Adeline set the dinner table rather forcefully that night, chopping vegetables with a vengeance.
"I'm happy for him," She spoke to herself mostly, though sitting on the counter watching her lazily was a recently rescued stray white cat, who's leg stuck out awkwardly, bandaged by Adeline. Father had always vowed there would be no more pets, but always overlooked them if they were brought in, she'd named her Olive.
"He should be free to love whoever he wants."
She glanced at Olive who gave her a flat stare and then looked away with ears back. Adeline pointed her knife at the cat.
"Don't you give me that! I am not jealous." She threw her diced carrots into the vegetable soup, broth splashing out onto the stove. In her shock, she had forgotten to even pick up anything from the butcher. But had successfully walked off with Credence's ham. She huffed. Now she had two secrets and a ham that wasn't hers and he was probably getting whipped right now on account of her prying.
"Somethin' giving you a hard time, Nickels?"
She gasped at her father as he entered through the kitchen door. He set his hat on the counter, ruffling out his hat hair, then smoothed it back. She blinked a few times, trying to come up with something.
"Oh, just, you know," She said airily, waving a hand airily and he raised an eyebrow, but didn't probe her further.
"Well, if you insist," He rubbed the back of his neck as he exited the kitchen, calling back "Don't make dinner too long! Had a hell of a day."
"I'll be quicker than a jack rabbit, daddy." She called back, then cut a glare at Olive who she could have sworn rolled her eyes.
A soft rapt on the kitchen door made her jump. She hurried over and pulled back the curtain from the window and stared into the face of Credence with a horrified look. She dropped the curtain back and looked at Olive.
"It's him!" She hissed. Olive just jumped down from the counter and trotted away with a flick of her tail. The house was the last place that he should be. Adeline looked back towards where her father had left the room and listened carefully. When she was certain he was no longer on the first floor she poked her head back out the door with his ham in her hands.
"You can't be here!" She hissed quicker, and louder, than she meant and Credence looked more than a little hurt, his mouth hanging open to speak with eyebrows furrowed but nothing came out, wringing his hat nervously in his hands. Immediately remorse filled her.
"Adeline?" Her father called from the doorway and her eyes could have popped out of her head.
"Go!" She nearly shouted at the poor boy, jabbing his ham in his arms and pushing him back in the process. He turned and ran, stopping hesitantly at the edge of the alley, gazing at her for a moment, then disappeared around the corner.
The stiff sound of hard boots on the wooden floor approached slowly, one menacing step at a time. Her heart climbed into her throat and her tongue felt fat. Mr. Nickels stopped when he was in the middle of the kitchen. Hands stuffed into his pants, his chin held up, staring down at her with a set jaw. She turned to look at him slowly, his gaze smothering her.
"Who was that?"
"Daddy," She said quietly, pleadingly, but this time it was different.
He jabbed his chin in the direction of the kitchen windows over the sink. "I saw him. Who was it?"
Her eyes landed on the knives, the rolling pin, glancing back at the door behind her. If she ran, she might certainly die, and she was no fighter. Her heart beat hard and fast like a trapped rabbit. Boot steps approached, slow and calculated. He looked down at the floor casually, then back up at her. He was almost so close she could feel his breath on her face.
"Well? I'm waiting."
"It was…It was…" She trembled. Tears clouded her vision. There was no hiding now. Least she could do was save Credence. Her lip quivered, her stomach twisted itself into knots that rose into her throat, choking her. Weakly, she said: "It was the newspaper boy."
The crack of skin on skin filled the room when his hand met her face and she fell to the ground in a crumble. Her eyes wide open with shock as her cheek pulsates, the imprint of his hand outlined red.
The click of his belt coming off was the only thing that brought her back to the present. She was up, running for the exit with nothing but the need for survival driving her. But before she could get anywhere, he caught a fist full of hair and dragged her to the sink. She screamed, high pitched and guttural, ending with a gurble as he shoved her face first into the water.
He hollered so loud her ears rang even underwater.
"Did I ask to be lied to?"
Credence's heart lunged, the unmistakable sound of Adeline's shrieks rattling through him and causing a handful of people to look up in the direction of the store. He bolted back to the alley, and in the window Mr. Nickels yank her head back up, water dripping fast, then thrust it back in with her arms trying desperately to reach her father, grasping weakly at his face.
For a moment, he stared in a daze, unable to grasp what he was seeing. Then helplessness swallowed him as his friend drowned. If he helped he might just make it worse, effectively getting him disowned by Mary Lou when he was trying to find the child as well as making things harder for Adeline. Her father couldn't know it was him.
Mr. Nickels was hollering at her, too busy to notice him out in the alley, yanking her face up again. In her gasp for breath, a split second, she met Credence's eyes, pleading. Plunge. Gurble.
White hot rage oozed through him, all the times he was being beat that people just stood and watched flooded him. It seemed, Mr. Nickels was a perfect match for Mary Lou. Eyes clouding with rage and fist clenched, the whole building rumbled.
Mr. Nickels froze, looking up at the ceiling with eyes wide anticipation. Adeline's head still stuck under the water, the sides of her vision darkening.
Suddenly, he was yanked back, foot pulled forward just in time for him to slap his head on the edge of their kitchen table and fall unmoving to the ground.
Rasped gasps of air came from Adeline, who stumbled back, falling to the floor, coughing. Water dripping from her soaked head, forming quick puddles around her.
Credence burst in through the kitchen door, dropping down to help her sit up, but she just flung her arms around his neck and collapsed on him, causing him to fall back to catch her. For a moment thinking she might be attacking him, but she just clenched her arms tightly around him, coughs mixed with rasped gasps of air. His heart pounded. Shyly, hesitantly, he touched her back, pulling his hands back just briefly before settling them down again.
Across the kitchen Mr. Nickels laid stiffly, with his chest slowly rising and falling as if asleep. When Graves had instructed him to befriend Adeline...He wasn't quite sure this was what he meant.