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Jake paced back and forth in his family’s living room while his parents sat and waited to hear him out, for him to calm down, to pull himself together, if that was even possible. He’d just got back from walking Dixie home, had held her hand the whole way. They had not talked on the way back to her place. She didn’t need talk. She just needed someone to be there for her. He couldn’t stand leaving her, knowing what she had been through, realizing he’d only hit the tip of the iceberg. As soon as he arrived home, the storm brewing in his eyes had drawn his parents to him. If anything bothered their son, they were there to hear him out, support him, and offer any solutions. Jake couldn’t think of an answer after what he had heard today. He had never personally known anyone who was treated in such away and it turned his stomach.
“He burned her! Can you believe that Daddy? Can you picture anyone doing such a thing to Mama? What kind of monster…I feel like I could be sick thinking of it. I think I could kill the man with my bare hands if I could only lay my hands on him and right now I want to hunt him down like the stinking, dirty dog that he is! God, I can’t stand it, that someone would hurt her like that!” He stopped, breathing hard, and pressed his hands to the window sill, his head bowed as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to erase the image of her back. How many more scars did she carry both outside and within?
Sara Jackson stood and went to her son, laid a hand on his shoulder. She own heart ached with his pain and for Dixie. “I know that you’re angry, Jake, and you make me so proud to stand up for her the same way you do for anything you believe in. But you can’t let her see you this way. You already knew you had to be careful with her. Now you must think of her like delicate, spun glass. She’s a treasure to be held very lightly, treated with every bit of gentleness and patience that you have or she could break.”
Jake turned around and buried his face in his mother’s shoulder but not before his father saw the intense emotion that marked his son’s face, forcing James to turn around and give Jake some privacy and himself some modicum of control. He had been raised by the same code that dictated his son’s life. One cherished the gift of a woman and anyone who abused that gift deserved to be whipped. “I am going to be everything she needs, Mama, and I’m going to start by giving her back the childhood she never had.” His voice broke on the last and he pulled away, wiping at his eyes and rushing to the escape of his bedroom. He was going to crumble and Mama and Daddy didn’t need to watch.
Sara went to her husband once Jake had left the room, wrapped her arms around his waist and felt the tension that stiffened his body like stone. She laid her head against his back. “It’s unbelievable, James. I sensed that the girl had been through hard times but nothing like this. What can we do?’
He couldn’t speak for a moment. When he did, his anger was barely held in check. “I’d like to find a tall tree and a short piece of rope for this Granville or tar and feather him but that wouldn’t be good enough for him. For now, we’ll be a support system for Dixie in any way necessary and I’m going to talk to our lawyer. I want to find out how we can protect her and see what recourse she has to make the man pay because he will pay, Sara. No one treats a girl that way, especially a girl our son loves.” He turned around and took his wife in his arms.
Sara took comfort in his strength and his sense of honor. “Jake does love her which means we must love her too. I have faith in both you and God that all will be made right with Dixie. We have to make it so. Time and patience are what is needed and we have plenty of both. ”