Fallen

Kandace wavered in and out of consciousness as the service droned on, but she didn’t let the pain make her cry out again, and not a tear slipped from her eye. Instead, she repeated the line Scarlett had whispered so lovingly to her all those years ago, drawing strength not only from the memory, but from the fact that her friend had said them with such conviction. She had believed in Kandace, and she had hoped Kandace would believe in herself too. She hadn’t then.

I will now, she promised her friend. I’ll try.

When at long last, the service was over, Kandace was untied and lowered gently, almost reverently. She bore her own weight, testing her tailbone that still ached terribly, but was not nearly the worst of her pain. Kandace let out a slow exhale as a light cloth was wrapped around her body.

They helped her shuffle back up to her room and then one of the other instructors came in, not meeting her eyes as she slathered burn cream over her skin. She lay down on her bed with a groaning sob and was tucked in under the sheets.

A few minutes after the door had shut behind them, her roommates came into the room, kneeling down next to her, their eyes red and puffy, their expressions full of anguish. Sydney reached out tentatively to touch her, perhaps to smooth the strands of hair back that had fallen over Kandace’s brow, but pulled away, her hand trembling. “My God,” she whispered. “What did they do to you?”

“I’ll be okay,” Kandace said, voice gritty with pain. She hadn’t looked in a mirror. She didn’t know what she looked like, but she had to figure her skin would scab over and heal, that they hadn’t gone deep enough to scar. She was going to feel like she had the worst sunburn of her existence for a while. She was going to be unable to sleep for at least a week as her raw skin stuck to her sheets. Her bruised tailbone was going to cause her to cry out each time she sat up. But she was going to be okay.

A tear rolled down Aurora’s cheek. “Hey,” Kandace said, “think of it as a free chemical peel. They basically gave me a cosmetic procedure that some women pay thousands for. When I leave this place, my complexion is going to be as soft as a baby’s ass.”

Both girls’ eyes darted to the door and then back to her. “Butt,” Kandace whispered. “Baby’s butt.” The girls both managed tremulous smiles.

Kandace adjusted herself on the bed, grimacing as a wave of nausea passed through her. “Oh God, I’m going to throw up,” she moaned.

Sydney jumped up and was back a few seconds later with the bathroom trash can. She slid it next to the bed in the nick of time as Kandace leaned over and vomited, the movement and the acid in her throat making her moan in pain once the worst of the stomach cramps had passed and she once again, came to rest on her pillow.

Aurora got her a glass of water and helped her drink and then, exhausted beyond anything she’d ever imagined, Kandace closed her eyes and miraculously managed to fall asleep.CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO“All buckled?” Scarlett asked, looking at Haddie in the rearview mirror. Haddie met her eyes, nodded.

Concern washed over Scarlett for the tenth time that morning. It appeared Haddie hadn’t slept at all the night before, lavender smudges marring the porcelain skin beneath her eyes, making the green of her orbs that much more startling.

As they began driving toward town to pick up Millie, Scarlett turned on the radio, adjusting the volume down low. Her gaze flickered to Haddie again, staring out the window at the forest rushing by. “You sure you feel better?” she asked. She’d questioned Haddie extensively the night before about wetting herself. Her daughter hadn’t peed her pants since she was twenty months old. She’d potty-trained early, and once she’d started wearing “big girl undies,” she hadn’t had one accident. That she’d wet herself the evening before was extremely concerning to Scarlett.

Of course, Haddie had brushed it off, saying she didn’t feel well and it was just an accident. She’d looked confused, torn though, and Scarlett got that feeling again that she was keeping something from her. Scarlett felt teary, frustrated. Alone. She’d slept like crap the night before too.

Of course, it didn’t help that even after she’d decided to schedule a check-up for Haddie, to rule anything physical out, then managed to convince herself that Haddie was a kid and kids sometimes had accidents, Camden West kept popping into her mind.

Was Haddie’s loss of bladder control related to him? No, surely not. Haddie was always very clear if she didn’t like a person. To Scarlett’s knowledge, her daughter had never pretended to like someone she didn’t.