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Lauren gave him a moment, before saying softly, “There’s more. So, during his last visit, when Jacob wet the bed on Friday night, he was afraid to wake Ashley up because of Liam, so he didn’t,” Lauren said. “He just … stayed in bed the rest of the night.”
“Jesus Christ,” David muttered. It felt like his skin was trying to crawl off his body, and he barely felt it when Paige put her hand on his knee and squeezed.
“In the morning, Ashley asked Liam to watch Jacob while he took a bath so she could change and wash the bedding. Jacob said Liam called him a ‘fucking brat’ and ‘pushed him around’ in the bathroom, scaring him.
“Jacob wet the bed again Saturday night, but this time, instead of staying in bed, he spent the rest of the night trying to sleep on the floor. On Sunday morning, when Ashley realized what had happened again, she seemed ‘really mad’. Liam was put on bath duty once more, and as Jacob was getting into the tub, Liam pushed him, almost making him fall into the water, and called him a ‘little shit’. Liam then repeated his threat from the day before, doubling down on what would happen if Jacob told anyone about Liam.”
David swallowed hard and scrubbed at his face with both hands. “Holy fuck.”
Paige’s entire body felt like a block of ice as she pictured what Jacob had been subjected to. His having been repeatedly abused by a grown man brought a lot of her pain to the surface, and she vowed to help protect the little boy with everything she had, from this moment on.
Lauren leaned forward, resting her forearms on her thighs. “Now for the visit to the park.”
Even though David knew some of what had happened, he knew there was probably more, and that it probably wasn’t good, so he steeled himself and waited.
“When Jacob said he had to go big potty, instead of taking him into the women’s bathroom with her, Ashley asked Liam to take Jacob into the men’s bathroom, which was a little farther away,” Lauren said. “They didn’t get to a toilet in time, and Jacob basically had diarrhea, which made the situation worse. I’m guessing it was mostly because of all the stress he was dealing with, but living off McDonald’s chicken nuggets and French fries all weekend was a contributing factor, I’m sure.
“When Liam realized what had happened, he pulled Jacob by his shirt again and ‘hit his bottom hard’ several times, this time making Jacob cry. Liam told Jacob to quit being a ‘fucking cry-baby’, before taking him back out to Ashley, who then took him into the women’s bathroom. Jacob said she was ‘really mad’ while she was cleaning him up, and when she was done, they left the park and she brought him straight home to you.”
Next to David, Paige wiped her eyes while his remained dry. Ashley’s behavior toward Jacob was bad enough, but Liam putting a hand on Jacob filled David with rage—and the fact that Liam had done it after Jacob had had an accident like that … it made David actually feel murderous. No wonder Jacob looked like he’d had PTSD when he got home that day.
“There is one more thing—a good thing, actually,” Lauren clarified quickly, when David groaned in dismay. “Jacob told me that since he’s been going to Ashley’s place, a babysitter named Hannah has watched him numerous times, usually on the Friday and Saturday nights when Liam is there and he and Ashley go out, but also when Liam isn’t there. According to Jacob, Hannah is ‘really nice’ and watches movies with him, plays hide-and-seek, and makes popcorn with butter.”
“This is fucking unbelievable,” David said, picturing Ashley as she agreed to the ‘no babysitter’ rule, verbally, and in writing. Of course, that was the least of her transgressions, but still, it pissed him off to be deceived and lied to—again. It also pissed him off that a few hours with a babysitter were clearly the best part of Jacob’s weekends with his mother.
“I don’t think Ashley knows what Liam’s been doing,” Lauren continued. “Jacob said Liam’s ‘okay’ when she’s around, which means Liam is deliberately hiding his abusive nature from her. However, that being said, as Jacob’s mother, Ashley is responsible for whomever she brings around her child. She’s been very careless in that regard, especially by exposing Jacob to Liam very early in the relationship—a relationship that she’s also purposely kept from you.”
“I was careless, too.” David stared down at the table, thinking about the times he’d dropped an unhappy Jacob off at Ashley’s. “From the beginning, I knew he didn’t want to go over there—”
“But his reasons in the beginning for not wanting to go over there had nothing to do with Liam,” Lauren pointed out.
“But I still made him go. I basically kept returning him to that shitty situation.”
“This isn’t your fault, David,” Paige interjected quietly. “You had a custody agreement with her, and you did everything you could to limit the time Jacob had to spend with her.”
David glanced at Paige, noting her red-rimmed eyes, slightly puffy from crying, and her devastated expression; hearing how Jacob had been abused had obviously affected her a great deal. For a moment, he was so grateful to have her at his side during this nightmare, that when it occurred to him most of the time he’d spent with her had been when Jacob was over at Ashley’s, it gave him pause.
Had he made Jacob go because of Paige? Had he been so focused on being with her, that he hadn’t taken Jacob’s distress seriously, minimizing and overlooking it for personal gains? The thought made his skin turn cold, because if he was guilty of doing that, it made him a terrible father. “But I knew Jacob was getting worse when he started wetting the bed. I should’ve seen something was really wrong, then, and done something,” he insisted.
And maybe he would have, if he hadn’t been so focused on forging a relationship with Paige. The horrible thought kept circling back, no matter how hard he tried to push it away.
“You did see it.” Lauren’s tone took on a bit of an edge. “You just didn’t know what you were seeing, because you didn’t know about Liam. If you had, you would’ve connected the dots and been able to do something about it right away. Most of this could’ve been avoided, but the fact that it wasn’t, isn’t your fault. It’s Ashley’s, because she was irresponsible and exercised extremely poor judgment in bringing Liam into Jacob’s life so quickly, and so thoroughly. Her indifference for Jacob’s well-being enabled Liam, as did her not telling you about him.”
David appreciated what Lauren was saying, but he knew he wasn’t without blame, either. Jacob was his life, and David should’ve pushed harder, protected him better. Paid more attention, and not been so caught up in—
“Why do you think she didn’t tell you about Liam?”
He almost flinched at the sound of Paige’s voice. “I don’t know,” he answered, barely looking in her direction, having a hard time focusing at the moment, especially on the reasons Ashley didn’t tell him about her cocksucker boyfriend. That was obviously going to be addressed in the very near future, but speculating on her reasons now was a waste of time.
David leaned forward, shifting his attention to Lauren. “So, now what?”
Lauren glanced from David to Paige, then back to David. “Well, that depends.”
“On what?”
“On what your ideal outcome is.”
“What do you mean?”
