CHAPTER 21
Over the next couple of months, Taylor continued to work up uncontrollable anger towards Dr. Trunt at each and every physical therapy session. I would grin and bear it, but lately, that was becoming impossible. Especially one day in particular...
It was one of the last sessions I would ever have and I was able to fully walk now. Dr. Trunt was asking me to try various flexiblility activities that gymnasts would do, and for that, he insisted that he support my body.
The first was walking along a balance beam.
I knew I would be able to walk it alone, but again, the doctor insisted on 'supporting' my body to begin with. As I walked along the bar, Dr. Trunt walked besides me on the ground, his hands reaching up to my abdomen. His touch was becoming more and more perverted.
Especially when his hand 'slipped'.
His hand had moved so that it now rested atop my backside, his other hand almost at my genitalia.
"I can't do this," I said in disgust, jumping off the bar, the impact no longer causing any pain.
"That's alright," he replied, grinning, "we can go back to stretches if you prefer."
"NO!"
It was not my voice that spoke, but Taylor's bellowing one. He'd raced to my side, Tahlia walking with him hand in hand. She seemed concerned.
"Your filthy hands won't ever be touching my wife again," Taylor said, pulling me into his side. His jerk on my arm was so rough that it hurt, but I couldn't move away for he was gripping me so tightly.
"Excuse me?" Dr. Trunt asked in disbelief.
"You heard me," Taylor roared back, gaining the attention of others in the room. "You go around touching my wife in disgustingly inappropriate ways, thinking that you can just because of your job!"
"Tay," I whimpered, desperate for him to release his grip on my arm: during his enraged statement, his hand had tightened around my arm at every syllable. But he didn't free me.
"You call yourself a husband? A father? Look at you," the doctor retorted, spraying saliva from his mouth in anger, "Nasettia's clearly in pain. Pain that you're causing!"
Taylor angrily released my arm and I shuffled myself around to his other side and moved Tahlia out of the way.
"And you honestly call yourself a father?" Ian continued. "Who in this world is a father at the age of twenty-one? For that, you'd have knocked Nasettia up at the age of FIFTEEN!"
That was low, but the doctor didn't show any regret for his words.
Taylor shook his head in disgust. He was on the verge of tears now. "But you just don't know, do you? You just don't fucking know!" Taylor was too enraged to notice his slip of bad language.
"What?! Are you saying I'm wrong?" the doctor retorted in mockery, "You can't deny the evidence, mate. It's right there in front of you: You knocked up your girlfriend when she was fifteen, begged her not to get an abortion and married her out of pity! That way, you would seem like the ideal guy of the world!"
Taylor's face was turning red. He was beyond control now.
"YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW ANYTHING!" Taylor roared, startling others in the room and scaring myself and Tahlia. "She's not even my daughter! Nas came to me, already fucked up and pregnant by some horny jerk! I took her in and treated her like the fucking sun shined out her arse! And I fucking married her because I..."
I didn't hear Taylor finish his sentence. I'd collected my handbag and taken Tahlia into the lift, away from the swearing and mild violence. I wondered if either Taylor or Ian would notice Tahlia and me leaving. Probably not for a while. At least.
Taylor's speech had been low, degrading and insulting. Yes, it was my life he'd described, but he didn't have to do so with so much vehemence and hatred. I could never justify the swearing either. Especially when it was in front of a child.
I hitched Tahlia onto my hip as the lift doors opened to the ground floor. We then walked out the front entrance, into the mild pre-summer air, and headed to the carpark where I stopped at Taylor's parked car.
I searched my bag for a pen and paper and came up with half a green crayon and an old shopping receipt. I wrote a message on the back before I folded it and placed it under the windscreen wiper.
"I'll be at the park when you're ready to accept Tahlia as your daughter," the note read.
I wiped the few tears from my eyes before exiting the car park and walking the short distance to the park.
"Where are we going, Mummy?" Tahlia asked.
"We're going to the park," I told her, smiling.
She smiled back, extremely eager. "Is Bridget coming?"
"No, sweetie."
Her mouth pouted. "Is Daddy?"
"Maybe later," I told her, unsure of what Taylor would choose to do.
As soon as we arrived at the park, Tahlia ran straight to the slide. It was her favourite.
The first few times, I caught her at the bottom of the slid, but after a while, she insisted I no longer do so. That was fine by me - it gave me time to think things over.
I sat on a park bench, dwelling as Tahlia began interacting freely with other young children in the park.
I had little time to ponder though, for I saw from the corner of my eye Taylor approach me and sit down on the bench beside me. I sat still, stubborn and unwilling to willingly speak to him.
"Hey," he said in a small, cautious voice.
I raised my eyebrows, still extremely angry with him.
He sighed after accepting that I wouldn't be saying anything. "Look, I'm sorry, Nas. I don't know what came over me. He- He just made me so angry."
"That's no excuse," I told him angrily.
"I know," he said, sighing, "There's no excuse for what I said and I know that. Believe me, I do. It just... slipped out I guess."
"That's what I don't understand, Tay," I said through clenched teeth. "How could you let something like that slip? Is it always on your mind that you're not biologically Tahlia's father? Is that something you dwell upon each day, so much so that it's able to slip off your tongue?"
"No, it's not. That thought never comes to mind. Not after two years, Nas," he replied, reaching for my hand but I pulled it away from his reach. He sighed. "It was just that he was insulting you so much and I couldn't take any of it. I just hate ignorance and prejudice. Especially when it concerns my girls."
I thought about it for a moment. My anger was slipping because my love for Taylor was much stronger. I bet he knew it too.
"Daddy! Watch me Daddy!" Tahlia called as she jumped in anticipation at the top of the slide.
"I'm watching," Taylor called back, a huge smile of enjoyment on his face.
Taylor cheered as she slid down the slide. At the bottom, she smiled back at him before she went back to play with the other young children.
"I don't know how you act like her father, yet you don't regard her as your daughter," I whispered.
"No, no, no," Taylor replied in a rush, "no, that's not true Nas. I'm a proud father with the most beautiful daughter on the face of this earth. No boy will ever lay so much as a finger upon her. I'll be there to make sure nothing hurts her: not a broken arm, a bad dream, or even a broken heart. I couldn't live to see her hurt. Plus, I have the sexiest, funniest, most loving woman for my wife. How can I not love both of you? The both of you are my entire life and I would be completely and utterly lost in this world if I didn't have the both of you to come home to each and every day."
"Now, there's a porky right there," I told him lightly, unable to hold back a smile for him.
Taylor grabbed me around the shoulders and pulled me against his chest. "I'm not lying," he told me as he smiled against my ear, "I love you and Tahlia both." He kissed my ear, sending violent shivers down my back.
I smiled contently as I watched Tahlia play.
"You won't ever say anything like that again. And I don't ever want to hear you swear again in your life," I told him sternly.
"Never," he promised, making me smile all the more.