Page 33 of No Regrets

Chapter Eight

As the first of the year rolled around, things started getting back to normal. Kaden worked until all hours of the night on a really big case his father had given him. Brianna went back to work and started Shiloh in a childcare facility recommended and paid for by Blair. Regina still kept her on the weekends she and Kaden had to work, but not as often as she had before.

Now that Brianna only worked one eight-hour shift at a time, she was able to have a somewhat decent life and an actual relationship with her daughter. She pulled up at the Academy for Baby Geniuses, unable to wait any longer to see Shiloh.

“Can I help you?” a lady dressed in a formal suit asked as she entered the door.

“I’m here to pick up Shiloh Riggens.” She heard Shiloh crying behind the closed doors and made her way toward the sound.

“Ma’am, you can’t go back there.”

“My child is crying. Why is my child crying?”

“Just one minute, ma’am.”

The minute turned into ten as the lady waited for her assistants to bring Shiloh to the front of the building. Shiloh’s eyes were blood red from tears, and she reached for Brianna as soon as she saw her standing there waiting. Tears fell on her cheeks as she hugged her momma tight.

“Why is she crying?”

The assistant looked at the director and smiled politely. “Shiloh wanted a toy another little boy had.”

Brianna clenched her teeth. “My child looks as if she’s been crying for hours. She doesn’t cry for hours over some little toy.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but that’s what happened. Have a nice day.” The assistant turned and headed back through the door.

Brianna kissed Shiloh, glaring at the director. Something happened, and if she ever found out what, there’d be hell to pay for hurting her baby.

She carried Shiloh to the car, situating her in the back and closed the door. She’d been on her feet long enough. It was time to go home, relax, and have fun with Shiloh.

She pulled in the drive and parked her Mazda in the garage. She had spotted an oil leak at work and needed to ask Kaden to look at it. He knew more about cars than she did.

She carried Shiloh into the house, hitting the answering machine as she sat her stuff down. Shiloh hugged her arms around Brianna’s neck as she listened to the various messages play, nothing too important.

“What do you say we get a popsicle and watch a movie?” She grabbed the banana-flavored popsicle from the freezer and settled them both on the couch. Shiloh started crying again, upset about something.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” she pulled her up seeing a faint red spot on her T-shirt. “What the…?”

She pulled Shiloh’s shirt up and a purple bruise with a set of teeth marks sat on her arm. Brianna’s temper raged, as she touched the sore spot. That’s what those women were hiding. They didn’t want to tell her some little kid bit her child. Immediately, Brianna stripped Shiloh’s cloths off, checking for any other marks that may be hidden. Sure enough, two more bite marks were on her, one on her other arm, and the other on her leg.

She grabbed the phone and dialed the childcare facility, but no one answered and she didn’t want to leave a message. So she hung up and dialed Kaden at work.

“Riggens and Riggens Attorneys at Law. How may I help you?” the lady asked when she answered the phone.

“Is Kaden Riggens available?”

“Just one moment please. May I tell him who’s calling?”

“Brianna.”

She waited, listening to crappy music while the lady took her sweet time getting Kaden on the phone. Finally he picked up, sounding more stressed than she’d ever heard him.

“Bree?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“What do you need, because I’m really busy?”

So much for “Hi, darling how are you?” “I took Shiloh to that new childcare facility today, the one your mother recommended and is paying for. And she came home with three bite marks.”

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