Tools of the trade.

Chapter 14

Stag knew that the next part of Amelie's story was going to be hard to tell, and he was struggling to find the right words,  without losing his composure and crying in front of Lola.

Lola placed the now sleeping baby back into the carrier and covered her with a blanket.  Then seeing Stag's inner battle with the rest of the story, she scooted over on the couch to sit as close to him as possible.  His head was down and his eyes were closed.  She took a hold of his hand with one of hers and then placed her other hand on his cheek.

His eyes flew open instantly and looked straight into hers.  Searching them for, she had no idea what, maybe answers, maybe strength or maybe just plain curiosity as to why she was touching him that way. Like he was confused as to why she really cared about him and his problems.

She tried to convey the message through her eyes that she really did care and that it was okay for him to cry if he needed it, or lose it a little and show vulnerability.  He opened and closed his mouth several times before any actual words came out.

" The night that I was at your house, Amelie called me after you had fallen asleep.

She told me that she needed my help, tha-that she h-had gone into labour and my father  wasn't home."  He spat out the word father like it was dirty.

"I could tell on the phone that something was off.  She sounded croaky and I could hear her wheezing over the line too as if her lungs were struggling.  I ran out of here like a bat out of hell and drove straight over to their house.  When I got there, she was in really bad shape. There was blood on the floor, she was barely breathing, and the bruises..oh god there were so many bruises."

A tear slipped down his cheek and Lola caught it with her thumb and brushed it away. She wanted to do more, she wanted to pull him to her and hold him while he let it all out, but she knew, if she did that now, he wouldn't get through the rest of the story.  And he needed to. He needed to tell someone how he felt, she could tell. If he didn't get through the whole story, and have someone support him through his pain, he would eventually explode and it wouldn't end well.

So she sat, and waited for him to gain his composure before he spoke again.

"When I first saw her I froze. Just stood there like a fucking idiot staring at her laying there on the floor cover- covered in blood. She let out a little moan and started panting, or trying to. She couldn't breath properly though, and I finally snapped out of my stuper and ran over to her. I scooped her up without even thinking about it and ran with her cradled in my arms to my car, placing her on the back seat.

It was then that I noticed the bloody water running down her thigh.  I booked it to the hospital,  left her in the car and bolted through the emergency doors."

Stag had to stop and collect himself again before finishing. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"She died during childbirth. " A tear slipped out.  "That fucking bastard punctured her lung when he broke her ribs. It was just too much for her body to take, and her heart gave out. Almost killed the baby too. "

He was crying now and Lola reached for him and pulled him in for a hug. She too was holding back tears for the poor woman who would never get to see or hold her own child, or see her grow up.  And for the child who would never fully know how much her mother loved her.  And for the amazing man in front of her, who through all of the pain and sorrow, managed to save that child, from dying at birth, and from having that monster of a man as a father.

"I just wish I could have done more." Came Stag's muffled voice.  "I wish I would have said something to her before about the bruises, got her to leave him, confronted him, something,  anything.  It's all my fault. She's dead and it's all my fault."  His voice was low, almost a whisper, and the tears leaked down his face in a steady flow now.