The Meaning of Family

Secret No More

Therapy with a toddler was hard. That was the conclusion Hailey and Jay came to after Ava's second session. The little girl was talking through some hard stuff as she played with the therapist and the toys in the office, and she left both sessions in hysterics. Then she'd be clingy and unsettled the rest of the day.

Hailey was trying to take a shower the evening of Ava's second session when she heard the door handle turn, but with it locked, nothing happened.

"HAIWEY!" Ava started banging on the door and Hailey sighed.

"Ava, baby, go get Jay. I'll be out in a minute!" She called out, but Ava didn't like that. She hit the door again and screamed out for her with a sob.

Hailey tried to hurry, wondering what had her sister so upset. Jay found Ava sitting against their bathroom door, wailing into her stuffed rabbit.

"It's time for your bath, Ava," he said, crouching down beside her.

"Want Haiwey!" She cried, moving away from Jay even though it hurt her ribs.

He'd been about to put her in the bath when she ran off looking for Hailey, crying. He didn't know why she was upset, she knew the routine and liked baths.

"Jay, I'm almost done!" Hailey called out, getting the last of her body wash rinsed off then getting out of the shower. She dried herself off and threw on some underwear and one of Jay's tshirts before she opened the door.

Ava scrambled towards her, hysterical, and clung to her once Hailey had her up in her arms. Even her thumb wasn't helping her calm down.

"What happened?!" Hailey asked, alarmed, swaying with Ava.

"No idea. I was about to get her in the bath and she flipped out, hence the lack of her shirt. She wanted nothing to do with me," He was confused as well, Ava had really started to warm up to Jay.

"Weird. Ava, baby, can you try and calm down for me?" Hailey went to move Ava's hair from her face, but she flinched away, which she hadn't been doing as much.

It took half an hour to settle her enough to talk to them. And even then, she wouldn't look at them.

"Haiwey do baf," she sniffled. "Not Jay, Haiwey tonight. Pease? I'm sowwy I was bad, I just wanted Haiwey do it. No owies."

"Ave, what do you mean no owies?" Hailey asked, scared. Surely she hadn't been sexually abused?!

"No owies in my eyes in the baf. Dad would do that, talked about it today. I don't want that, men do that."

Oh thank goodness, they didn't go where they thought that was going. Her dad purposely getting soap in her eyes was bad, and he'd probably pushed her into the tub a few times, but it was definitely better than the alternative.

"Ava, I would never do that to you on purpose," Jay told her. "And if it ever happens on accident, I'll help you get the soap out of your eyes as fast as possible."

Ava looked over at him and whimpered but nodded. She still just wanted her sister to do her bath that night. It was still weird to her that Jay was so nice to her. The only man she'd ever been around was her father, who had barely been kind. He hit her almost everyday. She thought that's how all guys were.

"Do you want me to give you a bath?" Hailey broke her from her thoughts and she nodded slowly.

"I'm sowwy," she felt bad, Jay looked sad.

"It's okay, kiddo. I'm not upset, I promise. You're okay, you aren't in trouble," he smiled at her and she smiled a little back but stayed tucked into Hailey's arms.