Part Three

She had come downstairs to get a drink before bedtime, but when she saw the phone sitting there with nobody around, she thought that she might as well just pick it up and see if anybody was on it. Just to check.

Silently, she lifted the receiver. She heard Robbie's voice on the line, talking to – could it be – Mary! This ought to be good. She leaned against the counter and tried to concentrate on what they were saying, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.

Then Kevin had spoken.

"Hey Ruthie, whatcha doin'?"

He was looking at her with his heavy-lidded eyes. Bedroom eyes, Lucy called them. "What did I tell you about listening in to other people's conversations?"

Keeping her cool, Ruthie hung up the phone. "I wasn't," she explained, "I was going to make a call and I wanted to see if anybody was on the phone."

A smirk crossed Kevin's face. "Now Ruthie," he drawled, "we both know that's not true." He reached out to touch the side of her face and, to her surprise, she felt a tug on her hair.

"Ow," Ruthie pouted, "you pulled my hair."

"I'm sorry, honey," Kevin said in the same drawling tone of voice. "My hand must have caught in your hair. But it doesn't change the fact that you were eavesdropping." He moved closer, as if he was about to put an arm around her.

"I was not," Ruthie said. "I was checking the phone. I swear to God."

"Ruthie, Ruthie," Kevin said, sliding his arm around her shoulder and turning her towards him with a slight pressure from his hand. "How would your dad feel if he heard you lying in the Lord's name like that?" He cuffed her gently under the chin.

"I'm not lying," Ruthie insisted. She tried the technique that always worked on her family. "I just picked it up for a second to see if it was free and I accidentally heard Robbie talking to Mary." Now, of course, he would want to know what they had said, and he would forget all about her transgression. Just like the Camdens always did.

But Kevin didn't fall for it. "You remember what I said last time I caught you," he said calmly. "I'm not going to be able to let you off with just a warning this time." With that, he grabbed her arm and gave her a hard pinch.

"OW!" Ruthie cried out. "You're hurting me!"

Kevin grinned. "Are you telling me that hurt you?" He cuffed her under the chin again, this time hard enough for her to bite her tongue. "A big girl like you, hurt by a little pinch like that?" He pinched her again, much more painfully this time. She tried to pull away, and he held onto her arm and gave it a sharp yank and a twist.

Ruthie was stunned. No one had ever dared to treat her like this before. She was so shocked that it took her several seconds to realize what was actually happening, and by then it was too late to get away. She felt him pinching her again and again, digging his fingers into her skin, and all she could do was try to duck away from him and protect herself as much as she could. Kevin acted as though it was a game; she could hear him saying things like, "So did that hurt, huh? How about that?"

It was all over in a few seconds. She heard his breathing relax as he loomed over her. He dropped her arm, and she dove away from him and across the kitchen to the sink. He let her go, and when she turned to look at him, she realized that he was still smiling. There was an unpleasant gleam in his blue eyes.

"Let that be a lesson to you," Kevin said, still in the same casual, cheerful tone. "A lesson that it's about time you learned, little girl."

Ruthie shot upstairs without looking back. Once she was safely inside her bedroom door, she checked her arms and face carefully. She had to admit, Kevin was an expert. The pink marks from his pinches were already fading. Soon they'd be invisible. Her arm felt wrenched, but of course that had left no mark either. She stuck out her tongue, but couldn't see anything unusual on it.

She had nothing. No evidence. Her parents would never believe her. Annie would remember their conversation from earlier, and she would think that Ruthie was making up stories to get rid of Kevin. Lucy would undoubtedly take Kevin's side. The rest of the family – who knew how they'd react? They might even be happy that someone had finally given her the smackdown they'd longed to give her, especially Simon, who had been her victim a lot more than the rest of them.

So score two for Kevin. But Ruthie was not about to let him get away with it.

When she saw the bruises on Lucy the next night, Ruthie realized that she would have to think fast. If Lucy was stupid enough not to tell her parents when Kevin's violence had left obvious marks on her, then she was completely unable to resist him. She could marry him at any moment – Ruthie had learned that after the whole Matt and Sarah debacle – and then they would never get rid of him. Eric and Annie Camden had taught all their children that marriage was forever, and none of the kids believed it more fervently than Lucy.

Ruthie resolved not to sleep that night until she had a foolproof (or should she say Camden-proof, she thought wryly) plan.