"Oh." She smiled at him, and when he smiled back she forgot a little bit how much she hurt all over.
"So what happened? Nobody's saying anything."
She shrugged. "Daddy called Mom and wanted to take me out today because it's my birthday. Mom and Eli didn't want him to but they let me go anyway because I haven't seen him so much lately."
For the last year, Colin had been serving his second prison sentence, this one for tax fraud, and he'd only gotten out a few weeks ago. Her mom, Lisa, had gotten a divorce after the first time he'd been locked up for something called insider trading, and then she'd married Eli right after Jane's seventh birthday.
"So what happened when you were out with him?" Dallas pressed.
She bit her lower lip, then pulled her knees out from under the covers so that she could hug them to her, along with Mr. Fluffles. "He took me to dinner and that was nice, and then he said he had to see a friend on the way home."
"Were you in the city?"
She nodded. "For dinner. But then we went over into New Jersey. He said he needed to pick up a package and move it somewhere else. So we ended up in this warehouse by the river filled with boxes and crates and stuff."
"Cool."
Maybe on another day she'd think so, but not today. She shook her head. "We got the package, but as we were leaving these guys in suits came in. Daddy started to pull me back, but one of the guys grabbed me by the arm and yanked me toward him, and--and he had a gun."
Dallas's eyes went wide, and he reached for her hand. "Who was he?"
She clutched his hand as she told the rest, not really wanting to talk about it, but wanting him to know. "I don't know. But the guy standing next to him said my daddy owed him money, and if he didn't pay up, he'd be sorry."
"What happened?"
"I don't know. Not really. But Daddy walked with that man to a corner and I could hear them shouting. And then they came back and the guy told the one with the gun to let me go. And he shoved me toward Daddy, but I fell and I heard a crack and it hurt so bad. I think I fainted because then we were in the car and we were almost to the hospital."
"Whoa."
She nodded. Now that it was over, she had to admit it was a pretty good story. She couldn't wait to tell Liam. He'd be impressed, too.
"So what did Mom say to him at the hospital?"
"To him? Nothing. He left while they were putting my arm in the cast. And he didn't even give me my birthday present."
"Oh!" Dallas dug into the pocket of his robe. "I got you one."
She took the little box he passed her and ripped off the paper, then opened it to reveal a shiny golden locket. She looked up at him, delighted. "It's so pretty. And it's a heart."
He lifted a shoulder. "Yeah, well. That's all they had." He didn't quite look at her face. "So open it."
She did, and found two tiny pictures inside. One of her, and one of him. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she gazed at the little images. "It's the best present ever."
"Really?"
She looked at him, and felt weirdly shy when she smiled. "I promise."
"So what happened next? What did Mom do?"
"Well, she couldn't yell at Daddy, but she sure yelled at Eli. Big-time."
"At him? Why?"
"Well, to him, I guess. Said it was the last straw and she wanted Eli to file the papers. She didn't care if it cost them everything, it needed to be done."
"What?"
"That's what I asked. And she said that she was going to have a court terminate Daddy's parental rights. She's gonna sue so that he's not my dad anymore."