Page 123 of Give My Everything
“Well, that’s not true. He does want sex from me, but he also wants more than that. We belong together.”
“Remington, you aresonaïve. Men only want one thing from you and it rests between your thighs. Why on earth would a man ever buy the cow if he can—”
“I am not a fucking cow!” she screams.
I take that as my cue to go downstairs. There is no way I’m letting her get any more riled up, whether it’s her mother or not.
When I take my first steps down, I see that Remmy has her back to me and Mariana is standing just inside the door, eyes wide at Remmy’s outburst, her hand against her chest.
“My worth to a man has nothing to do with what’s between my legs,” she continues. “And maybesomemen only want one thing from a woman, but Ben is notsome guy. He’s the man I’m going to marry.”
Mariana’s eyes meet mine as I drop down to the bottom of the stairs and come to a stop just behind Remmy. Quietly, I press up against her just slightly so she can feel my strength, feel that I’m here with her. I slip my hand into hers as I take a look at her face, a pang of sadness weaving through me at the tears building up in her eyes.
“Clearly, you’ve been away from us for too long,” Mariana says, looking ruffled but trying to contain it. “You’ve let men like Ben corrupt you, take things from you that you can’t get back. Come home so we can—”
“Corrupt me?” Remmy asks, though I know she heard her mother just fine. “Let’s talk for a second about things being taken from me that I’ll never get back, shall we?”
Remmy steps forward, not getting much closer to her mother but putting some space between us. I take the cue, stepping back. She’s strong enough to handle this on her own.
“Let’s talk about the time you took me to visit our grandfather, and Victorraped mewhen I was fifteen years old.”
Mariana’s face pales.
“Let’s talk about the dozens and dozens of men I’ve slept with to try to get rid of that feeling I still don’t know how to manage, the feeling of someone else stealing control of my body. Or how about the fact that when we went back to visit your father, Victor raped meagain.”
My body feels like a live wire as I watch her go to bat for herself, as she stands in her own skin and demands to be listened to and taken seriously.
“Ben is the best of the men I’ve ever been with or seen, because he is willing to take the broken and battered and beaten-up parts of me and help me hold them together so I don’t shatterevery fucking day.”
“Remington that is…quite the…accusation against Victor. He is the son of one of your grandfather’s closest friends, and you should be careful that—”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” I say, my voice deep, my tone hard. “You haveone jobwhen your daughter summons up the courage to tell you she was raped.One, and that’s to believe her. Period.”
Stepping forward, I put my body between Remmy and her mother.
“Clearly, Remmy has no interest in going anywhere with you today, so I am going to kindly show you to the door. She will reach out to you when she’s ready to talk.”
Her face is still pale and she looks rattled down to her very bones, but Mariana takes my direction when I open the front door and stand next to it, waiting for her to leave.
She walks through and then turns around to look at Remmy, who is standing tall and brave and fierce even through the tears that track down her cheeks.
And then she turns and heads out to the black car that’s waiting for her in the driveway.
I slam the door and dart for Remmy, who is already dropping down to her knees, her body racked with sobs, her emotions too much to handle.
“I’m so proud of you,” I whisper. “So proud.”
“She didn’t believe me,” she cries, her body shaking. “She didn’t…she…”
“I know, honey. I know. I’m sorry.”
I hold her in my arms, cradling her to my chest, wishing I could do anything to make her not feel so hurt.
It feels like my lot in life right now is to watch the women I love go through things I can’t help them with.
All I can do is hold her and be here for her.
So that’s exactly what I do.
