Page 10 of Heal
"You can still have that dream. This won't change anything. You can go on to have a happy marriage and a huge family if that is what you want." Beau wished Jenny was here. She would know what to say. He was good with children, but this was hardly an issue for a child. Lisa was sixteen and having to face something he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.
"Can I get an abortion?" She sniffed as she glanced up at him.
"That's one option, depending on how far along you are. You aren't showing, but you're also malnourished. We need to do an ultrasound to find out for sure."
"Can you do one?"
"No, I can't, I'm not trained to do them."
"Can you be with me when it's done?"
Beau smiled. "I'd be happy to be there with you. I'll see how soon we can get one when we are finished talking. It will probably be tomorrow morning."
"Is there more bad news?"
Beau shook his head. "No. The bite wounds will heal, and we'll get you back up to a healthy weight. Other than the pregnancy, there is nothing else."
Tears still fell silently down her cheeks. "What about my brother? Will he heal?"
Beau nodded. "It's going to take some time, but he'll be okay. I want to keep him here for a few days to make sure there isn't an infection or any other problems, but hopefully, the itching and burning he's experiencing now will fade and he'll be okay. X-rays show his arm and nose were broken in the past, but they healed on their own. I'm going to have another doctor go over his x-rays to make sure there isn't anything we need to follow up with on that, but he should be okay."
"What about Krista and Chad?"
"They are okay. They are in rooms down the hall." He wasn't able to legally share medical information with her about them. He wasn't supposed to share information about her brother either, but since she was the only family he had, and she would be the one to help him heal from everything they'd been through, he decided to be honest and open with her about Jeff.
"Can I see them?"
"I'll ask them if they want to. It will be their choice." He had no idea what had gone on in the home. Were they kept together, or separated and kept in different rooms? It wasn't his place to ask, but he wished he could. He wanted all the information he could get.
"I tried to stop them from hurting Chad. He was so little." Lisa started to cry again. "They made me watch the first time. They told me that every time I tried to argue with them, they would do it again."
Beau's stomach turned, but he swallowed hard and focused on Lisa. "None of this was your fault. They would have hurt him no matter what. You were right to try and protect him. I'm so sorry they put you through everything they did."
Lisa wrapped her arms around her body, hugging herself tightly. "I tried to run away. Tried to escape, but they tied me up in my room. When anyone would come over, they would threaten to kill Jeff if I said anything to anyone."
"I know talking about it won't be easy, but when the police come to talk, you need to tell them all of this. Every bit of information they get will help make sure these people never hurt anyone again." Beau hated the thought of what Lisa would still have to go through.
"There are others," Lisa whispered. "They would take me to another house sometimes. There were more kids like me there. They would have parties and let people do whatever they wanted to us."
Beau's shoulders tensed. "How many more?"
"At the parties? I guess maybe ten more kids. I didn't know any of them, but we'd talk when they held us in a bedroom before people arrived. Most of them were Jeff's age. More boys than girls."
"Foster kids?" Beau asked.
Lisa nodded.
"You don't know where you were taken?"
"No, they made us ride in this van with no windows. It had a wall behind the front seats so we couldn't see anything."
"Did you get any names?"
Lisa bit her lip as she shook her head. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. It's good enough that you let us know there are others out there being hurt. We can try and help them too." Beau needed to call his team and let them know. He wasn't sure how to even begin finding these kids, but they had to do something. "Just tell the police everything you can when they come to talk to you."
"Can you be there when they do?"
