Page 29 of Johny
“I’m sorry,” the tall blonde woman whispers asshe tries to rise. You can see she’s in pain, holding her ribs as she moves. Adam takes her hand, helping her stand. Somebody has worked her over good and proper. Her face is one big bruise, and her nose is definitely broken.
“He’s not dead.”
“No,” Maya whimpers, slumping against me.
I catch her as she falls and lay her down on the floor. Adam chucks me cushions that I tuck under her knees. Anger fills me at the sight of my pregnant wife lying on the floor.
“Start talking,” I snapped at the blonde.
Liam’s hand is firm on my shoulder, and Adam is glaring at me.
“Watch it, Johnny.”
“Why? It’s my pregnant wife who’s just passed out because of whatever news this woman’s brought. I want to know what the fuck is going on,” I roared.
A whimper from the deep armchair in the corner of the room has me turning, but it’s the soft “Mummy” that has me cursing myself. I’d not seen the young girls in the chair, my worry had been focused on Maya and my anger on the statuesque beaten blonde.
“It’s okay,” she whispered, holding her hand out to them.
The younger one moved fast but the older girl was holding herself much like her mother, and I felt even more of an arsehole. Then she looked at me and I could see my Emy in ten years in the same eyes, face, and hair. That’s when I realised who they were and who the‘he’was that the blonde had mentioned that had caused Maya to faint. It was the bruises that matched her mother’s that had my lips tightening.
“Ah, fuck,” I muttered, with no small amount of guilt. Maya moaned as she slowly started coming to, Liam handed me a bottle of water to give to her, it took us a little while but eventually Maya was comfortable on the couch sipping at her bottle of water, her gaze on the blonde and the two girls.
I’d wanted Maya to go to the hospital, but she was stubborn, assuring me she was fine and that she’d let me take her if she felt like she needed it. She’d call her midwife if she was still shaky in twenty minutes.
Not happy about it, but I’d let it go for now. At the first change, though, I’d be hauling her out of here and to the hospital, leaving my brothers to sort out whatever mess this was.
“Tell me,” Maya said softly.
The blonde nods, licking her cracked lips, before taking a sip from her water bottle, “My name’s Tilly Rhodes. My girls are Ally, she’s twelve and Jeanie who’s ten. My hell started when I met our ex at seventeen.”
She went on to tell us that he’d turned up at their house yesterday, demanding to know where Maya was. He hadn’t believed Tilly when she’d told him she didn’t know. He’d thought he could beat it out of her. He’d then turned on his daughter when she’d got between her mum and him to try and stop him.
“But he was declared dead,” Maya muttered, running a shaky hand through her ponytail.
“I know,” Tilly whispered. “I’m not sure where he’s been, but he’s definitely not dead.”
“Did he say what he wanted?” I gritted out.
“He wants his son. He demanded I tell him where you were hiding him. I didn’t tell him anything because at the time I knew nothing. I did know that you needed to be warned. He seems to have it stuck in his head that he needs a son to keep his name going. He’s not right in the head. He’s never been. I just wish I’d realised it sooner.
“Once he left, I had Jeanie pack us each a bag and got us to the hospital where they checked us out. Once I knew that Ally was okay, we slipped out one of the less used doors and took a taxi to the train station and caught the next train here. I did everything I could think of so that he wouldn’t be able to follow us easily.”
“How did you find Maya?” questioned Liam.
“I spoke to the NCO officer that was in charge of our case on the base,” Tilly stated baldly. “I won’t tell you her name and she didn’t give me Maya’s name and address easily, at least not until I sent her proof of me and Ally and the state he’d left us in. Only then did she give me her details, except when I got to the address they no longer lived there, and the neighbours wouldn’t tell me where she was. Then one of them made a call and the local motorcycle club arrived to find out who we were. Only after I’d explained who I was and why I wanted to see her did they bring me here, but not until they had one of their members check us over. I think her name was Rea. You’ve got lots of people that care about you,” Tilly tells Maya.
“I know,” Maya agrees, “I didn’t always have this, though.”
“No, I imagine not,” Tilly acknowledges as shestands up slowly from the couch grimacing slightly. “Anyway, I wanted you to be aware so that you can keep safe.”
“Where are you going to go?” asked Adam.
Tilly shrugs, “Not sure yet, we can’t go back home, that’s for certain. I’m going to find the closest motel and hole up there for a bit, then I’ll decide.”
“You should come back home with us,” Maya declared suddenly, not that I’m surprised. Maya has a big heart.
Tilly smiled a little, “That’s very kind, but we’ll be okay.” Turning to her girls, she took the youngest’s hand and walked towards the door with the oldest not far behind.