A Father's Love

Ch.12- Letting You In

Lisa's POV

I unlocked the door, with Louis by my side after a long day of filming for a TV show, to find Poppy asleep on my snoozing husband. I smiled at the scene and couldn't resist snapping a photo of them both. I spotted all of Jake's paperwork still on the dining room table, I shook my head at my overworked, workaholic husband; he was so passionate about all of his projects but he was more than dedicated. I ran Louis upstairs to change him out of his uniform and make a start on dinner. I entered the kitchen and found some pasta.

Dinner was on the table and Louis was happily tucking into it making a right mess of his clothes. Jake and Poppy were still asleep so I decided to wake them, I shook Jake's arm slightly making him stir.

"Dinner's ready," I whispered, he nodded, squinting, his arms still around Poppy. He woke her and we all joined Louis at the table to eat. Jake had sent me a text to say he knew what had happened with Poppy and had dealt with it so I felt no need to bring it up. We finished up, ending with a rather forced conversation and then Poppy headed upstairs to finish some homework which gave me a chance to speak to Jake on my own.

"What happened?" I asked, expecting it to be nothing serious; kids always had a little bit of trouble with teachers, didn't they?

"She freaked out. Majorly," he replied, I squinted and shook my head, not understanding, "I didn't think there was anything wrong, I was writing with Daniel. We finished up and I went upstairs to check on her and she was like a caged animal; backing up against the wall, shaking, paranoid,"

"Why?" I asked, still a little oblivious. I was talking about what happened to her at school but it seemed there was a more pressing matter to deal with.

"She thought that I was going to beat her," he let out quietly, through gritted teeth, "I had to take my belt off,"

I sighed, tears brimming my eyes at the prospect of her thinking we could do that. I felt Jake's hands on my shoulders, cuddling me from behind and placing a quick kiss on my cheek as the world slowly rotated. It was frightening. I thought we were over this already.

"I can't believe it," I whispered to him, he nodded along with me, "I promise it's going to be ok,"

"I'm sorry,"

Both of us snapped our heads up and broke away from the hug to see Poppy stood, leaning on the wall. My heart broke a little, it became obvious that she had been crying; red streaks down her cheeks.

"It's fine," I said, unsure of my words.

"It's not," she replied hastily, she let out a short shaky breath, "I have scars all on my back from where he- "

My heart broke, as my perspective of Poppy became more vulnerable and she was that shaking nine-year-old again and I felt more tears brims my eyes. I could tell Jake was trying to hold himself together but barely, his hand was shaking on my hip. Poppy stepped forward a little and I clench my jaw to stop it shaking.

"I think I'm ready for you to see them," she said, her voice was low but I could tell she was serious. I thought we were moving backwards but in fact we were advancing. She was allowing herself to be more her around us and I was beyond excited for that but now the reality hit. It wasn't as picture perfect as I first thought it to be; it was difficult and real.

"Are you sure?" Jake asked, he was keen I could tell that but I could also hear his concern. She nodded and placed her hand in Jake's.

"I think that I need to start letting you in," she said, I saw Jake's thumb run over the back of her hand and I could tell in her eyes that she was ready, "And I think I know by now you aren't going to run a mile," her voice shakes, I smile at her sadly, letting a wet laugh part from my lips.