Page 125 of If You Stayed

They took pictures of me.

They asked me questions about my husband.

Gabriel stood by my side the whole time.

He held my hand.

He answered questions when I couldn’t speak up myself.

He comforted me when I felt weaker than ever before.

When I grew embarrassed, he held me closer.

When I cried, he cried, too.

Through it all, he stayed.

34

Gabriel

Henry was arrested shortly after the incident. Not only didKierra have physical proof of his abuse all over her body, but the video cameras she had set up showed the officers exactly what they needed to get Henry locked away for a long time. Unfortunately, when a man as powerful as Henry had money and resources, there was a chance that he’d be released sooner than later. Or worse, he’d get a slap on the wrist. Justice wasn’t always serviced, especially for the women who suffered silently for so long. We all had to live with that fear, but we’d face it head-on. Henry wasn’t allowed to hurt my girls anymore. I’d fight to protect them for the remainder of my life. And no matter what, he lost. Henry lost the two most amazing women I’d ever encountered. That would be his imprisonment for the remainder of his days—he’d no longer have access to Kierra and Ava’s light. His world would always be filled with darkness, behind bars or outside of them. He wouldn’t receive any kind of happily ever after. He’d be stuck in the darkness while we danced in the light and built our future toward ourhappy ending.

I took her to my house to stay, and she remained quiet the whole time. I didn’t blame her. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through, what her mind was going through. After a while, I placed her in a shower and cleaned her up. The dried blood washed down the drain as I washed her body, which was clearly still in a lot of pain. I wished I could take the mental and emotional pain away, too. I wished I could bottle up all her hurting and toss it into the fucking ocean.

“I’m okay,” she whispered as I began to massage my fingers through her hair. “I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay,” she kept saying, as if she was trying to convince herself most of all.

I tilted her head up so her eyes locked with mine. “Kierra, you don’t have to be—”

She shut her eyes and shook her head as the water fell over us. “No. Please. I’m just…” Tears began to fall down her cheeks again as she kept shaking her head. “I have to be okay. I have to be okay. Even though I’m not, I need to keep saying it, okay, Gabriel? Otherwise, he wins, and I can’t let him win,” she sobbed, her body shaking in my arms. “I can’t have him win. I–I can’t. I ca-can’t let him…”

I pressed my chin to the top of her head as I pulled her in to my chest. I held her tightly as she sobbed in my arms, and I whispered, “You’re okay. You’re okay. You’re okay.”

We both knew she wasn’t in that very moment, but I gave her what she needed to hear.

She took deep breaths and echoed my words. “I’m okay, I’mokay, I’m okay…”

I couldn’t wait until those words were true.

After the shower, I wrapped her in a towel and led her to my bedroom. I dressed her slowly in my T-shirt and sweatpants as she sat on the edge of my bed. She didn’t say a word as I did so. The defeat on her face was enough to break my heart.

I knelt in front of her and took her hands into mine. I knew she was repeating the wordsI’m okayin her mind. So, I gave her a few more words that she could repeat.

“You’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe,” I whispered, gently kissing the palms of her hands.

Her eyes closed and she turned her head slightly away from me as tears fell down her cheeks. She nodded her head slowly.

“I’m safe, I’m safe, I’m safe,” she murmured, her voice faint.

I laid her in the bed and climbed in beside her. I didn’t wrap myself around her at first, because I didn’t know what she needed me to do. I didn’t know if she needed to be held or if she needed space to breathe.

Yet she moved toward me, curled into a ball, and fit herself directly against me, resting her head against my chest. My arms wrapped around her with no plans of ever letting her go again.

As we sat in the darkness, I tried to shield Kierra from seeing my own tears fall. But how could he do that to her? How could he be such a monster that he’d hurt the gentlest being in the world?

That was when I knew that my heart was entangled with hers.

It was at that moment I promised myself I’d never leave herside again. She’d never be that afraid again as long as I lived.

---