Pretend

Chapter 23 - Blast from the past

Chapter 23 - Blast from the past

"Caitlyn?" Both Aiden and I, sang in unison.

"How did you get in?" Aiden asked as he stood up and stared her in the eyes.

"The door was open," she said through her tears.

"Have you been crying sweetheart?" I asked as I took a step towards her and let her fall into my arms.

"It's ok, come and sit down," I said in a worried voice.

"Did he put his hands on you?" Aiden asked in an angry voice.

"I'm going to kill him!" He said as he began pacing up and down.

"Calm down, just give me a minute," I said in a gentle tone.

I watched as Aiden stormed out of the door, leaving me to cuddle Caitlyn to my chest.

When I knew that she had settled I lifted her chin gently so that I could look directly into her eyes.

"So how did you get here angel?" I asked in a gentle tone.

"I walked," she whispered.

"Oh gosh, Caitlyn that was dangerous sweetie, please don't ever do that again. So what happened?" I asked as I looked down at her innocent twelve year old face.

"Dad hit her again," she said in a calm voice.

"Who? Kate, I mean your mom?"

She nodded her head to say yes.

I let out a gentle sigh before opening my mouth again. 

"Where is your mom now?" I asked in a worried tone.

"At home I think, I just ran out of the house and came here. I did knock but no one came and the door was open," she said in a guilty voice.

"It's ok angel, it's ok. Let's get you some hot cocoa, yeah?" I said as I led the way to the kitchen.

She nodded her head as a big smile crept onto her face at the mention of cocoa.

"Come on then," I said as I slipped her hand into mine and took her into the kitchen.

I knew that I needed to calm Aiden down but right now my attention was focused more on Caitlyn and making sure that she was ok. I felt bad knowing that Caitlyn being upset would bring back memories of when Aiden's dad used to hit his mom. It was a memory that we all struggled to get rid of. I used to love coming to the Daniels' as a child but not when their dad was around, he scared the life out of me. We never told anyone about the violence of course, not at first, we wouldn't dare. He never hit Crystal or Aiden but when he drank and became violent it was impossible to know how far he would go each time. I guess that the last straw was when Kate turned up with a six year old Caitlyn asking if Susan was the other woman. It turned out that neither of them knew about the other one. Susan finally had the strength to kick him out that day but Kate always feared him so she forgave him and took him back. A decision that I'm sure, she has lived to regret.

It was strange but Caitlyn spent a lot of time at the Daniels' when they first found out about her existence, I guess it makes sense now, she was being protected from the violence. I guess that Susan understood what Kate was going through and in some strange way, tried to help. I guess that's why Aiden and Crystal spent a lot of time at my Grandparents house when they were little too.  Aiden and Crystal don't see much of their sister, Caitlyn anymore but when they did, it was always a situation like this.

"Hello, anybody in?" Crystal said, interrupting my thoughts.

"In here," I said as I gave Caitlyn her hot cocoa.