Rags 2 Pitches: A Secret Baby Sports Romance (24 page)

Kayla

Two Years Later…

It was like a dream come true. All those nightmares and fears could be put under lock and key.

But there was just one problem: It didn’t get rid of the memories. Nothing in the world could get rid of those, especially after the trial began. I hated sleeping in a hotel with Mom so close. Chase said I should make more of an effort, but it was so damn hard.

There was a knock on the door.

“Sadie, are you awake?”

I hated the fact that she still insisted on calling me by my real name. It was a past that I wanted buried, but she kept using that name.

“I wish you would stop calling me by my real name!” I blurted out. I didn’t like the fact that I was in the same hotel as Mom.

How do you trust someone who has lied to you for the last five years of your life?

“Sorry,” she whispered as she entered the room. I’d spent the last two years in and out of Ohio, just so that Dad could go away for a long time.

“It’s what
we
named you.
”

Was she delusional? To me that was even more reason not to want to hear that name.

I put on the light. I couldn’t sleep, and a part of me felt the need to talk to someone. Anyone but Chase. Mom felt like the right person to talk to. She had seen what Dad had done to me, and what a monster he was deep down. Maybe the one person I couldn’t trust and didn’t want to be around was the best person to talk to right now.

I sat up, “Mom, I don’t know how I feel about you right now. But, you’re the only one who knows what really went on in that house.”

She smiled as if I had said the one thing that would give her comfort. To make her feel that I was opening up to her.

I wasn’t.

I was just being selfish.

Taking something I needed, to make myself feel better for once.

She shut the door and hurriedly sat next to me on the edge of the bed.

“You know what Dad was really like. I talk sometimes to Chase about it.”

I paused as I wiped a tear that had escaped from my eye. Sometimes, I could see the anger in Chase’s face as I told him the truth about my dad. That made me stop. Prevented me from opening up and telling him everything. It was buried inside of me and right now, and it felt the need to come out.

“But he can never understand.”

She nodded, “I feel the same about Stephen. Most of the time I stop myself, because I feel ashamed.”

She could relate, and she edged closer towards me.

“That is the problem. I would tell Chase a particular story, or about a time with Dad. And he would just get angry. Then I would feel guilty, and that would stop me talking. I end up feeling worse then I did before.”

“I know how you feel Kayla. I know.” She took deep breaths as she added, “No matter what happens, I’m your mother and I only did what I feel was right for you. I know I made a mistake. You’re a mother now. You will know it is not easy.”

I laughed, “You don’t have to tell me twice. I know. It’s tough. Damn hard.”

We talked as we needed to do. Not because we had to, but because, for the first time since this whole thing came out, Mom felt like my mom once again. The person who I felt could and would protect me forever. She did love me. She had made some bad decisions but I could relate to making bad decisions.

I had made some pretty crap ones up ‘til now.

***

I felt at times like I was the one on trial, especially when I was interviewed by the prosecutors, who were supposed to be on my side. I was the one in the wrong. I was grilled about my disappearance. I was even accused of helping Dad at one point. They thought that my disappearance meant that I was helping him under cover.

Why the fuck would I want to do that?

It didn’t make sense to me. But, it was slowly but surely coming to light that Dad wasn’t alone. Not only did he have assistance from the force, but people from the prosecutor’s office were involved too. Everyone was so damn nervous, wondering who they could trust.

Today, I was going on the stand. I was going to tell my whole nightmare of a life to complete strangers. Sure, I had been prepped for it. Chase had made a point of saying that I needed counseling sessions to deal not only with the trial, but with all the other crap that I had been through.

I could write a fucking book!

I did think about it at first. But the whole idea of reliving my nightmare didn’t give me the comfort that I needed. The comfort that I had to have in order to get closure and to sleep at night.

“Sadie, are you ready?” James, my lawyer, asked as I sat on a chair, holding Chase’s hand as if I could take it with me on the stand.

I looked at Chase as he nodded. “Yes, she’s ready.”

I wasn’t.

I fucking wasn’t.

I just wanted to go home. Run twenty marathons. Anything. Everything but do this.

I didn’t want to face him again.

That was the painful part. It wasn’t telling strangers what I had been through in my life, it was him sitting there. That was the part that I was running away from. The one part that I wanted to avoid.

Tears were streaming out of my eyes. “Chase?”

I didn’t know what I expected him to do. I mean, it all made perfect sense. I would testify. We would get on with our lives. Dad would be sent away for a very long time with anyone that he was involved with and we’d be happy ever after.

Setting up hotlines for children that had been through the same thing I had and working towards getting more sponsorship for women who had been beaten by their partners. gave me the inspiration to continue with this fight.

I was reminded of that as Chase said, “This is not only about us. It is about them too.”

He quickly showed me the messages on our Facebook page. Women talking about me being so brave. Women who were inspired by my story to do better for themselves and their children.

Children who had left home for the same reasons. They had been abused by both parents and they’d learned to fight.

I pressed my lips against his, and he squeezed me tight. I whispered to James, “He’s right. I’m ready.”

Because I was.

I had to be.

Whether I liked it or not.

Chase

I watched as she stood like a little child in the box. She was nervous, avoiding everyone and anyone that spoke. I wanted to go up in the box with her and tell her that it was okay. But as the defense lawyer started to act as if Kayla was the bad guy in all of this, I had to leave.

I couldn’t sit and watch her be tormented. It just wasn’t right or fair. Part of me felt that, as a lawyer, that was what we had to do. Prove our client was innocent, try and get them acquitted and, if we couldn’t do that, then at least get a reduced sentence.

But, seeing the one woman that I ever truly loved, the mother of my daughter, quiver like a leaf and burst into tears when she was made to identify her dad… I couldn’t watch. I would do something stupid, which wouldn’t benefit us.

All I could do was wait for it to be over, and be strong for her. Because, right now I felt weak. Seeing her feel even worse, just made me feel broken.

***

The verdict was out. Kayla’s dad, Paul, was going to prison for a very long time. So were all his friends that he had kept out of jail by working with prosecutors. The case had leaked so many damn names. The list of people going to jail as a result of it was as long as your arm.

No one, even I, believed that the law was exhaustive.

But this case had opened a can of worms, and I started to wonder if the one thing I had dreamed about – a career in law - was really the best move for my life.

“We really did it?” Kayla asked as we sat in the living room watching TV. I wasn’t really watching it. I was too busy thinking about yesterday. The verdict came out. The list of new arrests came out at the same time, and then to add to the madness, we flew back to Dallas. It had all happened so quickly.

I’d thought that Kayla would want to hang around and see her grandparents. Then again, after the way Paul’s parents had been behaving, I didn’t blame her for not sticking around.

Instead of them admitting that they had done a crap job of raising their son, they had been hurling abuse at both Mary and Kayla, stating what they had done was wrong and that they would pay for it in hell.

“Yes, you really did it.”

I wasn’t going to take credit for something that she had achieved by herself. I had one more year of law school and, the one profession that I had wanted to be in since I had learned to speak, had become something completely different. Something I was beginning to reconsider.

I hesitated to share it with Kayla, because she had enough on her mind.

“So, why do you feel so sad?”

It seemed like I didn’t need to.

“Law. The whole damn profession is just a fucking show,” I whispered, hoping that Sydney wouldn’t hear. I could imagine her going to school tomorrow and just telling the teachers that. I didn’t need to give them another reason to hate us. The high profile case might have done that already. Sometimes I wondered who the enemy was; us or Paul? People seemed to have mixed reactions about Kayla.

Some felt that she had exaggerated the abuse by her dad. Teachers from her old school went to trial and said that yes, Kayla used to come in with black eyes. But then she was just clumsy.

James Smith, our lawyer, said that in these types of cases it was normal. Teachers, and any profession, don’t like to admit that it was obvious there had been abuse because they hadn’t reported it at the time. They needed to save face by coming up with other excuses for their negligence. Either way, I hated the idea that they could get away with it. I explained it all to her, the fact that everyone might as well have given her a slap, too, from doctors and teachers to the police who covered up Paul’s mess.

“You’re looking at my case and seeing only the negative parts. What about the families we have helped? The children? Some lawyers did that too.” She nodded as she kissed me.

Kayla was right. I was looking at only the negative parts of the case.

“But it has gone on for so long!”

How many years did it take for justice to be served?

Nearly a decade.

In that time, Kayla had been on the run, and we’d had a daughter. I had missed out on crucial parts of her life. There was no escaping the fact that the law had clearly not worked in this case. Not for a long time.

“Why are you timing it? Imagine if my dad had got sent away straight away for hitting and abusing us. Then, the other lawyers and police involved may not have been caught too!”

There had been positives too, and it was about consciousness. Knowing the difference between right and wrong. Those people knew it was wrong, and they were in their professions for the wrong reasons. I had to look at it that way and ensure one thing: that I was in it for the right reason.

“You’re right.” I nodded as she put her head back on my shoulder.

“Mommy’s always right,” Sydney said as she sat on my lap. I wondered what part of our conversation she had heard and then, as I stroked her hair, I realized that there was one thing I needed to do to make this all complete.

One part of the equation was missing.

Marriage.

The ring was in my pocket, I had bought it the day that I had watched her on trial. I felt guilty for leaving her, a coward for going when she was the one that was reliving the pain that she had been through as a child. I couldn’t face it.

This just felt like the right time.

I thought about flying her to the Bahamas, being on a boat and then getting down on one knee and asking her to be my wife.

Then, I debated going to Venice, the most romantic setting in Europe to do it.

There are so many ways to do it.

But, right now, being here with both my daughter and future wife in my presence, I realized that Kayla doesn't need all that or want all those things. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw her smile and laugh like she does when she’s with Sydney and I. She’s happy being a family.

No longer scared.

No longer on the run.

All her questions had been answered, and they gave her the comfort that I needed. I knew that if I asked her to be my wife she would say yes. I was confident about that part, but as I got down on one knee, and reached for the remote, I decided that I would keep it simple.

We were all at home, there was no violinist playing in the background.

I would make up for the simplicity of the proposal by giving her the most extravagant wedding in the world. Right now, this ring had been in my pocket for the best part of over a year. It needed to come out and be placed on that finger.

I held out her hand but, before I could even open my mouth, Sydney cried, “Daddy, why did you turn it off?”

I ignored her as I opened the box and said, “Kayla would you do me the honor of being my wife?”

She cried as she lifted her hand up, first looking at the ring, and then me. Then at Sydney. She began opening and closing her mouth, but the only things that came out were little screams.

She dropped on her knees too and took my hand.

“What you doing?” I asked, completely confused.

“Give me your hand.”

Sydney started laughing, “Mommy and Daddy are so silly. Give her your hand, Daddy.”

I gave it to her and, just as I had done, Kayla took a ring from a box and put it on my finger. “Chase Logan, would you do me the honor of being my husband?”

She’d proposed to me. I couldn’t believe it.

“Why did you have to ask me first?” She sighed as she gave me a hug. “I’ve had the ring on me for so long…” Kayla trailed off.

We both looked at each other as I pushed her back, “But, I just didn’t know how to do it.” I continued. We were both thinking the same thing. Hugging and kissing each other.

Then there was a scream from the sofa. Sydney was jumping up and down crying, “Can we please put the telly back on now!”

Kayla said, “We’re getting married!”

Sydney replied, “I know, but not now. My show will finish soon and then I can cry and laugh with you. Please, Mommy.”

She reminded me of myself as a child, and Kayla put on the TV so that she could watch Animal Planet. It was her favorite show and, as much as she bored me with her talks about the different animals, it did fascinate me that a four year old was interested in the world and all its natural resources.

I loved my family.

I loved Kayla.

Most of all, I loved what we would become - a stronger unit as time went by.