Page 82 of Letters to the Lost

“Come on, let’s go decorate,” I say, getting out of the bath before her to help her out.

Wrapping the soft pink towel around her, I dry the droplets from her skin, kissing her softly all over her body and telling her how beautiful she is. Taking longer when I reach the scars that are part of her.

We barely notice them anymore; they’ve become a part of her that we love even when the story of how she got them makes us furious. The one on her neck is the one that can send most of us into a rage. We will find her stepdad though and when we do, he’ll wish he never appeared again.

Leading Autumn to the living room, the others already here. We all watch enraptured as Autumn's face lights up with amazement when she walks into the room.

A seven-foot cedar tree has been delivered and now sits proudly in the corner of the living room, bare from any decorations right now but the boxes upon boxes that are now cluttering the floor are filled with enough decorations to decorate the whole house.

Kelvin walks into the room, the tension rising as he approaches Autumn.

None of us have forgiven him for how he’s been acting towards our girl, his actions have been questionable with how he’s been since she’s been back.

I’ve always known Kelvin to be a good dad, his attention and effort towards Brenn has been amazing, the perfect father. I know he had his expectations about finding Autumn, all of these ideas of how things would turn out to be. Finding Autumn when she was on death's door was obviously never in those plans, nor was her having PTSD and trying to take her own life. But I wish he would have tried harder rather than being in denial about everything. The secrets between them all becoming too much.

“Little Monster,” Kelvin calls out to her from the doorway.

“Dad!” Autumn shouts excitedly, her face filled with hope and excitement as she walks to her dad’s side.

I watch all of that slip from her face as she gets closer to him, her smile falls, and a sad look crosses her face filled with disappointment.

“Merry Christmas Little Monster!” Kelvin exclaims. He’s either missed the change in her demeanor or is ignoring it completely.

The others around us look at each other confused as we watch their exchange, Autumn's body turns rigid as Kelvin steps closer to her his arms outstretched for a hug.

“You’ve been drinking,” Autumn states, her voice giving nothing away to how uncomfortable she is.

“It’s Christmas! Of course, I’ve been drinking, and I’ve been stressed. Trying to find your mom and that stalker of yours,” Kelvin rants, a small slur to his words.

Dominic growls from behind me as we watch Autumn flinch at Kelvin's words.

We’ve all had one-on-one meetings with Autumn's therapist, listening to his advice on how to handle her trauma to help her heal.

Not calling Jane her mom is at the top of the list, drinking spirits like vodka is second.

“Dad!” Brenn shouts from beside the tree, storming his way through the boxes.

Brenn’s hand clamps on Kelvin's shoulder, whispering harsh words into his ear, and drags him from the room.

“Cupcake,” Dominic says heartbrokenly.

“It’s ok Dominic, I promise.” She says, trying her best to reassure her while fighting back tears.

“Come with me Sugar,” Mrs. McKay says, wrapping her arms around Autumn and leading her from the room.

“Should we follow?” Atlas asks, already getting up from his seat.

“Nah, let them talk. We’ll sort all this out for when she comes back,” I say, picking up a box beside me and pulling out string lights.

“I’m going to end him if he keeps making her cry,” Dominic says, his knife twirling between his fingers.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help,” Brenn states, walking back into the room, “I’ve told him to sober up. He knows the smell of vodka triggers her. He doesn’t even drink it! If I didn’t know that he is a good dad, I’d swear he was doing it on purpose.”

“She’s fine with most alcohol, to be honest, but vodka reminds her of Jane when she would get angry. What is going on with him Brenn? He’s not like this,” Tobias asks sadness in his eyes.

This must be hard on him. Kelvin took him in when he was being abused and became a great father figure to him. Now he’s stuck between his loyalty and gratitude for Kelvin and this building frustration of how he’s treating Autumn.

“I wish I knew. This is more than just not knowing how to be around her. I’ll figure it out though. How is she doing?” Brenn asks.

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