I follow him as he walks through the playground, toward the little girl. He stops beside her and kneels down. “Kylie.”
As soon as Kylie looks over and sees Mark, she throws her arms around his neck and holds on, as if she’s been waiting for days to see him.
I get choked up, but quickly try to hide the tears that unwillingly slide down my face as I watch them. I’ve never seen Mark hold someone so close in my life. You would think it were his own daughter.
“I heard you’ve been good,” Mark says as she pulls away from the hug. “You’re always good, right?”
The little girl smiles and nods her head.
“I knew it,” mark says excitedly. “I have someone I want you to meet, okay? She’s important to me just like you are.”
Mark grabs her hand and stands up. He looks over at me, and motions with his head for me to come closer.
I smile nervously and walk over, stopping right in front of them. I’m stunned speechless when she looks up at me and my eyes meet her wide, curious ones.
“Oh wow,” I whisper.
Her eyes are the brightest shade of green I’ve ever seen, and in the upper right side of her left eye is a patch of gray. They’re absolutely the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.
Mark smiles. “Kylie, this is Avalon.” He stands behind her and pulls her long hair out of her face. “She’s very special to me. She’s like a daughter to me.”
Keeping my eyes on her wide ones, I kneel down in front of her and give her my best smile, fighting through all of my many emotions. “Hi, Kylie. That’s a beautiful name.”
She laughs and then turns to hide her face in Mark’s leg. Every few seconds she turns back to me, and laughs before hiding her face again.
I can’t help but to smile at her, and before I know it, I’m playing peek-a-boo with her, moving around Mark’s legs to get her.
“I’m going to get you!”
She lets go of Mark’s legs and takes off running in what looks like slow motion. She’s so darn cute and tiny that her small legs don’t take her very far.
We play for a good fifteen minutes, before she runs back over to Mark and he tackles her in a hug.
He looks up at me from the ground. “It’s about her dinner time.” Standing up, he grabs Kylie’s shoulders and looks down at her. “Would you like Avalon here to come back and visit with me next week?”
Kylie looks up at me. Her eyes meet mine and she laughs, while nodding her head.
“Alright. Why don’t you go have Lynn clean you up for dinner.” He looks over at the white haired lady as she appears next to him and grabs Kylie’s hand. “Thank you.”
She nods her head and grabs Mark’s shoulder. “Thank you. We’ll see you next week.”
With that, she walks away, pulling Kylie along beside her.
The look in Mark’s eyes as he watches them walk away tugs at my heart, but I have no idea what to say to him. This is a side of him that I’ve never seen before. It makes me wonder what got him here in the first place.
The walk back out front to our vehicles is silent, but I can’t help but to notice the pain etched across his face.
I watch as Mark leans against his car and runs his hands through his messy hair. He keeps looking over at the building as if he wants to go back.
“Why did you ask me here? What is going on?”
He turns around to grip the top of his car. “There’s something you should know.” He turns to face me, and swallows before speaking. “I’m not sure what all Royal has told you . . .”
“Don’t stop there, dammit.” I growl out when he stops. “You can’t mention his name and then stop. Tell me,” I push. “What does this have to do with Royal?”
“I need you to listen and I need you to listen close.” His voice cracks. “I was there the night his fiancé got murdered.” He slaps the top of his car and hangs his head low. “I was just a rookie then; had only been on the job for a few weeks at that point and I had no idea what to expect.” He pauses, but doesn’t look over at me before continuing. “We got the call that a man’s pregnant fiancé was raped and murdered, and that the man killed the three men that did it to her. We showed up at the house as he was saying goodbye to her. It was a sight that would break any good man down.”
I grab onto my car and watch Mark as the tears slide down his cheeks. “I’ll never forget that moment for the rest of my life. The pain he was feeling . . . The look of pure agony and loss in his eyes ate at me and made me realize that if I were in his position that I’d do the same. I’d kill for my family too.” He releases his car and turns to me. “He’s not dangerous. He’s not a bad fucking guy. He fights for the ones he loves and does everything in his power to protect them. That makes him a good man that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was thrown a shitty hand and he dealt with it. All of these people in this small town don’t see it that way. They’re twisted here in some ways, and want to believe that they know who are the good civilized people and who are the bad, uncivilized savages that are nothing but a waste of space and a disgrace to their town. To them . . . Royal became a savage that night. Even to his own fucking family.”
“Oh my God,” I whisper, while wiping the tears from my eyes. “I never knew you were there that night. I’m sorry. I know how hard it must have been to witness such a tragedy. And Royal . . .”
He shakes his head, trying to pull it together, but I can see how much this truly still hurts him. “It was the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to witness, and to top it off, Royal went to jail that night. He assaulted a police officer; broke that son of a bitch’s nose for trying to keep him away from his dead fucking fiancé. He deserved it, but the court didn’t see it that way. Officers Payton and Cooper made sure of it, and also made sure that he didn’t get to see the light of day until his justice was served. They couldn’t get him on murder because it was self-defense, so the asshole cop whose nose he broke, charged him with assault. Royal spent five weeks in jail after losing the love of his life. It was total fucking shit and I felt helpless that I couldn’t do a damn thing to help him. He didn’t utter a word for weeks.”
“His parents took care of everything on the outside to make sure Olivia had a proper burial, but they stayed far away from Royal and didn’t even bother to visit him.”
I cover my face and shake my head so hurt by all that Royal has been through. I had no idea the extent of things and I hate hearing this. It makes me angry. “So Royal was in jail when they buried Olivia? Those assholes kept him away?”
He nods his head. “Yeah . . . he was. He was a fucking mess, but refused to speak to anyone. He shut down, so I went and visited him every few days just to let him know that he wasn’t alone and that I stood behind him. Small towns like this work different from larger ones, Avalon. It’s the only thing I hate about being here.”
“Fuck,” I whisper. “All of that, and on top of it he lost his baby girl. He doesn’t deserve all of this pain. He doesn’t . . .”
“Yeah,” he says softly. “He couldn’t handle all of the shit that was going on, so during his time behind bars papers were signed to give up his daughter. It’s the one and only time that his stepfather went to visit him. I was surprised at first, but then realized that Royal was broken at the time. He’d been through more than any one person should have to go through. I could see how keeping his daughter would be hard on him, so I tried my best to keep my opinions on the matter to myself and support his decision.”
He breathes out. “She’s the little girl you just met. That’s Royal’s daughter,” he continues. “That’s why she’s so important to me. She lost everything that night and I was there to see her last bit of family break down.”
My hearts stops and I find myself fighting to breathe. The more I fight, the less air I seem to be able to get. He has to be wrong. This can’t be . . .”What did you just say?”