Page 10 of Skid
“That would be nice, Grace. And a glass of ginger ale, please.”
“I’ll be right back.” I walked out of the room, closing the door to stop the light from filtering into the room.
When I was in the kitchen and knew she couldn’t see me, I danced around the kitchen, pumping my arms into the air and twisting my hips. A noise from behind me had me turning as I dropped my arms, and I saw Kevin walk into the kitchen from outside.
He smiled at me and walked up, whispering, “I guess it’s just you and me this weekend, kiddo.”
I smiled, and he nudged me with his shoulder as he walked into the living room and down the hallway to their bedroom. I quickly made her a glass of ginger ale and pulled her migraine medicine from the cabinet. After placing them on the nightstand, I returned to the kitchen and began packing the items she put on the list, adding a few extra sweet snacks to enjoy.
Within an hour, Kevin and I were pulling away from the house with the radio blaring top forty music louder than Connie would ever allow. The three-hour drive to the cabin he rented for the weekend was nice, and before long, my eyelids grew heavy, and I fell asleep. I felt him shake me awake, and I stretched my back and blinked away the sleep as I took in our getaway for the weekend.
“Grab some things from the back and let’s get settled inside. We can go swimming before it gets dark,” he remarked, grabbing our gear from the trunk.
Two trips and everything was inside the two-room cabin. We changed into our bathing suits and raced to see who could jump in the lake first. He won and hollered into the air as I broke the surface of the water, feeling its cooling effects on my heated skin.
I hadn’t been that happy since my father was alive, even if the memories of him were faint. My mom always had addictions, and when I lost him, I lost the only person who ever loved me, so to have Kevin on my side was reassuring.
“Let’s get dried off and start the grill. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” he said, and we swam to the stairs on the small dock and pulled ourselves out of the water.
We camped here on and off for as long as I’d been placed with them, so it was like a second home. The chilly air caught me off guard, and I crossed my arms over my chest, not wanting to be indecent, as Connie would say. Kevin looked at me and offered his elbow as we walked away from the lake and onto the large back deck overlooking the water. As we entered the cabin, I asked, “What can I do to help with dinner?”
“Why don’t you get showered and changed, and then you can make the salad.”
Before long, we were eating steaks, grilled bread, and salad on the back porch of the isolated cabin. When we finished, he took my plate, even though it was my job to wash dishes, and placed them in the sink.
When he returned, he handed me a glass of soda and sat down next to me with one in his hand. I sipped the beverage, and within a few minutes, my body felt a warm tingling sensation, making me smile into the darkening sky.
I felt a hand brush against my cheek, and my head lulled to the side as my eyes tried to focus on Kevin. “You’re so beautiful. My Grace.”
I felt myself smile, and I let my head turn away from him as I took another swallow of my drink. Setting the empty glass onto the table, my hand missed, but Kevin caught it before I dropped it to the wooden deck. I couldn’t focus and I was sleepy, fighting to keep my eyes open as I fell back into the chair.
“Let me take you to bed, Grace. It’s been a long day, and you need to rest,” Kevin said as he scooped me up into his arms and carried me into the house.
No one had been this nice to me since my father was alive, and through my confusion, I whispered, “Thank you, Daddy.”
Kevin inhaled deeply, and he whispered, “My Grace. My beautiful saving Grace.”
He carried me into the bedroom and pulled the covers back before placing me on the soft mattress. I could feel him sit on the edge of the bed, his hand caressing my cheek. Turning into it, I heard him ask, “Do you want me to be your daddy, Grace?”
I wanted nothing more than to have a dad who would protect and love me, and I blinked hard against my heavy lids until Kevin came into focus. He had a look in his eyes that I’d never seen, and through the haze I was swimming in, I replied, “Please be my daddy.”
He leaned over and whispered softly into my ear as sleep dragged me under, “I’ll be your daddy, and you can be my sweet baby girl. I’ll teach you everything you need to know, my saving Grace.”
I snapped out of the nightmare and gasped, trying to catch my breath. My heart raced in my chest, and I felt the tears falling down my cheeks as the memories bombarded me from every direction. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to force the pain back into the box I kept it locked in, but there was no escape from it.
Realizing sleep was over for the night, I got out of bed and made quick work of my morning routine before walking into the small kitchen. After starting the coffee maker, I opened the windows, allowing the cool morning air to filter into the warm house. Crickets and the occasional dog were the only sounds in the stillness of the early morning, the silence allowing his words to ring louder in my mind.
I stared into the darkness outside and wished I would have been stronger, but knowing deep down, I wasn’t given the chance to be strong. When the coffee was done perking, I poured myself a cup and moved to the front porch to watch the sunrise.
As much as I wanted to stop the voices repeating in my head, I couldn’t, and the shame it filled me with lashed another piece of my self-esteem. I never expected a fairytale life, but I never asked for the four years of pain and betrayal I endured. All I wanted was someone to love me. Not someone who took an innocent moment of vulnerability of a young girl and twisted it into something so sick that it haunted my dreams. I didn’t know what followed was wrong until Kelly saw something that I thought was innocent, but it was deeply wrong on many levels. I just wasn’t aware
When she made me understand what was going on and how twisted it truly was, I remember throwing up for hours as the tears fell unchecked. No matter how much I scrubbed my skin, I could feel the touch that obliterated my trust in people. Kelly made a report to my caseworker, and when they came to inspect the home, they found two other foster kids happy and thriving, and me, labeled as a troublemaker. That’s when the anger started, and through the years, it’s grown into a hardened shell around me.
No one believed me.
I took the small amount of money I’d earned from odd jobs and, with the help of Kelly, made my escape a few days later. She was the only person who knew where I was going, and she kept me informed of what was happening back home for the first few months.
I was listed as a runaway and feared the authorities would drag me back to the Ringmans, forcing me back into a silent nightmare. When Kelly told me the two younger kids with the Ringmans were returned to their parents shortly after I left, I exhaled a sigh of relief. They were the last fosters Kevin and Connie took in.
