Chapter twenty nine Nightmares

Kayla sighs as she looks around the house; she hasn't been here for over two weeks so yeah it did need cleaning. She'll have to call Ty and tell him to send those ladies over again but she's still couldn't face him just yet.

Janice had just put Faith down for her five o clock evening nap when Miss Sandra entered her room with three little children. "Hi, Janice." She said putting three big bags on the sofa and hugging Janice.

"These are my children." she smiled as each of the kids hugs Janice as well. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you," Janice said smiling as Miss Sandra introduced the children to her. Miss Sandra then told her oldest son Aden to take his siblings to the living room and keep an eye on them; which he did; she then turns back to Janice.

"Now where is that sweet little angel?" Sandra asks walking over to the crib. "Oh she's so adorable; I guess your size from the last time we met, so I bought a few things from my store I think you could use; by the way; I'm so sorry about your parents and what you went through. How old were you when they died?" She asks playing with Faith's little fingers.

"I was six," Janice answered sadly. "And no one came to claim you; no Uncles; Aunts, no one?" She asks surprised. "No, and that's why I was placed in an orphanage where I stayed until I was eighteen," Janice explains. "I heard that after you left they gave you a little apartment and a job."

"Yes they did and that's where I met Leon. He said he loved me and he wanted to take care of me, he said he was going to marry me but instead he…." "Hush now; it's going to be alright. I don't know what force brought you here but I'm glad it did and why are you whispering?" Sandra asks raising her brows. "I'm not ma'am." "Really; you could've fooled me," Sandra snorts.

"So what do you do here in your spare time?" Sandra asks. "I help Miss Melissa in the kitchen and I'm learning to bake." "Good so can you cook?" "Yes, ma'am I can." "Alright then let's go down to the kitchen and you can show me what you can do," Sandra said walking towards the door with Faith in her arms.

I entered the kitchen at nine pm that night and saw Caleb, Fabian, and Anna all eating at the same time. "Hi guys, where's mom?" I ask dropping my bags on a chair. "She's at a church meeting," Anna answered with her mouth full. "It's nine o clock, why are you guys just having dinner?" I ask. "Well when we came home we saw Cousin Sandra sitting down watching Janice cook and it smelled so good that we couldn't wait until tomorrow to sample it." Fabian adds as he scraped the rest of the food from the pot."

"Janice cooked?" I ask in surprise. "Oh yeah, and it's absolutely delicious," Caleb said licking his lips and fingers. "What did she cook?" I ask again. "Baked chicken with pineapple and sweet potatoes," Fabian answered putting the pot in the sink.

"And you eat it all and didn't leave any for me!" I shout punching Fabian on his shoulder. "Ouch, man! What was that for?" I fold my arms across my chest and narrowed my eyes at him.

"Oh you better thank your lucky stars that you're my little brother and I love you or else….." "Or else what; you would punch me back?" I ask in a daring tone. "No, worse, I would let you walk out of this kitchen without telling you that Janice put a plate in the microwave especially for you," Fabian said with a scowl.

"She did?" I ask running towards the microwave and removing the plate I took off the cover and let the delicious aroma fill my nostrils. I then took a seat at the counter and began eating.

"I bet you wish you were coming home to some of this for the last three years huh?" Caleb teased his brother knowing that Kayla couldn't cook. "Hmm as a matter of fact I do, where did she learn to cook like this?" I ask with my mouth full. "She said that she took food and nutrition in high school and her house mother at the orphanage also taught her," Anna said as she wash the dishes they had just used.

"Well I must remember to thank her, this is absolutely divine." I moan licking my lips. "Maybe we should let Janice take over the cooking for a while. I'm sure mom or Miss Mona wouldn't mind.' Fabian suggests.

"I think that could work because Miss Mona is very stressed with trying to keep up with the workload around here not to mention she also helps mom with the baking and mom can barely keep up with the number of orders that are pouring in. I'm sure they would welcome the help." Caleb agreed.

"But I wouldn't lick your fingers if I were you because you were so eager to get to the food that you didn't wash your hands," Caleb said and burst out laughing as I dropped the fork and ran to the sink.

An hour later I went to Janice's room to thank her for dinner and found her asleep. I walked over to the crib and found Faith awake and sucking on her fingers. "Hey are you hungry little muffin; okay come to daddy," I said then bit my lips as I realized what I had just said, luckily for me no one but Faith heard me.

Again my heart ached for the fact that this sweet little angel wasn't mine. Cradling Faith in my arms I took a bottle of formula from the warmer and sat on the sofa then began humming softly to her as I feed her.

An hour later she was asleep again so I lay her gently in her crib and was about to leave when I heard Janice sobbing. I walked over to her and realized that she was crying in her sleep and again my heart filled with compassion for her.

I sat next to her and rock her gently. Her eyes flew open and immediately went to my face and I could see the relief on her face when she realized it was me.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and begins crying even harder and I had a hard time fighting back the tears that welled up in my eyes. The only place I had ever seen such raw pain was at the hospital.

My arms tightened around her as an overwhelming sense of protectiveness gripped me. "Shhh you're safe now; no one will ever hurt you or Faith again," I whispered running my hand over her hair as she sobs on my chest. "I…I'm sorry, I'll…be… okay." She whimpered.

"I've no doubt about that," I said softly as she pulled away from me. "Nights are the hardest, during the day I'm fine but at night I always have nightmares of him hurting me and Faith. They're so horrible and so clear." She said wiping her eyes. "It's like he's actually here, I can feel his hands on me, smell his body spray." She said with a shudder. "He told me he loved me that he wanted to marry me; what did I do to change his mind. To make him hurt me like that?" She sobs again.

"Why was he so horrible to me? I did everything I possibly could to make him love me more but…." She stops and took a deep shaky breath.

I wrapped my arms around her again holding her close to me. "You didn't do anything to change his mind," I said above her head. "He had no intention of doing anything that he promised, he lied." "But why?" She asks sadly her lips trembling.

Putting my hand under her chin I lifts her face up and looked into her eyes. "Were you a virgin when you met him?" "Yes, I was." "Did he know that?" "Yes, I told him." "There's your answer; promising you all those things was the only way he could get you into his house and his bed."

"But I loved him and I thought he loved me. I broke my promise to God to be with him and for a long time I convinced myself that it was because he loved me why he beats me." She said her head down again.

"I thought him beating me was normal, I also told myself that God was so disappointed in me that he had turned his back on me but I was wrong Tyler; I was so wrong." She said with a brave look on her face.

"What he was doing to me wasn't normal and it wasn't right and God still loves me, he has been protecting me; watching over me and waiting for me to come back to him."

Getting up she took up her Bible and quarterly and sat on the edge of her bed next to me. "God has given me a second chance to get this right and I'm not going to waste it."

I could hear the determination in her voice and for some reason it made me feel stronger inside. "The same goes for me; I turned my back on God to be with Kayla but no more, this time I'm going to do this right, and by the way, before I forget again; thank you for a lovely delicious dinner." "You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Janice went into the washroom on Friday afternoon for the bath of clothes that Miss Alice had taken off the line. She walk towards the bath and was about to pick it up when she notice Tyler's T-shirt in another bath, making sure that she was alone she took the shirt from the bath and put it to her nose.

She loves the smell of his perfume and his aftershave but most of all she loves the way his arms felt around her; strong; firm and secure and she loves his warm breath on her neck as he whispers soft soothing words to her whenever she was upset.

"You really like him; don't you?" Janice jumped at the sound of Miss Mona's voice behind her and she blush with embarrassment. "I do; a lot, I feel butterflies in my belly every time he's around me but it's just a fantasy. He's not interested in me that way because he's still very much in love with his girlfriend, besides; I'm not exactly the kind of girl that he would take home to his parents." Janice said sadly with her head down. "Well excuse me if I'm wrong but isn't that exactly what he did?"

"Come on Miss Mona he picked me up at the side of the road and the only reason he brought me here was that I needed help. There's never going to be anything more between us."

"Never say never because I think you would be a much better wife for Tyler than that girl." Miss Mona said taking up a pile of kitchen towels and leaving the room. "Tyler's wife, that has a wonderful ring to it but it will never happen." She thought to herself as she put the shirt down and taking up the bath of clothes she left the room.

Thank you all for reading

Food for thought

God puts the church in the world;

Satan tries to put the world in the church.