Fate's Redemption Read Free

Sit down.”
    “My bladder . . . the baby. I can’t
wait.”
    “Fine, but hurry up.”
    I stare hard at my husband, watching out of
the corner of my eye as the girl waddles to the back of the
restaurant. His jaw slows as he chews and swallows. Finally I see
those hazel eyes meet mine. “Go,” he says quietly.
    I force myself to wipe my mouth with a napkin
and kiss Ollie’s head. “I need to use the restroom. Be right back,
baby,” I say as lightly as I can.
    I don’t look at the older man sitting a few
tables away when I pass. I lock eyes with the exit sign just past
the bathrooms and don’t move my gaze until I’m in the hallway.
    When I open the door, the girl is
hyperventilating and holding her stomach. I rush to her. “Are you
okay?”
    “Oh my God. I don’t know what I’m doing?” she
wails.
    “Shh,” I hush her quietly, checking stalls
and then the door. “Is it the baby? How far along are you?”
    The girl shakes her head. “No, not the baby.”
She starts sobbing quietly, and I pull her to me. My heart is
beating out of my chest.
    “Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll help you. I
swear.”
    “I don’t want this baby.” She says it against
my chest, and I barely make out the words. I don’t think she wanted
me to hear them. I don’t think she wanted to hear them. Despite
everything, I did and my wheels start turning.
    “Is that man your dad?” Her skin is too dark
to be biracial, but I have to ask the question.
    “No. Step.” He’s her step dad. I swallow and
squeeze her tighter before I ask my next question.
    “Is he the father of your baby?”
    Her frame freezes up and she tries to pull
away from me. I shush her, not letting her free, until she cries
harder and finally nods her head. I nod, seeing us in the mirror
for the first time. Her shoulder heave as she lets go of her
admission and my arms flex, holding her as tight as I can.
    “It’s okay. It’s okay.” I rub her back, her
protruding stomach pushing into mine. I feel, miraculously, the
movement of her unborn child. It causes me to pull away, to bring
one of my hands to her face, the other to her stomach. “Listen to
me right now,” I command in a voice that might have been too
strong.
    Her eyes meet mine, wet and red.
    “How old are you?”
    “Seventeen.”
    “When’s your birthday?” I shoot back quickly
while I have her talking.
    “Three weeks.”
    “What’s your name?”
    “Dominique.”
    “Okay Dominique. Tell me what you want. Right
now. What do you want more than anything?”
    Dominique glances around the small room
before taking a breath and telling me honestly, “I just want
gone.”
    “Do you want to go to college?”
    She nods.
    “Will your family let you do that?”
    The young girl shakes her head. “I have to
raise the baby.”
    My hands come to either side of her face.
“Listen to me now. If you want to go to college, if you stepdad is
hurting you, if you aren’t consensual, I will help you. You call
1-800-Call-Hope. Tell them your name, and a safe place to meet you.
I’ll be there. I can get you out of this.”

Chapter 3
    When I’m stressed you can usually find me in
a field full of cows. It sounds weird, but the horse that I’m on is
trained in her craft. She selects her prey, and systematically
singles him from the herd. My job is to pretty much hang on and egg
her on. It’s a thrill, and you can feel the horses’ excitement when
they love their job. To come from a five year marriage that was the
ultimate definition of abusive, and stand up to those kinds of
predators everyday and save versions of myself I need the kind of
focus that Barley shows when she’s cutting calves.
    Dominique has shaken me in a way that I
didn’t think was possible after three years. I’ve seen the evidence
too many times to count, and to think that it’s happening under a
mother’s nose, or that she could even be aware makes me want to
find that child and protect her and her baby. It’s been four days
and