Finding Safety

Checking In

Ch 8

Travis pov

I slowly open my eyes and instantly close them when it hits me. I'm still in Cassie's room. I quickly open them back up and realize she isn't even in here. I look over at the clock and realize it's almost eight in the morning. Shit! When the boss is late that is never good. I jumped up running to my room and throwing on my clothes really quick with my boots. I quickly head down the stairs and when I enter the kitchen I can see plates of food set up with Cassie crying into her hands.

I start to walk closer when she runs from the room going up the stairs into her room shutting the door. I walk up to the food and there is so much made. She made pancakes, biscuits, bacon and eggs. I instantly eat as much as I can before running out of the house. When I exit the house I see everyone already working getting the chores done when they stop to look at me.

They just smile and turn to go back to work when I head out to finish the fencing, but get stopped in my tracks by Carter.

"Boss, we finished the fence yesterday. Everything is ready for the new herds. Go make sure she takes it easy. We will be bringing the veggies in a bit for you to figure out what to do with them."

I nod my head and turn to walk back inside. The moment I enter I see her scarfing her food down, freezing mid bite, and starts to panic. I grab some more coffee and sit down watching her. I see her visibly tremble and try to figure out why she is so scared. I mean I get what has happened but how long did she live like this?

"Cassie, you can continue to eat it's ok. How long did you live with him before you ran?"

"Nine months. I will clean the kitchen please don't be mad. Can I please finish eating first?"

"Of course! Jesus Cassie I'm not him! I know you will need time to understand this, and I'm willing to be patient. Please understand you don't have to ask for my permission. You can do whatever you want around here. Want to listen to music while cleaning, go for it!"

She snaps her head to look at me and I know in that instant I have made some progress. She is actually looking straight at me, and I know we are getting somewhere.

"So after you're done we will need the kitchen cleaned up because I will need to set it up for processing all the veggies that are being pulled from the garden."

"Once it's clean can I see the garden?"

I nod my head when she jumps up running around cleaning it as fast as she can. I laugh because once it's done she runs up to her room and flies back down dressed excited to go outside. I motion for her to follow me and we walk for about ten minutes when we come to the fenced in garden. Carter and Danny are still pulling stuff when I open the gate to let us in. She just stands in awe walking up and down the rows of vegetables.

I slowly follow when she goes to touch a bell pepper then pulls her hand back and puts them behind her back. I reach over grabbing it to hand to her and she slowly takes it from me looking at it. I walk back to grab a basket and hand it to her to help. I start pulling the veggies off when she just stands there holding the basket.

"You can help also, it's ok."

I watch her smile at me and lower herself down onto her knees pulling veggies that she sees. It takes a few hours but we have managed to pull what we can use now and make into stuff for later so we can process it and pack it in jars. We let the boys load everything up when we head back to the house. When I enter I have her follow me to the walk-in closet and start handing her canners to put on the stove and counters. Then to another closet for jars with lids and start stacking on the floor. I haven't really done a lot of this since my mom passed, but I hope that just maybe she will find it to be therapeutic like my mom did.

I hand her the canning book and let her start looking through it. She immediately starts tabbing pages of things she wants to make and I think perfect. I hear my phone start ringing and look down to see it is her dad Harry calling. I let her know I will step out for a minute when she starts to panic.

"Cassie, it's ok! I am just going on the porch for a minute. Look over all the stuff you want to make. You know what was picked this morning, and if we need some supplies we can go get it."

She smiles and quickly flips pages again so I head out to the porch when I quickly answer.

"Hello Sir, how is everything?"

"It's going ok, we are just wondering how Cassie is doing?"

"Well for starters she is ok, she is taking time to decompress if you will. We are slowly making progress and I'm getting her to trust me. This guy she was with sure did a number on her and she has a lot of issues from it, but we are working on them together."

"What the hell do you mean he did a number on her? What exactly did he do?"

"I don't know everything yet, but if I had to guess it was very physical on his part. Now before you go and do something stupid, it will not help her recover. Believe me I want to kill this fucker as much as you do, but right now Cassie needs someone she can trust."

"Travis! That's my baby girl and he fucking put his hands on her!"

"Harry Sir, I understand! Please though if she even found out I said anything she will not trust me again. I have gotten her to the point that she can even look at me. Let's do this. I know you are in California right. Fly out here, spend some time and you will see what I am dealing with, but believe me when I say I am not giving up on her. As long as she wants to stay here she is welcome to. Right now she is marking everything she wants to do with the crops coming in."

"How did she find you in the first place?"

"She ran from him, and made it to my state and our town. I was looking for work and Angie at the feed store knew it. So when she stopped in looking for work Angie called me. I did have one worker that took her hiring personally and beat her up. I did take her to the hospital to be checked out, and although she was fine they did find something. I am only going to tell you to prepare you for this. So get your anger out before you get here. She is pregnant by him. Although this wasn't the plan, she is staying here in my house. She can't do hard labor on the farm but she can tend to the garden, clean the house, and any other stuff that needs to be done."

"She is having his fucking kid!"

"It is what it is! It doesn't matter to me. If it works out I have no problem claiming it. I just need to work on her first. So scream and yell all you want there but don't bring that shit here."

"Alright we will be out there in a couple days."

I give them the address and hang up when I turn around and see Cassie looking straight at me. I can see tears rolling down her face and I don't know what she is thinking or feeling. I slowly walk towards her opening the screen door and step inside while she continues to just stare. This is the longest time she has ever looked at me, and I want to be happy but I'm nervous at the same time.

"You said you would claim the baby?"

I instantly grab her face, crashing my lips to hers wrapping my arms around her. I feel her slowly relax when I pick her up by her thighs carrying her over and setting her on the counter so I can look straight at her.

"Cassie baby I don't know where you came from, but I am thankful you did. I don't care that it's not mine, I would raise it as if it was. It makes no difference to me. I want you here by my side."

She starts to cry and wraps her arms around my neck and I just hold her. I want her to feel like she is free here with no restraints.

"Cassie, do you need any supplies to do what you need to do? I can send one of the boys to get it while we get everything ready for what you want to make. We have a cellar downstairs that hasn't had canned food in it for years. I bet you could probably fill it with all kinds of goodies."

"Yeah I have a list of what I need and how much."

"Ok I will have the boys go get it. Your parents will be here in a couple days. I want you to know you are safe here. You don't have to ask for my permission to do something. You can listen to the radio while you work. You can take a nap if you want! I want you to feel that you are safe here."