Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 29741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
“He never told anyone that you actually go this arm,” Ink said.
Zippy shrugged. “I don’t know why. Maybe because he thought I’d explain what happened. I don’t know. But I do know he’ll hurt Betsy when he gets here. I don’t want Betsy to be hurt. I’ve got to protect her.”
Oh, Lord. Betsy could feel herself tearing up. Here she’d thought that Zippy didn’t like her, didn’t want to live with her. And all she wanted was to protect her.
“Where is she? What’s happening?” Baron barrelled through the door, making Betsy and Zippy jump.
Ink had obviously expected him, because he hadn’t moved at all.
Baron ran over to Zippy, crouching down next to Betsy. “What’s going on? What happened? Why did you run off, Zippy?”
Royal followed him in, standing next to Ink.
“Leon is coming for me and I didn’t want him to hurt Betsy,” she explained again. “So I left.”
“Zippy, that’s not the way family works,” Royal said.
Betsy looked back over her shoulder at Royal who was frowning down at Zippy.
The girl frowned back at him. “What do you mean? I’m protecting Betsy. That’s being part of a family, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, we protect each other, Zippy,” Baron said. “But we can’t do that if we run away. We stay and fight. Together.”
“But . . . aren’t you all mad that Leon might hurt you?” Zippy glanced around at them all.
“Oh, Zippy, of course not,” Betsy told her. “We could never be mad at you, especially not for something that someone else has done. All we want is to take care of you.”
“Part of being a family is telling someone when you need help,” Ink said. “It’s caring and protecting each other, yes, but we fight our problems together.”
“Oh.” Zippy stared at them all with wide eyes. “Am I part of the family?”
“Of course you are,” Betsy told her.
“I’m only here for a short while, though.” Zippy glanced down at her hands.
“Would you like to be here for longer?” Ink asked in a careful voice.
“I like it here. The twins are fun. And you don’t shout or yell or hurt Betsy,” she said to Ink.
God. Betsy wanted to hurt Leon. It was amazing that Zippy was as well-adjusted as she was. That she wasn’t more scared of men.
Then Zippy turned to Betsy, giving her a shy look. “But I like being here mostly because of you.”
“Really?” Betsy whispered.
“Really. I know you worry about making things good for me. I haven’t had that. Amber was always too scared of Leon to do anything for me. Not that I need it, I can take care of myself,” Zippy declared.
“Of course you can,” Betsy said, hiding a smile.
“But it’s still nice when you put notes in my lunchbox telling me to have a good day. And you make sure I have clean clothes and everything I need for school. And take me Christmas shopping and make good hot cocoa.”
“I’ll get you a hot cocoa right now,” Betsy said as she tried to stand.
But before she could get onto her feet, she found her arms filled with a small seven-year-old.
This was the first time Zippy had hugged her. She wrapped her arms around her tentatively, not wanting to scare her off.
“You know we want you here, don’t you, Zippy?” Betsy said. “You’re very much a part of our family.”
Zippy nodded, but Betsy got the feeling she was still hesitant. Zippy drew back and Betsy reluctantly let her go.
“I’ll go make that hot cocoa.”
“You’re sure I deserve it?” Zippy asked.
“Of course you do,” Betsy said with a smile.
“Although running away in the middle of the night is something you won’t be doing again, is it?” Ink said sternly.
Betsy bit her lip, wanting to tell Ink not to be too harsh with her. But she also knew that they needed to make sure that Zippy knew not to do this again.
“Because we don’t want anything to happen to you,” Royal added.
Baron nodded. “You gotta keep yourself safe, Zippy. No running off and scaring us. Even though we know you can take care of yourself.”
Zippy nodded solemnly. “I can.” She glanced at Betsy again. “But, I won’t do it again. Promise.”
Betsy smiled at her and walked into the kitchen. As she was getting the drink ready, she felt Ink walk in behind her. He wrapped his arms around her.
“Thank you for finding her,” she whispered.
God, when she thought about what could have happened to Zippy out there . . . she shuddered.
“She’s safe, baby,” Ink told her, turning her to hug her tight. “I know you were scared, so was I. But she’s safe.”
“I can’t believe she left to protect me,” Betsy said.
“Because she loves you. Just like the rest of us and we’d do anything for you.” Leaning down, he kissed her softly, lightly.
And her heart felt lighter.
Thirty minutes later, Betsy stepped outside onto the front porch to take a few breaths.