“Long day,” Valentina said and then looked at Kenny as he climbed the jungle gym.
“Are you okay? You seem upset,” Lois asked her.
“I think I’m going to go for a run. I need to clear my head.”
“Work was that bad?”
“I’ll be fine,” Valentina said and headed toward the house.
Lois worried about her and wondered what had happened at work to make her feel this way.
“Hey, buddy, you want to help me with dinner?” Lois asked Kenny, and he came running to her.
“Yes. I’m getting hungry.”
Lois smiled and then headed inside with Kenny.
* * * *
Valentina showered after her run and then helped her sister clean up the kitchen from dinner. She felt restless and saw that it was only seven in the evening.
“I’m going to go out for a bit. Maybe walk down the road or something, or by the swimming hole.”
“You should take a flashlight and maybe your gun. God knows what’s lurking down here,” Lois said, truly worried about little critters and even spiders. She’d nearly screamed the house down last week when she saw one big spider in the shower.
Valentina chuckled as she smoothed out the light floral romper she was wearing. It was a one-piece with shorts and a halter top that just barely covered the scar on her chest. She grabbed a light sweater just in case and headed out the back porch door.
She didn’t know what to do. When she’d returned to work and told Gus about what went down at the shelter and how uncooperative Roxie was being, he wasn’t pleased. He understood Valentina’s concern over the kids and informed her that social services had already been involved and that the social workers felt that the kids weren’t safe with Roxie. They were considering taking them from her if she abused one of them again. They were keeping a close eye on her and the kids.
Valentina felt so sick to her stomach. She’d hardly eaten dinner. She kept looking at Kenny and Lois. Her sister got out of her abusive relationship with Caden, but he still went after her and Kenny. She shivered from her own thoughts and memories. She pulled on the sweater and headed straight toward the water and the picnic table that sat down there, along with benches and a grill. The grill was set up for a barbecue and cemented into the ground. She could jus
t imagine cooking on the grill while the Brazos family was swimming and having fun with the rest of their family.
She thought about her life and about being a cop. She was young still, twenty-four, and in five years of being a cop, she’d seen more than her share of bad shit. It had hardened her in so many ways. She thought about Roxie and about the abuse, and her love for Samuel. Yet she said she didn’t love her kids. She saw them as a burden, and yet knew that Samuel only came back to see them, not her. Why was she staying loyal to him? Was there a way for a therapist to get through to her? Was she so far gone, so abused and abusive, that it didn’t matter? She didn’t care about herself or her life, so why would she care about her kids?
The tears filled her eyes and she leaned back and stared out at the water and the quietness. The fear in those babies’ eyes sat with her even now.
Samuel had broken Tye’s arm and bruised up Lena, and God only knew how he could hurt Grace. They were such beautiful kids. She wished she could do more, but she couldn’t. She learned early in her police career that she couldn’t take other people’s problems home with her. As much as she wanted to help or felt for them, it wasn’t her job. Her job was to catch bad guys, to put killers behind bars, and to seek justice for victims’ families by finding those responsible for violent crimes against them and their loved ones.
Somehow along the way, after nearly losing Kenny and Lois and coming so close to dying, her views about not getting involved and keeping a separation were changing. Maybe she couldn’t be a cop anymore. She didn’t even know if she could shoot someone if she had to. Sure, she passed all the tests she was required to take after being shot in order to get back to active duty, but then seeing Kenny and Lois so scared and suffering made her change her mind. She had to change her life to help them. That was what family did.
But who would help Tye, Lena, and Grace? Who would give them the chance for a better life and to grow up un-abused, un-victimized, and happy and healthy and loved? Who? Roxie and Samuel sure weren’t going to. Those babies were going to wind up in the system, and it just broke her heart.
“Valentina?”
She gasped as she heard her name, turning around on the bench to see Beck, Ridge, Jace, and Sparrow.
“Hey, what’s going on?” she asked and then faced the water again as she leaned back against the picnic table. They all gathered around her. Jace and Beck sat on the top of the table with their boots on the bench seat, Ridge sat right next to her, and Sparrow sat on her other side.
“We saw you come down here a while ago. Everything okay?” Sparrow asked her.
She felt Beck’s and Sparrow’s shoulders brush up against her and sensed the others so close. It gave her a good feeling—a happy one—and she smiled softly.
“I needed this. Thanks.”
“For what? We just got here,” Beck asked.
“For coming down here. For sitting close to me and surrounding me. It feels good. Right?” she said to them.