Oh my what do we have here? Another - very - quick update! I couldn't help myself, I had to get writing this as soon as I finished updating the third chapter. I didn't think I'd get it done today, but I'm glad that I did! And I really hope those who are reading this are also enjoying it. Please feel free to review - I love reviews and appreciate every one of them that I receive. I get excited over even just one review! They make me happy and motivate me to keep writing :) Thanks, and enjoy! (And also thanks to those who favorite/follow this story, that makes me happy as well!)
Chapter Four
The minute Nicky hangs up the phone both she and Red are in the car, on their way to the diner. She's relieved to know that Lorna has been found and is being looked after by a kind woman. But, on the other hand, she's guilty that she even let her leave with a strange man in the first place – even if he did claim to be her cousin. She couldn't even begin to imagine what the tiny woman must have been put through, the thought alone brought a cold shiver to her body. Glancing over at Red, who's busy driving, she can't help but feel thankful – she couldn't ask for a better mother figure in her life and knows that the Russian woman will do whatever she can to help Lorna.
"Your intuition turned out to be right, Nicky," Red speaks up, looking over at the younger woman as she stops at the red-light. She nonchalantly shakes her head; her daughter seems to always know when something isn't right, even when no one else sees it. "That poor, poor young woman." Her heart aches for Lorna; the pain and suffering she must be going through, and she doesn't even have her family to help her through it. Why do horrific things happen to good people? Something the Russian mother often questions. Her eyes linger on her daughter, and she feels a small smile spread across her face. "I'm proud of you, Nicky; I mean it. After all the trouble, you've gotten yourself into these last few years, you're turning out to be a good, and compassionate, young woman. Marka oughta be disgusted with herself for giving up on you. She'll never get to see how strong and amazing her beautiful little girl turned out to be. But that's her own fault; she doesn't deserve you anyway."
When the two finally enter the diner, after only a ten or so minute drive, their eyes quickly wander around the room in search for Lorna's familiar figure. It doesn't take long for them to notice her, and when they do, their hearts shatter at how sickly she looks. Slowly, Nicky and Red walk over to where she's at, watching as she mindlessly sticks forkfuls of food in her mouth while she stares blankly ahead. She barely even turns her attention when the two of them sit across from her, looking at her with the utmost concern.
Gloria, the woman who found Lorna outside her diner, comes over with another glass of water and places it in front of the brunette. She sighs, and then notices the two others sitting across from her. "She's been pretty quiet and reserved since we got off the phone," she states, looking over at Red and Nicky.
Oblivious to what's going on around her, Lorna reaches for the glass in front of her and drinks the entirety of it in less than a minute. After, she goes back to aimlessly putting large forkfuls of pasta into her mouth. Her mind isn't quite there; she realizes she has no one and therefore decides to leave as soon as she finishes her meal. These women who have come to take her home with them – she knows she can't accept their kindness; they barely even know her, they shouldn't be burdened with someone like herself.
Nicky watches her closely, her big brown eyes full of worry and concern. She notices how frail and tiny Lorna's frame has gotten since the last time she's seen her – which was well over a month ago. Thankfully, she realizes there are no bruise marks on her so that must mean she wasn't raped or anything horrific like that. But it still fills her with guilt to know that Lorna's been neglected for so long. "Lorna, do you remember who I am? Or who she is?" She gently asks, pointing in Red's direction.
Coming out of her trance, Lorna lifts her head to stare at who spoke to her. Her eyes search the redhead's body – trying to make some sort of connection, but no matter how hard she tries, she can't remember a thing. She looks to the woman beside her; again, nothing comes to her. "S-sorry," she faintly says, looking down in shame of herself. "I really, I really can't remember who you are – either of you. I'm sorry!" Frustration and tears overtake her as she realizes that no matter how hard she pushes herself, she may never remember anything.
"There's no reason to be sorry about it; you can't help that you've lost your memory," Red gently reaches across the table to place a comforting hand on top of Lorna's. She gives her a sympathetic look; it saddens her to see another suffer so much, especially a young woman such as the one sitting opposite she and her daughter. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. Nicky and I aren't bothered by that, we're just glad you're okay!" Though, just by a quick look over, Red knows that the petite brunette is not exactly okay. Her body is smaller, frailer, and she's much more standoffish than she was after they took her home from the house fire.
Not knowing what else to say, Lorna keeps her eyes on her plate – finally finishing off the last of it. She reaches for the napkin to wipe her face with and then just sits there. She has no clue what to do next; it's not as if she has any place to go, she doesn't have a family, and the house – she supposedly lived in – was burned to the ground. Glancing across the table, she wonders what these two women planned to do with her. They didn't even know her, so why would they want to let her stay with them? What kind of people just allow some stranger to stay in their house?
Attempting to clear the slight tension, Gloria comes over to clear the mess and gives a firm stare towards Lorna. "Are you still hungry? You want me to get you something else?" She asks, knowing that the brunette probably could use another plate of food. Her arms and legs are so thin that an outline of her bones is very noticeable and that makes the older woman physically ill. How could any human being do something so evil and cruel to another?
Shaking her head slowly – even though her body begged for more – Lorna couldn't accept another plate. She couldn't allow them to give her food and not receive payment for it. They were already being kind to her by letting her sit in their diner; she refused to mooch even more out of them. "I'm good, but thank-thank you. I'm sorry I don't have any money to give you… If there's any other way I can pay you back, I'll do it. I feel terrible for not having a way to pay; I can't accept not paying you in some way. What can I do?" She looks up at the diner's owner, her eyes practically begging her for she to tell her what to do.
"You don't need to be worrying about that," Gloria sternly speaks, giving a hard stare in her direction, "What you need to worry about, young one, is yourself. You look terribly ill and weak; you need some meat on your bones." She shakes her head, unable to believe how persistent this woman is on paying for her meal when she can hardly take care of herself. But then she remembers hearing her say something about running from a house – maybe Lorna didn't do this to herself, maybe someone else did this. So, she sighs, and tries not to rush into assuming things.
Nicky slightly nods her head, in agreement with the older woman. It breaks her heart to see how sickly Lorna looks; she looks softly at her, reaching her hand over to gently grab one of hers. "She's right – you shouldn't be worrying about paying for the food. I can take a pretty good guess and say that Christopher hasn't fed you the entire month that you've been stuck there. You need to eat, kid; and the kind people who work here can clearly see that you're starving to death, so they're not gonna fucking worry about how it's paid for!" Anger is rising in her voice – not at Lorna but at Christopher for doing this to her – and she has to take a deep breath to stop herself from yelling. Seeing the fear appear on the brunette's face brings Nicky to her senses, causing her to immediately soften her expression. "I'm sorry, kid; don't be scared! I just can't bear to see you refusing food – that you obviously need – only because you feel bad about not paying. The people who work here don't care that you can't pay them; they just want you to be okay, and if you don't eat you might not be okay." She comfortingly strokes her thumb over the other's knuckles, then turns to stare at the owner, "Please get her another plate of food; she's starving. Ma and I will give you however much it costs, but you gotta get this poor thing some more to eat."
Once they're back at Red's house, after having to spend a half-hour convincing Lorna that she would not be a burden nor would they do anything to cause her harm, they have her go upstairs to shower – telling her that will help her feel better and even relax her a bit. While she's doing that, Red and Nicky sit in her kitchen sipping on freshly brewed coffee as they look across at each other.
Sighing, Nicky stares down at her coffee. She's never really been one to care for others or what problems they may be facing – until she landed herself in prison for four years. Ever since her time in prison, and especially after meeting and growing very close to Red, Nicky's been a lot more empathetic towards other people's situations, and even more so now with having met Lorna. "How are we gonna help her, ma? She's worse off now than she was when we first found her." She questions, peering over at the Russian – hoping she has some sort of plan.
"We have to be patient and understanding with her, Nicky. She's frail and timid, and still without memory. So, we must make sure she knows she's safe here and not push her into talking about anything that may upset her – that being her memories. Forcing her to try to remember will only hurt her, and I know you, you like to get into everyone's business. You have her notebook she left here, so you can give that to her and we'll have her continue writing important information in there. Maybe one day she will remember her past life, but we cannot force her to. She needs to remember it on her own," Red firmly speaks, bringing her mug of coffee to her lips. She certainly does know her daughter, and that she would push Lorna into remembering things if not reminded not to.
Nicky solemnly nods her head but doesn't say anything. She continues to stare down at her coffee-filled mug, sticking a spoon in it and mixing it around. She's about to take a sip when a loud scream overpowers the entire house. Immediately, both she and Red run up the stairs and into the bathroom. Her eyes fill with worry as she sees Lorna curled into a ball, deep in the corner of the room. "What's the matter, kid?" She softly asks, slowly making her way towards the timid and trembling brunette. She places a gentle hand on her shoulder, deeply concerned for her behavior.
The slight touch causes Lorna to flinch as she buries her head deeper and deeper into her folded arms. She feels as though she's in that tiny room again, suffocating from claustrophobia as she rocks back and forth. "Ple-please don't, don't touch me. I don't know you… I don't know anyone, or even myself… Why-why can't I? Where's my, my family?" Her voice shakes, tears streak down her cheeks.
Hearing how terrified and pained she is, Nicky gently takes her hand away but kneels beside her. "Shh; I'm not gonna hurt ya, kid – neither is Red. We just, we wanna help you," she stares softly at her, moving closer to her but not too close that they're touching. She mentally breaks at how innocent her questions are and that the answer she must give her will only add to her pain. "You were in a house fire, Lorna; and you lost your memory, which is why you can't remember much. And your family – they were in the fire too, kid, but they didn't make it. They died, sweetie." Those words are enough to bring the most heartbreaking cries to Lorna's body – and the sight makes tears well up in her own eyes.
Red, slightly shocked at how gentle Nicky's being with her – something she's definitely not use to seeing – carefully sits on the other side of Lorna, careful not to touch her and scare her off. "It hurts hearing that you lost your family, I know, and it must hurt even more since you can't remember them. And that absolutely breaks my heart, because family is everything to me and if I were put in your shoes, I couldn't even imagine how hard and painful that would be. I'm so sorry you have to go through this, sweetheart! But I want you to know, Nicky and I are here; we will take care of you and make sure you're okay. It doesn't matter to me if we're family or not, you need people to look out for you and the two of us are willing to do that. You will stay here, and you will be taken care of. You will overcome this pain – no matter how hard or how long it takes, you will. And you will be a stronger woman because of that." Her voice is firm, but also has a slight tenderness to it. Seeing how upset and broken this young woman is, reminds Red of when she first met Nicky – how broken she was having a horrific withdraw from heroin on her first night, how alone and neglected she felt from her birth mother's ignorance – and that's what makes this even harder for her to watch. It's as if she's watching a flashback of Nicky.
As Nicky sits there, helplessly watching Lorna sob and shake, she nearly freezes when she feels the petite woman crawl into her arms. But when she realizes what she's doing, she automatically wraps her arms securely around Lorna's waist – slowly rocking her back and forth as she holds her in her strong arms. "Let it out, kid; let it all out. You'll be okay; ma means it when she says we'll take care of you," she soothes, running a hand gently through the other's freshly washed hair. For several minutes, she just sits there holding and rocking the hysterical, sobbing woman. It finally eases up some and Nicky decides to bring her into the guest room – which is hers when she stays there – and when she enters the room, she gently places Lorna on the bed. She pulls the blanket down, wrapping it softly around the smaller woman. "Get some sleep, okay? You need rest; you probably haven't gotten a good night's sleep in a while, kid. Ma and I will be right downstairs if ya need anything. And don't be afraid to come get us if you do, we wanna be here and comfort you." Stroking her hair gently, the redhead carefully bends down to press a comforting kiss to Lorna's head and then quietly leaves the room.
Monday afternoon, a week since Lorna's been staying with them, brings an angry Marka Nichols marching up to the house. She notices the unfamiliar woman sitting on one of the porch swings, and rolls her eyes. Great, another drug addict, the snobby woman thinks as she gives a cold glance to her. "Who the hell are you? Another one of Red's drug-addicted freeloaders? Never seen you here before," she nearly growls at the petite woman. She shakes her head, disgusted, before going to pound her fist on the door.
Lorna doesn't say anything as she sits on the swinging bench, staring the middle-aged woman over. She notices the slight resemblance she has with Nicky, and realizes this must be her real mother – the one who's always on business trips and forgetting about her. That makes her want to say something but she can't find her voice and is relieved when she sees the door swing open, a rage-filled Red staring out at Marka. "Before I even ask what you're even doing on my property, I hope I didn't just hear you insulting that sweet young woman sitting on my porch. You leave her alone!" Red's voice loud with fury as she glares darkly into Mrs. Nichols' eyes, "Now you tell me what the hell you're doing here, Marka, before I have my husband fry you up in his roasting pan."
Hearing the name of her mother, Nicky comes over – her facial expression cold and hard as she stands beside Red. "Wait a minute, you insulted Lorna? What the fuck, Marka? You don't even know her; leave her the fuck alone, you understand? You can come insult me all you want, cause' you're my mother – a bitch of a mother – but you better not say a word to her! And I don't even know why you're here anyway! You mean nothing to me, so you're just wasting your time coming here," she hisses, staring darkly ahead at her. Never once did she feel a connection with Marka; all through childhood, the affection she got was from nannies or if she was lucky, an occasional school teacher but never ever from her own mother.
"You got yourself a filthy mouth there, Nicole. Who am I kidding – you've always had a filthy mouth," Marka rolls her eyes, sick of her daughter and her sickening habits – her drug addiction, her gobby mouth, her obnoxious personality. "Why am I here? Because my house is a disgrace and I know damn well that's your doing! If you're going to stay at my house while I'm away, the least you can do is make sure it's clean before you leave. And if you're not going to do that, then I'll have the locks changed and you will never be allowed back in my house. Now I need to get to work, and thanks to you, I'm going to be late." She turns to leave, giving another disgusted look towards Lorna and quietly says to her, "You're a disgrace sitting there looking like a fucking homeless bum, you know that? Get a job, you piece of shit! And I thought my daughter was bad – at least she's better off than you are."
Nicky feels a rage bubbling inside of her and is ready to run after her mother when Red stops her, giving her a firm shake of the head but a comforting pat on the shoulder. Groaning, she stays back but goes over to sit next to Lorna – her eyes warm with empathy. She takes a firm hold of her hand, squeezing it soothingly in her own. "Don't you listen to a word my mother said, kid. Don't you dare think what she said is even true or matters; she's a bitch to everyone. Please don't believe you're any of what she called you, okay? You're a precious woman, Lorna; you're a beautiful and sweet girl. You're good, kid!" Her voice is the gentlest it's ever been as she takes the somewhat shaking woman into her arms and holds her tight. She presses a light kiss to her head, staring down at her with such compassion. She's never felt more protective of someone, in her life.
