Page 47 of Saving Little Jenna
That night I deliberately went to bed late since I needed to ensure she wasn't having trouble falling asleep. When I woke up early the next morning, I found her wide awake and sitting up in bed in the darkness. Knowing her experience with darkness, I swiftly moved my hand to turn on the bedside lamp. Instead, I jumped out of bed and undid the curtains to let light in from the rising Sun.
"You didn't get any sleep last night either, did you?" I jumped back into bed and sat up next to her.
"No," she said matter-of-factly and put her head on my shoulder. "I kept waking up so there was no point in trying. But I'm only having trouble sleeping because I'm scared I'll lose you. You're the only good thing to have happened to me, Daddy. If I lose you, I don't know what to do with my life. If you decide not to break up with me knowing the whole truth, I know I'll have a sound sleep for the rest of my life."
"So today's the day, then?" I asked. "You're ready to tell me why you finally decided to run away?"
She nodded as I stroked her beautiful long hair. "Hewhose name every child was scared to utter was Otis, the founder of our cult. We were taught to fear him like the boogeyman, except the stories we had heard about him were true. He and my father have been close friends all their lives and he was the first to join the cult. A few weeks ago, I was waiting to replace Miles in the basement. I fantasized about running away all the time, but I knew I could never leave until all my siblings were adults. That was the only way we could all run away together and make it out alive. Anyway, Miles had been in there for weeks and now it was my turn. But my father told me out of nowhere that I was to be married off to Otis, who claimed Satan had chosen me to be his eleventh virgin wife. I knew Otis would come to claim what was his soon, so I finally decided to run away.
"Otis is sixty years old and is known to be a cruel wife-beater, punishing them for the smallest of mistakes. They're complacent and obedient because they’re all young and it's the only world they know. Most of his wives were born in the cult like me. He beat them in the name of pleasing Satan but in truth, I knew it was only an excuse to justify his actions. He believed women to be their husband’s property. I took one bus after another until I had no idea which city I was in. I stopped to get some food at a supermarket and that's where I met you, Daddy. The rest is history."
There it was, the whole truth about her past. I'd get to hear more details, but now that I learned all of it, I was glad Jenna wasn't running away from a big danger. In my head, I always imagined fighting off a dozen men to save her. But knowing it was one sixty-year-old man who probably wasn't even fit to be in a fistfight with me was relieving. I'd been training extra hard at the gym for the past few weeks and it was all for nothing.
"Otis sounds like a nut job if you ask me, and he’s sixty?" I said.
"Oh, right." She sat up straight and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Anna, Otis' third wife, was forced into marriage like everyone else, but she ran away with a young man she was in love with. The man was her neighbor she'd been in love with all her life, also born in the cult. Otis took it as a threat to his leadership, taking weeks to find them with a few of his close friends. Their mistake was moving only a few miles away. When he finally found them, he dragged them back to the cult and killed her lover, taking her back to be his wife but she died under mysterious circumstances days later. Everybody thinks Otis killed her too. However, this was quite some time ago. He might not bring as many men this time since I've moved so far away. Anna running away with her lover was one of the reasons Otis made stricter rules. If he didn't allow us to leave home, we'd never be able to fall in love with our neighbors."
"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that," I said in the silence that followed, raking my fingers through her hair. "It's going to be extremely hard for him to track you down."
"You don't understand Daddy!" There was horror was in her eyes as she shook her head. "You can't underestimate Otis. It's never been a matter ofifhe finds me. He believes Satan chose me to be his eleventh wife, so he'll never stop looking for me because he can’t marry another woman until he marries me. When I ran away, I knew that he'd find me one day. I wanted to live my life a little and see the world as I'd always wanted before I'm trapped with him for the rest of my life. You have no idea how furious he's going to be when he finds me and thinks I'm not a virgin anymore. As long as you're with me, your life's in danger, Daddy. He'll kill you like he did with Anna's lover. Oh, God! What have I done? This is why I ran away in the rain without a goodbye within the first few days of meeting you. I knew I'd fall in love and put your life in danger. I can live with myself if he takes me back and lets you live. Maybe I should return to the cult willingly. I'd be happy knowing your life would then be spared. Your life is more important to me than my well-being, Daddy."
Her eyes were wide with fear and I could practically hear her heart racing in her chest.
"You don't have to worry about me, Little one." I kissed her on the forehead and smiled. "When I became your Daddy, I knew I'd be willing to give my life to protect you. I don't want you to get ideas in your head. You're not running away from here and returning to the cult just to save my life. You might as well kill me with your own hands, for I'd rather die than be away from you. I want you to promise me, sweetheart. Swear on me."
"I swear on you," she said with a sigh after a long pause. "It's too late now anyway. I wish you hadn't come to look for me in the rain when I ran away from you. You're too good of a man to die, Daddy. My life has already seen such misery. My life was already a lost cause, but I brought my misery upon you when I walked into your life."
"Hey, you know that's not true." I took her face in my hands and stroked her cheek with a thumb. "I had given up on relationships before I met you, remember? You've brought nothing but joy in my life, honey. And no, you're not a lost cause. You'll see it yourself when I help you integrate into society once you're all healed and ready. Until then, I need you to trust me. I was a red belt back in the day and I can easily protect you."
"Red belt, Daddy?" She giggled and shook her head. "You're being silly."
It was nice to see her smile and let go of her past even if it was only briefly.
"Yes, sweetheart." I nodded as I pulled up my big guns, kissing my biceps one after the other. "Daddy was a red belt back in the day, which is a far higher rank than a black belt and a lot rarer. I was kind of a bad boy back then, not thinking twice before throwing punches around, so I thought I'd go ahead and get trained formally."
She continued giggling and tears of laughter formed in her eyes.
"Does it look like I'm joking, Little one?" I said in a stern voice. "You can ask your uncle John all about it and you'll see what I mean when he tells you all the cool stories."
"Whoa!" She paid attention now, making an o with her mouth as she stared at my body thick with muscle. "Really, Daddy?"
"Yes, really." I ceased showing off my biceps and swiftly took my shirt off, making my pecs dance in succession. "Go ahead and punch my tummy as hard as you can. My rock-hard abs will absorb them right away. You'll see how strong I am."
I put my hands behind my head to show off my six-packs.
"No, Daddy!" She shook her head looking terrified. "You've been so good to me. I don't want to hurt you."
"No offense, sweetheart. But you can't hurt me even if you tried. In fact, not many can. I haven't trained in years but it's like riding a bike. You never truly forget. I can defeat ten men no problem. Having a red belt means you might as well wear a cape and fight crime at night like Batman."
"Batman is so cool!" She looked up at me with big eyes and wiggled in excitement. "You could train me and I could be your sidekick. You'll be Batdaddy and I'll be Batgirl."
"Then this is your first test," I said, still bracing my tummy for impact. "Go ahead and punch me as hard as you can. Don't hold back. If you pass, I'll be your Sensei."
She nodded seriously and stared at my tummy with a frown. Getting out of bed, she moved back until she had her back against the wall. My baby girl truly wasn't going to hold back.
Running towards me as fast as she could, she jumped onto the bed and punched me in the gut. I fell off the bed and rolled around on the floor, howling aloud in pain.
"Oh, no!" She put her hands on her mouth and gasped in horror, rushing to the edge of the bed and watching me wide-eyed. "What have I done? Are you alright, Daddy? I'm so sorry. I didn't realize I had such power in my tiny hands. I’m too powerful and I didn’t even know it."
