Chapter 10

Kate sat on the bottom step and let the tears rush down her face. Her daughter had always been an amazing judge of character. If Amelia was truly scared of Jack would Kate be able to pursue anything with him? She highly doubted it. Somewhere in the back of her mind she began wondering whether Jack would ever hurt them. Of course he wouldn't, she thought.

Her head was pounding and spinning as she took deep breaths. She needed to go console her daughter, she understood that, but she just couldn't move. Slowly getting to her feet she wiped her hands on the front of her pants and went to the kitchen. There was a small knocking sound coming from the sliding glass door that led to the patio. Looking over Kate saw Lacey standing there. Hurriedly Kate wiped off her tear stained cheek before walking to the door and sliding it open. Lacey put her hands behind her back and looked up innocently at Kate.

"Can Amelia come out and play Miss. Kate?" the little girl asked. Kate couldn't help but smile. If Lacey saw the remains of tears she didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry baby, but she isn't feeling good. She's taking a nap," Kate told her.

"Oh, ok," Lacey said disappointedly. She turned around and ran down the patio steps and back to the swing set. Kate looked around the yard but couldn't find Jack. She did spot Jackson though walking back to his house holding his soccer ball in the crook of his arm.

"Hey Jack, you alright?" Kate asked him when she caught up with him.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine," Jackson told her politely. He smiled at her before walking back to the house. She hadn't missed the lack of interaction between her daughter and Jack's son during breakfast. Kate turned around and walked over to Lacey. The little girl was sitting on the swing and was kicking but failing to actually swing.

"Need help?" Kate asked her. Lacey looked up, grinned, and nodded. Kate couldn't help but smile as she got behind the girl and pushed. Lacey laughed as she got higher and higher into the air with every push. Jack walked out of his house and saw his girlfriend pushing his daughter on the swing. He couldn't help but smile when he saw them. Kate looked up and caught his gaze. She winked at him before pushing Lacey again.

"All done," Lacey announced. Kate helped stop the swing which then Lacey jumped off, ran past her dad, and went into the house.

"Hey," Jack said shyly as he walked up to Kate.

"Hi you," she said cheerfully. He brushed a kiss on the top of her head.

Tom never showed small signs of affection such as that. Never would he come up and give Kate a brief hug or grab her hand and kiss her knuckles the way Jack did. She became accustomed to not being showered with affection, it seemed normal. But now as she felt Jack adore her she felt that she had been missing something with Tom. Thoughts of Amelia came to her mind then. She was scared of Jack. Kate tried to understand that. But as that man she was scared of stood there smiling at Kate, Kate just couldn't see a monster in him as her daughter did.

Amelia looked out her bedroom window and saw her mom and Jack embrace. They hugged each other before pulling away and laughing with each other. Amelia felt a tug at her heart as she watched her mom. She had just told her mom she was scared of Jack but she was still being nice with him. Amelia almost hated being six because she couldn't understand adults. To her it seemed only natural not to be with someone when another person hurt you. Jack didn't look like her dad but that didn't mean he wouldn't hurt her.

"Do you and Amelia want to come over for dinner?" Jack asked Kate. She stuffed her hands in her back pockets and looked up at him.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Amelia's really tired," Kate told him. A look of disappointment crossed his face.

"Oh, well hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow and we can have dinner tomorrow," Jack said hopefully.

"Yeah," Kate agreed but silently thought differently. Just mentioning to Amelia the thought of having dinner with Jack would be shot down.

Later that night Amelia and Kate were cuddled together on the couch watching television.

"Mommy?" Amelia asked. Her daughter hadn't called her mommy in years.

"Yeah baby," Kate told her.

"Will Jack ever hit you?"

Kate took a deep breath before answering.

"No honey, he won't hit us," Kate told her confidently.

"No Mom, not us, you, will he ever hit you?" Amelia asked innocently as she twisted her head to look up at her mom.

Kate's heart broke, if possible, again. Her daughter no longer cared it seemed if Jack would hit her, but she was worried that he would hit Kate.

"No Amelia, he'll never hit me," Kate old her daughter.

Amelia seemed to accept the answer for she cuddled closer to Kate and fell asleep.