Chapter 15: The Bruise She Hid
Two years later, on a warm spring day, Sawyer and Gracie sat together on a bench in the park near their house.
Gracie was ten now. She had grown taller, and her smile came more easily. She still carried her stuffed rabbit sometimes, especially on days when she felt anxious, but she no longer needed it every night.
They had just finished having a picnic. Gracie was drawing in her sketchbook while Sawyer watched the clouds drift by.
After a while, she spoke.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you think Mom is okay?”
Sawyer looked at his daughter. She had asked this question a few times over the past year.
“I think she’s trying to get better,” he answered honestly. “She’s still in therapy. She sends letters sometimes.”
Gracie nodded slowly.
“I don’t hate her,” she said. “But I don’t want to see her yet. Maybe one day. But not now.”
Sawyer reached over and gently squeezed her hand.
“That’s okay. You don’t have to decide anything right now. Whenever you’re ready — if you’re ever ready — we’ll talk about it together.”
Gracie smiled and went back to her drawing.
A few minutes later, she held up her sketchbook to show him.
It was a drawing of the two of them — Sawyer and Gracie — standing in front of their house. In the picture, Gracie was holding her rabbit, and both of them were smiling.
Underneath the drawing, she had written in careful letters:
“My safe place.”
Sawyer felt his eyes sting.
He pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.
“You’re my safe place too, Gracie,” he whispered.
As they sat together on the bench, watching the sun begin to set, Sawyer thought about everything they had been through.
The fear.
The pain.
The long fight to protect his daughter.
And he realized that even though the bruise on Gracie’s back had long since faded, the strength they had both found because of it would stay with them forever.
They had survived.
They had healed.
May you like
And they were going to be okay.
Together.
