She shrugged and smoothed the doll’s hair back. “It’s the only thing I know. Except when I was able to go to the camp.”
“Is that where you met Riley?”
“Yes. She taught me how to ride horses, among other things. She’s amazing with them.”
“How did you get away from Hector to go?”
“The first time I went, it was before I turned eleven. He realized how isolated the camp was and saw how happy it made me. It was only when I was older that he forbade me to go. It was okay for me to go if I was a child but not a young woman.”
“Did he ever touch you?”
“He didn’t molest me, but he’d sit me on his lap, play with my hair, and hold my hand. It wasn’t overly sexual, but it still made me feel uncomfortable.” She sighed. “I got to go to camp a few times after the age of eleven when Hector was in jail. He thought it best that I stay away until he came back. I didn’t care what the reason was. I just wanted to go.”
“How about your mom?”
Sienna could feel herself blush. She hated talking about her mom. “She loved me. I know that. She just didn’t have the strength to live in the real world, so she had to take drugs.”
“Jesus, that must have been hard.”
“I liked it when she was happy, so if that’s what did it for her, I couldn’t blame her. What about your family?”
“Very boring. I was an only child, and we were a middle-class family. I grew up in the suburbs my whole life. They’re gone now.”
She reached out and took his hand. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s life.”
She thought about it for a moment. “It seems we have that in common.”
“What?” he asked.
“We’re both orphans now.”
He cupped her chin. “But we’re making our own family here, right?”
She felt like her heart would burst from her chest. “Um … yes.”
Only if that were true, she thought.
“Tomorrow, you and I are getting on the internet and buying you more clothes.”
“I like Riley’s clothes that she brought to me the other day. I don’t need more.”
“I do, too, baby. She is very generous. But I want you to have your own.”
She just realized how easy it would be to fall in love with this man. Hell, she might already be and not know.