's not going to happen."

"You can't promise that. Besides, the main person she fears is you."

I know he didn't say that to hurt me, yet it hits me hard. "No one will separate them. Even if I have to take her and my son out of the country, Kennedy won't go back to prison."

He stares at me in silence for what feels like an eternity and then says, "Come inside or you’ll end up catching pneumonia."

I start walking alongside him. "A few minutes ago, you said: 'the first time you're arrested...'"

"Yes, I've been to prison more than once."

"How is that possible? I investigated you, and nothing ever came up about you. You were a senator's driver for years."

"But long before that, I was someone else."

"What do you really represent in Kennedy's life, Ernest?"

"The person who loves her more than himself."

"What do you represent to the rest of the world?"

"Someone who lives in the shadows, goes unnoticed, and whom most people don't fear. But they should."

Kennedy

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

When I left that day,over two years ago, thinking I was doing the right thing by turning myself in to the police, believing in justice, and ended up getting hit by a car, King was just a newborn. Thinking back, I realize that my son has grown into an independent little boy. Ernest has told me he likes to do everything on his own: eat, bathe, put on his shoes, and even sleep in his own little bed, or rather, his crib.

For the first three activities, whether he likes it or not, my little tyrant needs help, but for sleeping, he likes to have his space, and even though I leave the baby monitor on, he stays alone in his room.

I've always been a light sleeper. This was amplified over the first month I spent with my son before the coma, and it returned to the same state the moment I was blessed with the chance to live with King again.

Today, particularly, when I lay down, I was exhausted.

I still haven't recovered from the encounter with Hades, from the almost two days I spent with him, and even though he hasn't returned for over forty-eight hours, it's as if the man looms over me.

The stress of forced cohabitation, combined with the partial return of memory, made me fall asleep almost immediately when I finally went to bed today.

However, as soon as I hear voices, maternal instinct kicks in, and I almost knock over the baby monitor reaching for it.

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