Chapter Thirty-Seven: There’s No Such Thing as Santa

Beth

“What about Lucy?”

My heart stopped in my chest. It was the question I had feared for seven years, and now it had finally come, as we lay face-to-face in the dark. I delayed too long to answer, and Rafe’s fingers tightened around my chin. “Did he hurt Lucy?”

My heart resumed it’s normal rhythm with a painful thud. “No,” I said weakly. “He never touched her.” It was the one small mercy that I was always thankful for. Gabe's rage was always directed at me.

But just because he had never hit Lucy, it didn’t mean he hadn’t hurt her in other ways. There had always been some sense of emotional neglect. A distance and a sense that he just didn't care that much. Gabe was always too busy, too tired, too preoccupied to give Lucy the time and attention that every child craved from t……