Chapter 12

"I need help!" Matt yelled down the phone.

"Sir, what is your emergency?" the calm voiced operator asked him.

"Well, I'm not sure. See, I got home and my house is ransacked and my sister is … she's … "

"Sir, take a deep breath and try to stay calm"

Matt breathed deeply and was amazed at how calming it was.

"Okay," the operator coaxed him. "Tell me what happened"

"My friend and I just got home. The house looks like someone has been through it, like a break in or something. My sister was supposed to be home but I don't know where she is"

"Is it possible she went out?"

Natural to think, Matt thought, but it wasn't something that Skye would do without telling him. She knew that she could contact him on the CB and as far as he could tell from glancing around the kitchen, she'd left no note.

"No" he told the operator. "She wouldn't have gone out without leaving a note or telling me. My friend is checking upstairs…I don't know what's happened"

"It'll be okay, sir. Your friend will probably find her upstairs. She may have heard someone breaking in. If she did, the best thing she could have done would be to have hidden somewhere. However, I'll dispatch both the sheriff and an ambulance just in case. What's your address?"

As Matt was giving information to the 911 operator, Bo was making a grisly discovery. Upon opening the door to the shower he's found Skye cowering in a corner. Her face was blotched from crying, tears continued to track down her cheeks. She was hunched in the corner, arms wrapped tight in front of her as if the barrier would protect her.

Bo took in the defeated posture at a glance. His attention was more riveted on the fact that her beautiful long hair was now in messy clumps as if someone had hacked at it with scissors.

She looked up at him, her eyes raw from grief. His heart ached for her plight. He quickly moved into the cubicle to take her in his arms. Instinctively, she held her arms in front of her face like a barrier between him and her.

"It's okay" he soothed. "I won't hurt you"

She lowered her arms slowly and looked at the man she'd adored for most of her life. To have him see her like this was beyond humiliating. This was just what Trish had planned. What better for Trish than to have the love of her life look upon her with pity; the one emotion Skye loathed the most.

In the moment that Bo took her in his arms and cradled her gently, Skye knew that Trish had won.

She was dimly aware of scenes and sensations as Bo carried her to the living area downstairs, where he laid her gently on a couch. She was aware of Bo talking to her brother, her brother leaving the house, Bo returning to her side. He covered her with a blanket, and then sat at her side. He clasped her hands in his, went to stroke her face, but she stopped him.

"Don't look at me," she rasped covering her face with tightly clenched hands. She felt, rather than heard Bo sigh. He gently removed her hands and looked intently at her. The pity in his eyes was her undoing.

"Where's Matt?"

Bo ignored her distance and stroked her head.

The patches of hair left felt like clumps of soft bristles on a baby's hairbrush. Though she shuddered at his touch, Bo continued to look in her eyes in an effort to assure her that she was safe with him. He'd seen Luke calm horses the same way, and though Skye was obviously not a horse, the technique worked just as well on people as it did animals.

"He's waiting on the paramedics, honey"

Skye frowned. "I'm not hurt"

Bo gave her a "could have fooled me" look, but remained silent.

Someone had come into her home and attacked her. Of course she was hurt. Maybe not physically but emotionally, mentally, she was bound to be battered.

"Let's let the medics decide that, okay?"

At her hesitant nod he smiled. She reminded him of an injured bird he'd once nursed back to health. It tried to fly despite it's injury, not understanding why it had so suddenly been grounded.

Because it was easier to pretend he wasn't there, Skye closed her eyes to block out his face, his knowing eyes, and his damned pity. She tried to go someplace else, somewhere before she had known what jealousy and pity were. Somewhere that she was still untouched by the evil in the eyes of an obsessed woman. Unbeknown to her, tears seeped from beneath her tightly closed lids.

Bo's heart constricted at the obvious pain she was going through. Why would someone do this to her? Who could Skye have upset so badly that she'd warrant this kind of backlash? He closed his eyes on an angry sigh, knowing there was only one person that would be so vindictive. Hadn't those close to him warned him? Hadn't he seen for himself what Trish could be like? He'd seen too late though.

Bo lifted Skye's limp hand to his mouth. He softly kissed her knuckles then pressed her hand to his heart, where she was sure to feel his heart beat. He gazed down at her tear-streaked face. Her eyes remained closed but she seemed calmer now. Almost as if she'd resigned herself to the fact that what was done was done. Bo felt a measure of fury at that. She should be mad, she should be so angry that she could spit tacks. She should want everyone to know who did this to her and why.

"Skye" he said, squeezing her hand. "Who did this?"

In response, Skye squeezed her eyes tighter closed and turned her head away.

"Skye" Bo said more firmly, turning her head back to face him. "Tell me who did this to you"

"No" she moaned shaking her head. "I can't"

"Why?" he frowned.

Skye opened her eyes and looked at him. She saw past the sorrow and the pity and saw the man she'd fallen in love with as a mere child. Her heart ached for the pain that her confession would bring him. Knowing that you could never have the one you truly loved was something that she had learnt to deal with, but it was still only known to her. While that remained she could function around Bo normally. If he were to know all the details, she would loose what little control she had left. And telling him who had attacked her would mean that she would eventually have to tell the whole story.

"Oh Bo," she said simply. "You already know who. But I doubt if you'll ever understand why"

A few hours after Skye had been released from the hospital, Matt took her to the Duke farm where she could rest while he arranged for the mess at the cottage to be cleaned up.

After seeing Matt off, Bo took Luke aside to discuss the situation. Luke wasn't surprised at Trish being behind Skye's terror. Despite the tension it had caused between the cousins, Luke had believed that Daisy's theory had had its merits. As the two men stood on the porch, Luke listened to Bo outline what he planned to do.

"I don't think I can ever forgive Trish for this" he said on a sigh. "What would posses her to do something so hurtful?"

Luke smiled at his younger cousins thoughts. He was obviously oblivious to what had been happening between Trish and Skye. Anyone with eyes could see that Skye worshipped the ground Bo walked on and that she had become a threat in Trish's eyes.

He clapped Bo on the shoulder and told him simply, "Skye has been in love with you since she could walk"

Bo remained silent a moment.

"I know," he finally said.

"You do?" Luke was stunned.

"Well, I didn't really know until I looked into her eyes today" He turned and looked at Luke. "I'm not stupid. I know love when I see it. And that's what I saw in her eyes. Despite all the heartache and pain, I saw love."

Luke frowned. "So now you believe what Daisy has been trying to tell you?"

Bo mused over that a moment. "I don't know what to think Luke. All I know for sure is that Skye was terrorised by Trish. And I plan on finding out why"

As Bo made his way to the pickup truck, Luke followed him.

"You may need some backup" he quipped.