Desire

(25) Warm Milk

"You don't understand, I have a Daughter, she has no family, she can't stay alone." Dale stressed as he was pulled into the station.

"You can phone someone to take care of her, otherwise she goes can go to foster parents." An officer responded, clearly understanding his daughter needed a place to stay.

Dale wanted to vomit at the thought of her going to live with people she didn't even know. He was handed a telephone and was allowed to dial in a number, and of course he was left to call the only person he could think of.
—
"It's all going to be okay, Kimberly. Shh, your Father didn't do it, they can't convict him of anything." Flora had Kimberly tucked into her side, the girl was breaking her heart, all in the space of two minutes she learnt her mother was murdered and possibly by her Father. Her Father who had told her for the last ten years that her mother had died peacefully in her sleep.

She felt deceived.

"My Mother was killed! It won't be okay!" She was completely ugly crying at this point, her face red and her eyes puffy, but Caiden still stared and saw no faults in her complexion.

Caiden stood to his feet and stepped closer to the couch where Florence and Kimberly both sat. He outstretched his arms with a pitiful look on his face. "Come here, baby doll." She weakly stood from her seat and practically fell into Caiden's arms, sobbing into his shirt. "We're going to fix it, I promise."

Footsteps were heard making their way into the sitting room. It was Robert, he also had a sorry look written across his face as he looked down at the girl who was wrapped up in his Son's arms. "Your Father just called."

Kimberly was quick to look at the man, her eyes were hopeful, Hopeful that her father was already in his way home to explain everything to her. "What did he say?"

Robert sighed. "He asked if you could stay with us since he doesn't want you being alone." You could visibly see the hope draining from her eyes as tears filled them once again. "We still have the room you stayed in if you'd like to take that again. You can make it your own, anything to make you more comfortable."

She sniffled, trying to keep it together. "Thank you." She tried to seem strong, but the words only left her lips as a whisper.

"How about we make you some food, huh? Try eat something and then you can bath." Florence stood to her feet and pulled her softly from Caiden. "I don't know if you tried the home theatre but there's a lot of great movies on there that you could watch tonight?"

Kimberly nodded and hugged Flora tightly. They had a bond that was unlike any each other already had. It was special, and that was clear from the very first time they met.

Everyone then went on to doing what had to be done that day. Caiden headed to the store to buy Kimberly some sweet treats to hopefully put a smile on her face, Florence pushed Kimberly to eat some food and then cleaned up as Kimberly ran herself a bubble bath, and of course Robert threw himself back into his work.

The sun had set after two hours and no one had seen Kimberly yet. Florence made her way up to the first bedroom and knocked before entering, but she was not there. She knocked on the bathroom door, presuming she must still be getting ready. "Kimberly?"

"Mhm?" She mumbled quietly.

"Are you done?"

"Mhm." She mumbled in the exact same tone, making Florence nervous.

"Can I come in?"

"Mhm."

Florence slowly pushed the door open, and makes sure to close to behind her just incase anyone entered the girls bedroom behind her. Kimberly was seated in the bath still, all the bubbles had disappeared, the room no longer filled with mist, and the girls hair wasn't even wet. "Are you okay, darling?"