Page 50 of Storm's Embrace

“Are you okay?” Miriam tilted her head and gave him a questioning look. He’d probably been staring at her for longer than he’d realized.

“Yeah.” He gave her a light kiss on the lips. “I’m okay. But do me a favor and see if Serena is available to come in for an hour or so after lunch.”

“I already have. She’ll be here by one o’clock.”

“You’re amazing.” He let her go and mentally began to prepare himself for what was to come as he left his office.

“So are you.”

Miriam’s softly spoken words followed after him, but he didn’t look back. His focus needed to be on Brittany Garrison and Jesse and what he could do for them. He walked down the hall to the last exam room before the exit. Miriam had thought ahead for when the authorities would show up. It was rarely used and would allow for the most discretion with other patients and staff coming and going.

He lightly rapped on the door. “Ms. Garrison? It’s Dr. Storm. May I come in?”

A small, almost imperceptible voice replied, “Yes.” Eli let out a harsh breath before opening the door, readying himself for the worse.

At first, it was like any other time he entered an exam room with a small child and parent in it. And, as always, Eli’s eyes were first drawn to the child. Jesse had a toy truck with him and was busy rolling it around the floor and making engine noises, only stopping long enough to look up at him and smile before going back to his busy play. But something was different about him.

It took only a moment of looking Jesse over before Eli realized it was his hair. All of the little boy’s curls were gone. In fact, his hair had been cut off almost to his scalp in an extreme buzz cut.

“Hey buddy.” Eli crouched down beside Jesse and touched the prickly top of his head. “Did you get a haircut?”

Jesse stopped playing and sent a cautious look over to his mother and then back at Eli, before going back to rolling his truck. “Uh-huh.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught how one of Brittany Garrison’s jeans-clad legs had started shaking, so he stood and grabbed the small rolling chair in the room and placed it in front of Brittany before sitting down.

From what he could see of Jesse, and without a thorough examination of the little boy, he seemed fine with no visible marks. With Brittany, her condition was hard to discern since she had her head covered and upper body bundled up in an oversized blue and orange hoodie emblazoned with a tiger. She’d yet to look up at him, but he could almost feel the tension coming off of her, as well as the fear. He wasn’t about to add to her distress by pushing her to talk to him, so he would wait until she was ready to speak.

“You were right,” she whispered after several moments, breaking the silence that had only been filled with Jesse’s chattering as he played. Brittany raised her face and glanced past Eli to her child, then met his gaze. “And after this, I can’t take the chance he’ll hurt my baby.”

Eli did all he could to keep his features schooled into a mask of concern only, but it was hard not to show his anger at what Brittany’s husband had done to her. So, he didn’t let his gaze linger on her face. She’d obviously been beaten—and severely—with the left side of her face having most of the damage. Instead, he kept his focus on her eyes, although she probably found it difficult to see out of the left one considering how red and swollen it was.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Eli watched as indecision crossed over her battered face, before she nodded and then let out a slight laugh and shook her head.

“It was all over that haircut.”

“Jesse’s?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She worried over the split in her puffed out bottom lip with her teeth before wincing and letting it go. “Derek took him out for a milkshake,” she said, her tone low, and then nodded her head toward her son. “He brought him back like that.It’s past time my son stopped looking like a baby,” she said in a deep, growling voice. “I didn’t like it, and told him he had no right to do it.” She gingerly touched her swollen left cheek mottled with purple bruises. “So he showed me just how much of a right he did have.” Brittany let out a harsh breath. “He didn’t even save the curls for me—not one of them.” Her eyes pooled with tears. “They were just thrown away,” she said through trembling lips.

“I’m sorry this happened.” Eli kept his tone gentle, but had to ask in case there was something he wasn’t seeing, “And Jesse wasn’t hurt?”

“No,” she said, adamantly shaking her head. “I told you the truth about that in your office. He’s never hit Jesse.” She glanced once more at her son, something she’d done several times while she’d spoken. “But he has grabbed him too hard when he’s trying to make him mind.” She frowned. “He’s two years old,” she whispered, her frown deepening while her eyes remained focused on her son. “He’s supposed to be loud and all over the place.” She met Eli’s gaze again. “Right?”

Eli nodded and gave her a slight grin. “If he weren’t a handful, I’d be worried. So, yes, Jesse’s a typical two-year-old.”

“So…” Brittany huddled into her hoodie, her eyes meeting his filled with pleading. “What now?”

“Now, we get you some help.”

13

“How do I look, Mommy?”

Miriam smiled and glanced up at her open bedroom door from where she sat on the edge of her bed slipping on a shoe. “You look so pretty, baby.”

“Thank you,” Zoë said with a little grinning curtsy. “When’s Dr. Eli taking us out?” Zoë skipped over to Miriam and then turned and hopped up onto the bed beside her.

She slipped an arm around her daughter and gave her a small hug. “He’ll be here any time now.”

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