Breaking Free

Chapter 3

I woke up in the middle of the night hearing Evie crying. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

"Shh it's okay Evie, it was just a bad dream," Josh whispers.

"Is she okay?" I ask

He nods, "She woke up from a bad dream, nothing some snuggles won't fix,"

"You can lay her between us if you want,"

He lays down beside me, but she refuses to leave his embrace. Her arms tightly wrapped around his neck.

"Evie, you can lay between us, we're here. I promise you're okay," I say, gently rubbing her back.

She loosens her grip and slides between us. Josh wraps his arms tightly around both of us, "Go back to sleep babe, she's okay,"

"I have to pee but I don't want to leave her like this,"

"She's fine babe, I promise,"

"I'll wait till she's back asleep,"

"Callie, remember what we talked about? You gotta take care of yourself too,"

I sigh, knowing that he was right. I slowly got up out of the bed and started walking to the bathroom

"Mommy?" Evie says sadly

"She's just going to the bathroom, she'll be back," Josh says

"You wanna come with me Evie?" I ask

She gets out of bed and runs to my arms, tightly hugging me. I carry her into the bathroom with me.

"You're safe sweet girl, I've got you," I say

"He hurt me," she sobs

"Who hurt you baby?"

"My daddy. He kept hitting me when I wouldn't stop crying,"

I hugged her tightly, "You never have to worry about him again, I promise. You have me, Josh and his family. You're safe Evie,"

"He won't hit me?" She asks

I shake my head, "He is only going to snuggle you and make you happy, I promise,"

I carry her back to bed and lay her between Josh and I. Within a few minutes she's back asleep, but now it was my turn to cry.

"Callie? What's wrong?"

"She told me about her dream about her dad hitting her. I've never felt so helpless Josh. He put my baby through hell,"

Josh gets up and walks over to my side of the bed, sitting next to me, holding me as I cry. "You're a good mom Callie, you had no idea what was going on. Don't blame yourself,"

"It's hard not to, seeing my daughter crying in my arms because of her piece of trash father is hard. Then hearing her ask if you were going to hit her too just broke me,"

"She asked that? What did you say"

I nod, "I told her that you were going to snuggle her and make her happy,"

"I'll never hurt her. I know I just met her but I already love her. She's so much like you,"

I yawn, "Yeah, we both like to eat, sleep and are extremely sassy,"

"Go back to sleep love, I'll sit here and hold you until you're asleep,"

I woke up a few hours later as the sun shined through our window. Evie was snuggled into Josh's chest as he slept soundly. I got up and got into the shower before getting ready for the day.

I come out of the bathroom about half an hour later to both of them awake and snuggling in bed.

"I need to give you a bath this morning too," I tell Evie as I throw my dirty clothes in my suitcase.