~4~

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“Baby, I’m sorry,” I sighed, rubbing her arm as guilt flooded through me. “I-I don’t know how I can help.” She whimpered and rubbed her ears once again, my hands itching to do the same. We had been on the flight back to England for a little over 3 hours and this horrible pressure had slowly begun to build inside our ears, almost enough to give me a headache let alone my 18 month old daughter. As much as I wanted to help her though, I was clueless as to what to do. I knew nothing about taking care of these things.

“Mummy!” Lennox wailed loudly making me cringe in embarrassment as people turned to look at us.

“I know, love. J-Just quiet down, please,” I begged, her face growing red and my eyes widening as I knew she was going to scream. “Lennox, no-“ I didn’t get to finish because she was plucked quickly off my lap, Liam slotting into the empty seat beside me as he placed her on his knees, bouncing her slightly.

“Here, darling,” he said quietly, unwrapping a lollypop and coaxing it into her mouth. “That should help with your ears, okay?” She nodded, sucking on it contentedly and relaxing gradually into him, soon turning around so her back was against his chest and she could cuddle into him.

“And for you, beautiful,” Liam smiled lightly, handing a stick of gum to me. I stared at it confused, but nonetheless popped it in my mouth, surprised that as I chewed the pressure went away.

“Thank you,” I said quietly, looking down at my lap as I twiddled my fingers rather shyly. There was silence for a few moments before Liam sucked in a sharp breath, turning to me with a hesitant look in his eyes.

“Can…Can we talk?” he asked gently. “A-About what happened?”

“There’s nothing for us to talk about,” I quickly stiffened, leaning away from him and letting out a small huff.

“Fine, then you don’t have to talk, but you’re stuck sitting next to me for another nine hours so you’re at least gonna have to listen,” he said quietly, adjusting my daughter in his arms so she was cradled to his chest like a baby. He paused for a small moment before gently taking the candy from her slightly slack mouth as she let out a quiet snore. I had to admit, seeing a male figure actually caring for my daughter warmed my heart, but at the same time, it killed me inside to think of what she had been deprived of. She craved the love of a father and that was something I couldn’t provide her with…not yet.

“20 questions?” Liam broke my train of thought, a hopeful smile on his lips. I mulled over the idea and a sudden idea popped into my head making me nod.

“I go first though,” I said quickly, his lips pulling into a knowing frown as he sighed. “Why did you do it? Why did you hand me over to-to that man?”

“Brinlee,” he sighed, looking down at my daughter as his fingers trailed soothingly up and down her arm. “If someone was to take your daughter and threaten to hurt her, to-to kill her; wouldn’t you do everything in your power to save her, even if it meant handing ME over to someone you knew was gonna hurt me.”

In a heartbeat…

“That’s what I thought,” he said quietly before turning to me, a sad look in his eyes. “My turn. Did he beat you?” My jaw went slack and I paled, put off that he would be so blatant.

“Yeah, Liam. He did…daily,” I muttered, letting out a small huff. “My turn. Was it easy for you, betraying me like that?”

“No,” he said quickly, shaking his head. “It-It’s torn me apart inside for the past couple years. I-I will never forgive myself for what I did to you.”

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