Charleston with a Clever Cougar: A Dance with Danger Mystery #6 by Barton Sara M

Author:Barton, Sara M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ptsd, military homecoming, divorce cancer stepmother, old saybrook ct
Publisher: Sara M. Barton

Chapter Nine --

“Mmm....” I didn’t trust myself to speak. Instead, I surreptitiously wiped away a stray tear. Time to pick myself up with my bootstraps, before I completely crumbled under the weight of the past. I headed back into the office cubicle to compose myself. It must have been the trip to the emergency room last night that triggered all these memories. I still could remember Aunt Pinkie and the hospital security guards escorting me into the brightly lit room, the doctor gently checking me over for injuries, giving me a shot, probably penicillin. He was kind, apologetic. All the adults were. They kept telling me it wasn’t my fault. But if it wasn’t my fault, whose was it? Someone had to be responsible. Someone let that man do horrible things to me.

“Only child?” Doc was watching me from the doorway and his voice startled me.

“What’s that got to do with anything?” I wanted to know.

“Not much in the way of family after your mother died. Not much in the way of support.”

“I did okay. Aunt Pinkie was a great comfort. She took very good care of me,” I said defensively.

“Of course she did. But she was only one person, Cady.”

“What’s your point, Doc?” I snapped, feeling like I was under the microscope.

“You’re not used to people helping you. You’re not used to having anyone really do for you. I saw that look on your face. I just want you to know that what happened back when you were a kid was terrible. It shouldn’t have happened, but it did. It won’t ever completely disappear. But what you learned was real. That’s what drove you to the door last night, to check on Daisy. You prevented her from having her childhood snatched away from her. You did a good thing.”

“Sure.” I put a hand up to my brow, trying to keep Doc from looking into my eyes.

“The pain of a traumatic event never really goes away, Cady, until you confront what happened to you, you mourn it, and you make your peace.”

“Like you?” I snapped. Did Doc really know so much about the subject? He was acting like he was an expert. I just wasn’t sure I wanted a lecture from someone who had never walked the walk. It’s hard to explain how hard it is to get the stink of an assault off of you, no matter how much soap you use or how long you stay under the water. Long after the sweat of my assailant was washed down the drain, I could still smell him on me every once in awhile, like when I showed up at the hospital emergency room twice in a week. I felt like I was reliving the horror of those days, and most of all, that hole in my heart because my mother was gone and I was alone.

“It’s the only way you can go on living. Otherwise, you’re just going through the motions. My last tour of duty, I lost twenty guys.

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