Her Cowboy (Book One Of The Brave Series)

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter 31

M.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" I could feel the blood draining from my face. "Mom, what's he talking about?" I looked to her, but she tucked her head down.

"Mom?!"

"Mom this, Mom that, Mommy, Mommy, Mom! God, I hate hearing you say that!" he screamed as he slammed the shovel down on my shin. I cried out in searing pain.

"Stop this Peter!" Mom screamed.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. Do you not like it? Why don't you tell her who her real father is?" He said grabbing her by the chin and forcing her to look me in the eyes. Tears rolled down in waves.

"Go ahead love, tell her. Tell her!" she flinched, and her chin trembled.

"He's not your real father. Your real father...we were forced apart when I got pregnant." Her tears intensified, and her head fell once more. Her body shook with her silent sobs.

"That's it? No, no, there's more to it than that. Isn't there baby?" he sneered at her. She shook her head and he stood.

"Fine. I'll tell her then." He looked at me and smiled. My vision was finally coming back to me and I looked around, looking for a weapon. My leg was in searing pain, throbbing. For a moment, even in this serious of a situation I chuckled inside. I had just healed from a messed-up rib and now I had a broken leg, and God knows what else after this. My medical bills were gunna suck. I watched as my 'not father' slowly paced the living room.

"Story time Madeline." He said smiling.

"Once upon a time there was a girl who was pure hearted, kind, smart, loving, and caring. She grew up homeschooled on a farm most of her life but by tenth grade her parents decided to leave the country side and move to the city. She moved next door to a very lonely boy and shortly thereafter they became best friends. Her parents who were very old school due to their own raising loved him and wanted marriage because of how well they got along and what his family's wealth could offer them. The boy's parents agreed and though it doesn't happen often nowadays, they had an arranged marriage set up for the two of them.

"However, this smart and beautiful girl met a boy in high school and fell in love with this worthless player. She was silly with her decision, isn't that right baby?" he paused looking at her. She was trembling.

"They dated for two years and as the rumors stated, the typical bad boy was tamed." He laughed, "Well, they decided to go all the way on prom night, cliché, right? And guess what never came after that? And you know why? Because you were growing in her belly." He said leaning down and grabbing my chin, forcing me to look up at him. I could see the pure hatred in his eyes.

"And guess what happened when her parents found out? They were furious. They threatened to charge statutory rape charges on him because he was eighteen and she was seventeen at the time unless she broke up with him. Then they wanted her to get rid of the baby. She begged them not to make her do it. She said she'd do anything. And so, they told her she would not have a child out of wedlock. So, the moment she and the boy she was promised to be were of age, they were married." He smiled holding up his ring finger like a prized possession.

"But the girl still loved the baby's father, even for years after. Her husband saw this and as the child grew and he saw the resemblance between her and her father it became harder for him to face it. The girl didn't love him. She never would, and he realized that, as well as the fact that the daughter was the girl's connection to the man she had loved.

"And so, this man drowned himself in alcohol to dull the ache in his heart for the woman he loved, but it wasn't enough, and he has finally had enough." He pushed my head back slamming it into the wall. My head pounded, and my eyelids felt heavy. When my face came back to his, I felt the cold knife against my throat.